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I also received this email.
And what of (certain nonexclusive) libraries who expressively forbid signing up for content ID. Is there a workaround there? Or, maybe I have outdated info!
Is anyone on here claiming “artist” share on music they have released with exclusive libraries? Obviously, the library (label) becomes the “Rights Owner,” but what of the other half of the pie?
I just had several come in for the Latin Voice.
Mine wasn’t terrible. In line with last July for me.
Definitely. Great point.
” Comedians In Cars” payout was a bright spot on my statement as well. Sports placements paid next to nothing for me this quarter. Shockingly low, in fact.
I’ve had 10 or so cue sheets show up in the past couple weeks.
So, Ascap told me I was going to be made whole for cue sheets on close to 50 NHL games (going back to 2018) this quarter. After review of their email, I’m unsure this is going to happen. Do you think the Sports networks are basically not paying this quarter? Or, hopefully just paying late? Maybe the delay is due to these particular networks working out some sort of deal with ASCAP? I’ve got to imagine the money coming in from all these hugely popular sports leagues has got to be tremendous..
Hot off the presses…
Dear ASCAP Members:
In a parallel universe, last week would have been the week that we held our ASCAP Annual Meeting during the 2020 ASCAP Experience event in Los Angeles. We would have reported that ASCAP had historic high revenues and distributions for 2019 and celebrated all of the amazing accomplishments of our ASCAP songwriter, composer and publisher members.Instead, we are all facing the devastating consequences of COVID-19, which has hit all of us personally. It is rare to talk to someone who does not know someone suffering with this virus. Many of us have already lost loved ones, friends and colleagues and we have all lost members of our ASCAP community. While health and safety are our first priorities, we also take seriously our duty to ensure that you continue to receive a steady flow of royalties so that you can pay your bills and feed your families.
I have received a number of inquiries about how this crisis will impact ASCAP distributions. While there are many unknowns at this time, I would like to take this opportunity to explain what we can about how the negative economic impact of this virus will impact your ASCAP distributions.
First, it is important to understand that ASCAP distributions are made on a “cash basis” (the money we collect in a quarter is paid out that same quarter, less the costs of operation) as opposed to an “accrual basis” (money collected would be held and paid out two or three quarters later). In other words, we calculate distributions based on current revenues, not past revenues. In normal times, this is a great benefit to ASCAP members as you receive your money faster. During this crisis, as we see more and more of our licensees who pay us start to feel the impact of the economic downturn, this translates into less revenue for ASCAP and less money available for distributions for our members. We have already been contacted by numerous licensees who are attempting to pay less, pay late or not pay at all.
While you will receive your distributions from ASCAP during this health and financial crisis, we can no longer provide you with a date certain in advance of each distribution. The reason for this is that our licensing revenue will become increasingly variable as businesses remain closed, and the advertising market which drives revenues from television, radio and cable continues to be negatively impacted. Every category of ASCAP collections will be negatively impacted, including television, cable, radio, airlines, hotels, bars, grills and restaurants. While everyone is streaming music and movies at home, not everyone in this country will be able to afford a subscription to entertainment services and that shift will impact revenue. Twenty five percent of ASCAP revenues comes from outside the United States and COVID-19 hit many of those territories before it hit the US, so the ASCAP revenue impact will be global.
We will make key distribution funding decisions later than usual once we have knowable facts of our revenue collections each calendar month and each quarter. What this means for you as a writer or publisher member is that your distributions may be delayed as compared to last year. For example, the ASCAP writer distribution was previously scheduled for April 6, 2020 and now it will be paid on April 28, 2020. This is because we had to go through a collection cycle of March 31/April 1 payment due dates to determine accurate cash flow before finalizing the funding pool and processing hundreds of thousands of distribution files for payment processing services. Some of the vendor services we use to process and pay the distributions have also been materially impacted by COVID-19, so there is a domino impact that we are constantly navigating in terms of ensuring business continuity. The good news is that as a result of the delay, the April 28 writer distribution will be fully funded as we had originally anticipated.
I know that much of this is not good news, and you have already been bombarded with bad news every day for weeks, but I think it is important that we are all prepared for the future and we try to limit the number of surprises.
For those of us who work at ASCAP, our duty is to ensure that ASCAP survives to serve the next generation of creators and publishers. While things are tough right now, I remind myself that ASCAP has survived two world wars and several economic crises, so we stand on the shoulders of our predecessors to successfully fight through this pandemic. ASCAP and our ASCAP members are worth fighting for, and on behalf of all ASCAP employees, I promise you that we will do whatever it takes to fight for ASCAP and fight for you.
Thank you for your loyalty and your ASCAP membership.
I spoke to my rep at ASCAP, and she told me to expect to receive this month’s distribution by April 26th. She also emphasized “full payout” this month; no change.
My most recent Int distribution was around 35% of my domestic statement.
Going into year 5, and my first quarter ASCAP statement surpassed my entire backend earnings from 2018. Very encouraging, and I owe much of the progress to information gleaned from this site. Thank you all for the wealth of info!
Congrats! IMO the ASCAP international statement is next to impossible to understand. I gave up many quarters ago!