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I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones.
-- John Cage |
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Samantha's E-Newsletter |
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Past Articles |
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| Thursday, April 05 |
| · | Samantha Doesn't Live Here Anymore (4) |
| Wednesday, March 28 |
| · | All You Need is Love (2) |
| Monday, January 29 |
| · | Road Trip Playlist (2) |
| Monday, January 22 |
| · | Two things... (5) |
| Saturday, September 30 |
| · | SoundExchange is Calling All Artists (3) |
| Tuesday, September 19 |
| · | The Journey (2) |
| Wednesday, August 23 |
| · | On Loneliness (3) |
| Thursday, August 17 |
| · | A Sustainable Life take deux (1) |
| Saturday, August 05 |
| · | California (0) |
| Thursday, August 03 |
| · | I'm Not Really a Waitress (0) |
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SoundExchange is Calling All Artists |
Posted by: Samantha on Saturday, September 30, 2006 - 10:10 AM
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There's a lot of discussion right now surrounding SoundExchange, a non-profit Performance Rights Organization (PRO) whose function is to track, collect and distribute funds for digital performances of musical compositions. In other words, their job is to pay me and other artists when someone plays our music on the Internet or satellite radio. Most of you have probably heard of ASCAP and BMI. SoundExchange (SE) is similar, except they only focus on collecting performances, not songwriter's profits.
In a recent Billboard Magazine, SoundExchange took out a full page ad listing 9,000 artists they have collected money for, but have supposedly been unable to find in order to disperse the funds. The names on the list are well known artists like Jeff Buckley and the Olsen Twins. People are saying...
come on how hard can it be to find these artists? It's nothing that a simple Google search couldn't rectify. Add to that the fact that if the artists don't collect the money by December 15, they forfeit it forever and SE is $500,000 richer!
To make matters worse for SE, yesterday on the front page of the LA Times Business Section they ran the story "Music Royalty Checks Languish for Unreachable Stars.". The piece quotes reputable attorneys and managers expressing their disappointment in SE's ability to perform its function.
SE Executive Director John Simson counters that it's not their job to hold the hand of artist managers and attorneys by tracking them down. Simson said in the LA Times article "...We've probably mailed multiple things to them without any response. What it shows you is perhaps for major artists or their management … this may have been lower on the priority list than the current tour or the current recording."
Before I get into my opinions on any of this, 'cause you know I'm going to, let me give you a little bit of background on my relationship with SE. I first heard about them a couple of years ago through someone who I was talking to about management. Not a professional manager, but someone fairly well connected in the indie scene. Not knowing anything about SE apart from the fact that they collected for satellite radio performances, which at the time was touted as being the next big thing. I filled out all the paperwork, which did seem to be quite a substantial amount, but hey, when money's involved it usually is, sent it in and didn't hear another word until earlier this year. I received a statement from SE in the form of an email with a PDF attachment outlining my earnings for the quarter, which if I remember correctly amounted to some meager amount like $8. The statement outlined the song and performance that I was being paid for. I recognized neither. Now what I could have done is gone through the lengthy process of contacting SE and saying this isn't my money and where is my money (I knew I was owed some for satellite performances I had), but I weighed it up and chose not to. Okay, it probably wasn't the wisest decision, but I'm busy and as SE's Executive Director Simson stated, it was "..lower on the priority list.." for me than booking a show or one of the many functions I perform for myself as an independent artist on a daily basis. However, it did put up a red flag for me regarding SE's ability to accurately track and distribute payments. A flag that I might add already waves very high and bright for both ASCAP and BMI, but I digress. Last week I received my second email from SE with a royalty statement attached again. This time I was paid for two songs which supposedly had performances last quarter. One was mine and the other I had never heard of. The amounts were small, but due to the fact this had happened before, I'm starting to have my doubts about their abilities. I'm also curious as to why when my check and statement hardcopy arrived a few days later, the song titles and breakdowns weren't listed anywhere in the stack of documents.
Another point I should mention is that SE will argue before the Library of Congress soon about why they should remain the exclusive distributor of digital performance royalties. Another company, Royalty Logic Inc in Woodland Hills, CA, is vying to become their first competitor. I sincerely hope they are given that opportunity. SE's mistakes aside, competition is good for business and it keeps people honest. Well, more honest shall we say.
My final question is, if SE can find me, a girl who really doesn't have a home, who travels constantly and has more email addresses than underwear, to give me my $8 for my one song that was played on XM Satellite Radio one time at approximately 4:36 am on a cold Sunday Morning, then why can't they find Peter, Paul and Mary to pay them their thousands of dollars? There are three of them! The mind boggles, people.
In my opinion, SoundExchange should have been forced to spend more money up front to promote itself to artists and managers within the industry. No one knows better than me how hard it is to get the attention of labels and managers, but if SE is going to be given the huge responsibility of being the only company collecting and distributing funds for digital music performance on the Internet, then I say it is THEIR responsibility to make themselves known by taking out a full page ad in Billboard saying, "WE ARE GOING TO HAVE MONEY FOR YOU SOON. GET TO KNOW US." To wait until 9 weeks before the deadline to take out an ad is just unfair and unacceptable.
What I'd like to see happen is for Eliot Spitzer , NY's Attorney General and the man responsible for the payola fines, to get involved and put that money to good use. What use is that you ask? Oh I don't know Sudan, the rapid decline of the ozone layer maybe.
In closing, I'm pasting SoundExchange's Mission Statement below and leaving it up to you as to whether or not you feel their actions have echoed their words.
As usual, please email me personally with your thoughts at Samantha[at]samanthamurphy[dot]com or leave comments at my Myspace Blog.
Our Philosophy
The mission of SoundExchange® is to foster an online environment that will encourage the development and growth of Internet, satellite and cable radio services while providing the highest level of customer service to our artist and sound recording copyright owner members. To meet this objective, our services include creating fair licensing rates, royalty collection and distribution, ensuring compliance with statutory license terms and serving our members. SoundExchange is a nonprofit organization jointly controlled by artists and record labels who seek fair remuneration when their creative works are used by businesses subject to statutory license under §§ 112 and 114 of the U.S. Copyright Law.
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