Delayed ASCAP royalty payouts.

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Delayed ASCAP royalty payouts.

Post by DesireInspires » Fri Apr 03, 2020 9:03 am

Just read an email from ASCAP. Payments will be made on Tuesday April 28th.
______________

Dear ASCAP members:

I hope you, your families and your loved ones are healthy and safe during this extraordinary time. The global COVID-19 crisis is having consequences for people all over the world, including our own communities of songwriters, composers, music publishers and our licensing partners whose businesses are suffering major financial setbacks. We know the economic uncertainties this creates for everyone in our community.

I want you to know that ASCAP is doing everything possible to meet this challenge on your behalf and to ensure the flow of royalties to our members. For the first time in over a century, with ASCAP employees working entirely from home, we were pleased to have delivered our First Quarter Publisher Distribution on March 20, and we are on track to deliver our Second Quarter Writer Distribution on Tuesday, April 28.

Every day, the dedicated team at ASCAP is working long hours from their homes to deliver the best possible services to you, our members. ASCAP moved quickly to ensure the well-being of our employees by shutting down all of our offices on March 16. Our offices will remain closed for the foreseeable future.

As COVID-19 has continued to escalate and more and more of our licensee businesses have shut down, we have had to carefully review our cash forecasts and plan for more disruption to our revenue collections and member distributions. As I mentioned in my last letter, the pandemic will have a material and negative impact financially on almost every category of licensing, so it is important to ensure that we are prepared for a decline in both revenues and distributions, which is why we took the step weeks ago to freeze numerous operational expenses.

We have also had to transition to a more flexible distribution schedule throughout the remainder of 2020 and 2021. For example, prior to COVID-19, we had planned to send the writer distribution on Monday, April 6 and, as noted earlier, today we determined that the writer distribution will be sent on Tuesday, April 28. If you receive a check by mail, please note that the US Postal Service is also experiencing delays in some geographic territories.

One thing the coronavirus crisis has taught us is that we are not alone, even in our current isolation. ASCAP worked with our industry partners to petition Congress to include financial relief and protections for songwriters and composers as part of the massive government relief package. Our industry is also coming together in support of MusiCares's special coronavirus relief funds for our community. ASCAP will be supporting their efforts specific to songwriters and composers.

Two weeks ago, ASCAP launched Music Unites Us, an important web portal for our members and the community, with vital information to help our members cope with this crisis, including how to access financial relief through government and other programs and many more resources. I encourage you to visit Music Unites Us often as our team updates the site with important information on a regular basis.

Connection is at the heart of creating music. I have been encouraged and inspired by the many ASCAP members who have come together virtually to share your music and your stories. We have already lost some beloved members of our community and our collective sadness is profound. At the same time, our collective humanity will bring us through this crisis and music will lift us up, as it always does.

Wishing you strength and health.
Paul Williams
Paul Williams
ASCAP President & Chairman of the Board

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Re: Delayed ASCAP royalty payouts.

Post by SubRivers » Fri Apr 03, 2020 8:30 pm

Are ASCAP revenues more focussed on live performance royalties rather than TV/Film ?

A lockdown means more people are spending more time consuming tv and movie content so hard to understand why ASCAP is hit so hard and fast like a restaurant or bar.

It should be boom time for royalties for old content as new productions are on hold.

So doesn't really make sense - unless BMI is also similarly suffering from the lockdown.

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Re: Delayed ASCAP royalty payouts.

Post by DesireInspires » Sun Apr 05, 2020 7:00 pm

Update:

——

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.

Best,
Elizabeth Matthews signature
Elizabeth Matthews
ASCAP CEO

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Re: Delayed ASCAP royalty payouts.

Post by DesireInspires » Sun Apr 05, 2020 7:03 pm

SubRivers wrote:
Fri Apr 03, 2020 8:30 pm
Are ASCAP revenues more focussed on live performance royalties rather than TV/Film ?

