[Fmpro] 1:1 finer points

Wed Jun 25 05:50:33 GMT 2008

Hi Pete -

There can easily be cases made why the most popular vocal songs (and
songwriters) and the most popular instrumental compositions (and composers)
could influence the situation. And yes, there are tons of amateurish score
composers willing to work for little or nothing, just like there are tons of
amateurish songwriters willing to work for little or nothing.

But in my mind it all comes down to this: The broadcasters don't pay ASCAP a
penny more for a one-minute song cue within a TV show than they pay for a
one-minute score cue. What on earth gives ASCAP the right to turn around and
introduce a 500% pay difference between these two one minute cues for which
they were paid the SAME amount? ASCAP is a middleman who negotiates a
licensing deal on our behalf. If the licensing deal calls for more money for
songs, let's see the language! Otherwise, this is a case of a middleman
keeping the elements of the actual deal (with the broadcasters) secret from
those it represents, then coming up with it's own independent deal regarding
the division of the proceeds. That's hardly the role of a middleman.

Beyond that, it's one competing idea of which art is worth more against
another, with no clear winners possible. No wonder the ASCAP Board never
justifies their valuation of music with a shred of financial or statistical
evidence, only "the board has decided that the value of your music..." type
decrees issued from their secret meetings. It's a money-grab by the
songwriters, nothing more, and only direct action by composers will create
any kind of reform. Left to their own, we see what the board thinks of
instrumental music and those who write it as evidenced by the current
policies.

