AT> In a message to Al Thompson  Jeff Edmonson
 AT> wrote:
JE>>  I -really- think, however, that the best way those two Music corps
JE>>  get away with it, is to just have the business owners pay a one-time
JE>>  initiation fee, then a yearly feed to cover all bases.
 AT> That would certainly be the EASIEST, but it still doesn't
 AT> solve the problem of who should RECEIVE the royalties which
 AT> BMI/ASCAP gets.  It can't reasonably just divide the
 AT> royalties to every existing copyright holder.
It's been a long time since I looked at the paperwork I received way back 
when from ASCAP.  Seems there is a fair and equitable distribution of the 
royalties performance fees collected.
For what it is worth, the majority of any monies collected comes from sales, 
syndicated performances, and from R&M reporting stats from R&M reporting 
radio stations.
I used to think that everytime a song gets airtime on radio stations, that 
the little pittance that goes to the songwriter and the publisher was paid 
each time.  WRONG:  only those stations set up as reporting and monitoring 
stations - the ones that the dj's must keep a log of EACH song played - count 
in the long run.  There are stations in each market -major, middle, small, 
depending on the population of the radio station's listening radius.
The packets from ASCAP come in AFTER the signing of the contract between the 
songwriter and the performing affiliate.  One note:  Until the songwriter 
becomes at least an associate member (non-published as far as ASCAP is 
concerned, giving a year to become published and commercial released 
material), then any money generated via any song will go into a slush fund.  
Even after the songwriter becomes a member, if there were any royalties 
received prior to membership, those royalties will go directly into a general 
fund of the affiliate that the member finally joins.  No pre-membership 
royalties will be passed on to the songwriter.  (Kinda like the 'fine' for 
not being a member prior to releasing the songs to the public!)
Nancy
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