A lockdown means more people are spending more time consuming tv and movie content so hard to understand why ASCAP is hit so hard and fast like a restaurant or bar.

It should be boom time for royalties for old content as new productions are on hold.

So doesn't really make sense - unless BMI is also similarly suffering from the lockdown.
This is the word from the PRO. Composers need to stop asking “why” and understand that life has changed under the threat of COVID-19. Adjust your lives according to the information that is being presented.

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Re: Delayed ASCAP royalty payouts.

Post by SubRivers » Tue Apr 07, 2020 8:46 am

I'm with PRS and they are paying out normally next week and have just published the amount payable today.

So more curiosity on my part as regards ASCAP - maybe a harbinger for what will happen with PRS at some point.

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Re: Delayed ASCAP royalty payouts.

Post by DesireInspires » Wed Apr 08, 2020 4:51 pm

Letter from BMI
_____________

Dear BMI Songwriters, Composers & Publishers,

I hope you and your loved ones are staying safe and healthy. Here at BMI, we’re continuing to ensure that we can deliver your royalty payments efficiently, accurately, and on time, as always. To that end, I’m writing today to reassure you that while BMI expects to feel the effects of the COVID-19 crisis like everybody else in the industry, our goal is to minimize its financial impact on you.

As I’ve already shared, BMI’s royalty distributions will not be affected by the pandemic in the near future. However, we do anticipate an impact in January 2021, when today’s performances and corresponding licensing dollars (2nd quarter 2020) will be reflected in your royalty distributions. While you may see a lower distribution that quarter than you might typically receive under ordinary circumstances, given BMI’s business model, we have the time and ability to plan for this outcome. We’re taking a number of steps to mitigate the situation.

First, we’re expecting retroactive payments from BMI’s recent settlement with the Radio Industry. Since it benefits all of us that radio remains a strong and vital platform for your music, we will be working with radio stations over the coming months to help them spread out their settlement fees owed to BMI. Not only will this help lessen the impact of COVID-19 on their business, but it also allows us to spread those payments out and deliver them to you beginning in early 2021.

Secondly, we’re seeing growth in domestic revenue generated from subscription streaming services that feature TV shows, movies and music. As more and more people are following the recommendations and staying home, they are turning to indoor entertainment and that is translating to increases in viewers and listeners. Keep in mind that thanks to the diversification of BMI’s revenue portfolio, 30% of BMI’s domestic revenue now comes from digital sources.

We expect that both of these avenues, Radio and Digital, will help offset some of the current downturn in areas like General Licensing, where concerts, bars, restaurants, gyms, hotels and other local businesses are taking a hit, as well as International income, which is being impacted by COVID-19 shutdowns.

So, while we will see an impact to our revenue and your royalties, we hope it assures you to know that we anticipate BMI’s Fiscal Year 2021 will be similar to BMI’s revenues and distributions from 2019, which was a record-setting year for us at the time. We’re also taking steps to ensure that our expenses for FY 2021 are in keeping with 2019 levels. We’ve already put cost-cutting measures in place to get us to that number.

As you know, we sent out our March royalty distribution early this year to offer you a small measure of comfort, and while the next distribution is scheduled for June 19, we’re aiming once again to send it out slightly earlier. Please know that we do not expect any delays in your royalty distributions going forward.

We hope that this advance notice of what’s to come is helpful and that you also take the time to plan and prepare.

Together, we will be ready for this and manage through. What truly inspires me and all the people working at BMI during this challenging time is how creative and resilient all of you are, and I know that we will come through this stronger than before.


Be well,

Signed Michael O'Neill

Mike O’Neill
President and CEO
BMI

Link: https://www.bmi.com/news/entry/a-messag ... y-payments

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Re: Delayed ASCAP royalty payouts.

Post by TerrellBurt » Thu Apr 09, 2020 7:34 pm

BMI's approach to this was light years better than ASCAP's! Not even close. Grateful I'm a member of BMI!

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