Best,

Mark Northam

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Pete [mailto:musical411 at yahoo.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 2:39 PM
> To: Mark Northam
> Subject: RE: [Fmpro] 1:1 finer points
> 
> Unfortunatly, it's not about the quantity of instrumental music.
> 
> When Scripts (Food Network, Style Channel etc) decided they didn't need to
pay
> the big bucks for popular vocal music, they dropped ASCAP/BMI like an
expensive
> hot potatoe. They had no problem finding libraries that would licence
music without
> ASCAP/BMI royalties, or composers who would custom write their themes
without
> performance royalties.
> 
> I believe (and fear) the same would happen if all the popular songs left
ASCAP.
> They'd have an near impossible time collecting on an all instrumental
catalog. In
> today's composer-heavy market It would be every man for themselves.
> 
> Wish it weren't so. But I fear it is.
> 
> I'm 6'3, and I suck at basketball. But, if you were picking teams you'd
probably pick
> me over a dwarf. Sometimes in life, ya just gotta go with the odds.
> 
> Pete
> 
> 
> --- On Wed, 6/25/08, Mark Northam <markn at gmocorp.com> wrote:
> 
> > From: Mark Northam <markn at gmocorp.com>
> > Subject: RE: [Fmpro] 1:1 finer points
> > To: musical411 at yahoo.com, fmpro at nxport.com
> > Date: Wednesday, June 25, 2008, 12:26 AM
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: fmpro-bounces+markn=gmocorp.com at nxport.com
> > [mailto:fmpro-
> > > bounces+markn=gmocorp.com at nxport.com] On Behalf Of
> > Pete
> > > Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 1:44 PM
> > > To: fmpro at nxport.com
> > > Subject: Re: [Fmpro] 1:1 finer points
> > >
> > > A: is fine with me as long as it doesn't cause all
> > the songwriters to take
> > their valuable
> > > catalog out of ASCAP and over to BMI. And if ASCAP
> > paid jingles and promos
> > the
> > > same as background instrumental, I'd take my
> > instrumental catalog over to
> > BMI.
> >
> > Given that on television, score far more prevalent than
> > song, ASCAP should
> > be far more concerned with score composers leaving than
> > songwriters. On
> > radio, of course, it's the reverse. Given that score +
> > CPA
> > (jingles/promos/ads) together is probably 80-90% of the
> > music on television,
> > it's not the songwriters ASCAP (or anyone else) should
> > be worried about
> > leaving ASCAP. Remember, broadcasters do not pay for songs
> > and score, they
> > pay for music "by the pound" if you will, based
> > on how much catalog from a
> > PRO they use. There is not a single word about the value of
> > score vs song in
> > any ASCAP broadcaster agreement, and old wive's tales
> > about how "all the
> > broadcasters care about is hit songs" were long ago
> > debunked by direct
> > information from broadcasters about the negotiations,
> > specifically by
> > Willard Hoyt of the Television Music Licensing Committee,
> > available here:
> >
> > http://www.gmostore.com/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=41
> >
> >
> > >
> > > B: Visual Vocal and Visual Instrumental are currently
> > paid the same.
> > Actually, Visual
> > > Instrumental is paid as much as ANY vocal. Vocal Theme
> > and Instrumental
> > Theme
> > > are currently paid the same. The question is,
> > "what's a Background Vocal
> > usage"? If
> > > people are listening to the lyrics, isn't it in
> > the foreground?
> >
> > OK, but a great trumpet or violin solo (Shindler's
> > list, for example) could
> > be far more attention-grabbing and
> > heard/noticed/listened-to by an audience
> > than, say, a muddled lyric for a song barely audible under
> > a fight scene.
> > People "listen" to all music in a film, not just
> > the songs. Yet, a minute of
> > John William's amazing Shindler's list score will
> > be paid only 20% of what
> > the muddled song with barely-heard lyrics is thanks to the
> > ruling
> > songwriters at ASCAP and their policies about background
> > vocals vs
> > background instrumentals.
> >
> > That's exactly the problem with ASCAP's "all
> > background vocals are features"
> > rule on television pertaining to music within shows.
> > Assuming the very
> > presence of "lyrics" puts the music into the
> > foreground is a stereotype and
> > generalization that does little more than enrich
> > songwriters and lyricists
> > at the expense of composers. It's as silly as saying
> > that "every tall person
> > is a good basketball player." While the rule re: the
> > role of songs is true
> > in some cases, it hardly makes sense or is fair to assume
> > it is true in all
> > cases and use that as a basis for the distribution of
> > hundreds of millions
> > of dollars of our royalties each year. Yes, there are
> > extremes on both side
> > of this (background vocals vs background instrumentals),
> > and for that very
> > reason we need to find a new policy that truly recognizes
> > the way the music
> > is performed and its importance to the scene if there
> > indeed is to be such a
> > whopping pay difference between "featured" and
> > "non-featured" music.
> >
> >
> > Best,
> >
> > Mark Northam
> >
> >
> > > --- On Tue, 6/24/08, Christopher Alpiar
> > <chris at alpiar.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > > From: Christopher Alpiar <chris at alpiar.com>
> > > > Subject: [Fmpro] 1:1 finer points
> > > > To: fmpro at nxport.com
> > > > Date: Tuesday, June 24, 2008, 10:58 PM
> > > > This is REALLY important and the answer here will
> > have some
> > > > serious
> > > > impact to some hopefully forward moving stuff. I
> > really
> > > > appreciate
> > > > some answer from the old school gang on this :)
> > Thanks!
> > > >
> > > > When you say you want 1:1 and when you say PROs
> > in Europe
> > > > pay 1:1 do
> > > > you mean that
> > > >
> > > > A. ALL music used in a show, regardless of
> > Visual,
> > > > Background, Source,
> > > > Theme, instrumental, Vocal - it should ALL be
> > paid the same
> > > > exactly?
> > > >
> > > > B. ALL music in the SAME CATEGORY regardless of
> > vocal or
> > > > instrumental
> > > > should be paid the same? (IE VISUAL VOCAL and
> > VISUAL
> > > > INSTRUMENTAL paid
> > > > the same and BACKGROUND VOCAL and BACKGROUND
> > INSTRUMENTAL
> > > > paid the
> > > > same but VISUAL paid on a different scale than
> > BACKGROUND,
> > > > and THEME
> > > > paid on a different scale)
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Christopher Kennedy Alpiar
> > > > Cinematic Composer
> > > > 937.294.0900 (Dayton Studio)
> > > > 310.339.9603 (Los Angeles)
> > > > 877.294.0912 (Toll Free)
> > > > www.alpiar.com
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
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> > Music
> > >
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> 
> 
> 