ASCAP

[hpcrazy]

Hi everybody,I am a member of taxi for a few months now and no I finally got signed up for the first time. Since I am situated in Switzerland and the library who signed me up is in the USA I wondered if it is nessessary to become a member of ASCAP. I am a member of the Swiss copyright association SUISA and I just wondered if anybody has made some simular experiences and could give a helpful tip. But I guess since SUISA has a contract with ASCAP I don't need to become a double member.GreetingsHP

[matto]

Congratulations to you HP! Another member from Switzerland in the house! Where abouts are you in CH?I'm sure you'll meet our buddy gitarrero (aka "the dealomaniac") from Buelach in short order!To answer your question, no you don't need to join ASCAP; any money your music earns here in the US will be collected by ASCAP and forwarded to SUISA who will distribute it to you.You can however register your songs with SUISA as well once the publisher has registered them with ASCAP. You just need to make sure that all the writer and publisher info including the splits are exactly the same.Registering the songs with SUISA isn't necessary but could help SUISA during the distribution process.Welcome to the Taxi forums! matto

[gitarrero]

hey hp,welcome aboard! (we know each other since a couple of years - ya know, switzerland is kind of small! -> ich bin's, martin.matto has already answered your question; I already was in contact with suisa a couple of time for the placements I did get in the US (mtv, abc family, a couple feature films).include your cae-# in the contract and tell the library that your a susia-member. once the track is registered properly ascap will transmit the money to suisa.be prepared that this takes some time, as it is the case with ANY foreign country (2-3 yrs is usual).congrats on your deal!cheers,martin

[hpcrazy]

Hey Martin,I know I would meet you here I guess you are the only musician from Switzerland who I expected here. Funny that we already met. And I am about 20 km away from Bülach - I small place named Seegräben. OK thanks for the information. I was kind of unsure about ASCAP and that legal stuff in english is kind of hard to understand. GreetingsHP