# ASCAP robbed me! ASCAP robbed me!



## Desire Inspires (Oct 9, 2018)

Just got my royalty statement for this quarter. They took 35% of my blanket cable royalties! The adjustment reason states “Performance-Deleted”. So poof, royalties disappear with no true explanation.

Meanwhile, half of my statement is made up of streaming royalties which add up to about $50.

I feel good for some reason. Not happy about the situation, but good in that I am learning something about music licensing. From what I can see, the money is in upfront payments and not backend royalties. That is how it is working for me.

So I have a few decisions to make and a few tasks to execute.


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## mouse (Oct 9, 2018)

Music doesn't sell. Products do. Sell products and reap the benefits


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## chillbot (Oct 9, 2018)

Stop hating and support.


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## mouse (Oct 9, 2018)

I don't do stock music


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## jneebz (Oct 9, 2018)

Desire Inspires said:


> Just got my royalty statement for this quarter. They took 35% of my blanket cable royalties! The adjustment reason states “Performance-Deleted”. So poof, royalties disappear with no true explanation.
> 
> Meanwhile, half of my statement is made up of streaming royalties which add up to about $50.
> 
> ...


I didn’t get my statement. And apparently no one at ASCAP knows why. Ghost in the system this quarter apparently.


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## C M Dess (Oct 9, 2018)

ASCAP survey says!

Basically the industry is run by gatekeepers at all levels. It sucks when they come for you. I dunno if it's personal or they just did it to push the money to the top ten mafia. It sucks that it's not more based on valuing artists lives and contributions and building a system to support that. The "front" makes it appear that it's about artists, that way when they go collecting they are camouflaged by those needy rockstars.

Just a front. Thanks for sharing your experience. I hope things improve for all of us but not likely given math.

Yes the world has decided to push and value only the makers of AI to replace people. Because the world is just so damn smart.


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## C M Dess (Oct 9, 2018)

mouse said:


> I don't do stock music


 
Doesn't matter dumbass. They have a survey system not a placement/usage monitoring system. Heaven forbid they implement accurate monitoring, I think we'd be even more fucked.

I spend my days wallowing in self-pity and sinking. It helps pass the time.

All the people I worked with have an _ASCAP story._ I have several myself.

Upfront money, bird in the hand. But the powers that be can still come for that too. Because they love us just so damn much.


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## mouse (Oct 9, 2018)

C M Dess said:


> Doesn't matter dumbass. They have a survey system not a placement/usage monitoring system. Heaven forbid they implement accurate monitoring, I think we'd be even more fucked.
> 
> I spend my days wallowing in self-pity and sinking. It helps pass the time.
> 
> All the people I worked with have an _ASCAP story._ I have several myself.



Don't be hating. Just support Desire Inspires and watch the videos he posts...


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## C M Dess (Oct 9, 2018)

Nothing amusing about trying to murder thousands of artists economically. I put 20+ years into this crap, took the risks show some respect for depth if you can be bothered to fathom it.


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## Jeremy Spencer (Oct 9, 2018)

mouse said:


> Don't be hating. Just support Desire Inspires and watch the videos he posts...



And you too can earn hundred's of $$ per month from production tracks. Order in the next ten minutes and we'll throw in the Ginsu Knives.


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## mouse (Oct 9, 2018)

C M Dess said:


> Nothing amusing about trying to murder thousands of artists economically. I put 20+ years into this crap, show some respect for depth.



I agree. That is why you need to stop working forother people and take back control of your assets.


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## C M Dess (Oct 9, 2018)

mouse said:


> I agree. That is why you need to stop working forother people and take back control of your assets.



This does not work because gatekeepers occupy the meat of the industry. You can control 100 percent of your product but you gotta get past the gates of hell, so you make nothing. Or you can join them and lose lots but make "something".

The industry moved away from freelance, then it crushed it to death. The streaming monopolies are even worse.

You see if you want radio play....gatekeepers.
If you want great TV synchs...controlled by gatekeepers.
If you want trailer spots...gatekeepers.
If you want Netflix/Hulu....

CORPORATIONS .. they like B2B cause there's a proxy called libraries fucking artists to death. Get it?

Life really is like a ride and rides come at the pain, expense and sacrifice of others because the world is upside down and trying to split what has been stolen from the truth in the capability of abundance (figuring out how to share what can be regenerated). Everything can literally be replicated, most especially fake ass dollars.

I was talking with a gatekeeper just last week. Sometimes they are networks of gigging musicians. He asked me what I did wrong to fuck up my situation, meaning, you pissed off your gatekeeper. Piece of shit does not know what I am about or what I did (nothing). He was in the Navy, what would he care about my personal hell, a fart in the wind to him. Anyway he said he could help me but I'd owe him a favor later. Lol. Unbelievable.

You come in indie...yeah, .... make some nice recordings of doors slamming in your face at least.

Remember when Michael and Prince took control of their product, so how'd that work out....Yeahhhhhhhhhh


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## Kony (Oct 9, 2018)

Desire Inspires said:


> Just got my royalty statement for this quarter. They took 35% of my blanket cable royalties! The adjustment reason states “Performance-Deleted”. So poof, royalties disappear with no true explanation.
> 
> Meanwhile, half of my statement is made up of streaming royalties which add up to about $50.
> 
> ...





Desire Inspires said:


> If that is the case, simply make a Soundcloud page and allow your music to be downloaded for free.
> 
> There are 7 billion people in the world. Somebosy will like your music and listen to it. You will not get rich, famous, or even appreciated. But you need to release it anyway.
> 
> Someone will love it and listen to it a lot. So just put out there and don't aim to get any praise or recognition from it. Many composers got "famous" after they died.


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## brenneisen (Oct 9, 2018)

you don't have to be rude about it...


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## jmauz (Oct 9, 2018)

Screw it, I'm moving back to the valley to do porn.


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## Mike Greene (Oct 9, 2018)

Desire Inspires said:


> ... I didn’t feel like correcting it because the comments were getting weird. So I trolled throughout the thread.
> 
> I wanted people to actually watch the video and gain something from it, but the trolling just got out of hand. And so it is time for people to pay me back. I say bring it on!


Intentional trolling and a combative _"bring it on!" _attitude is not what this forum is for. Knowing this, I can't help but wonder if some of your recent threads are just messing with us?

<EDIT> It looks like the "Make $1,000/month!" thread might be a deliberate troll thread, so I've deleted that one. I'll check the others tomorrow.


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## chillbot (Oct 9, 2018)

Mike Greene said:


> It looks like the "Make $1,000/month!" thread might be a deliberate troll thread, so I've deleted that one.


I'm not sure what you'd call it but I wouldn't call it trolling. Trolling implies a self-awareness of others and your surroundings so that you can deliberately ruffle their feathers. I wouldn't say that DI's latest posts are doing an ounce of good for the forum but I would probably file it under general narcissistic ignorance more than trolling.


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## mouse (Oct 10, 2018)

Desire Inspires said:


> That’s fine.
> 
> The video was created and posted by John Fulford. He is a music composer and music library owner who makes a full time living from music.
> 
> ...



That's not John Fulford. This is John Fulford: 



The guy in the video you posted is a totally different person.


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## Erick - BVA (Oct 10, 2018)

mouse said:


> That's not John Fulford. This is John Fulford:
> 
> 
> 
> The guy in the video you posted is a totally different person.



Good example of not being in touch with producers, music supervisors and whatnot. I hate the track, but it was in some high production movie...


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## mouse (Oct 10, 2018)

No need for the hate bro


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## Erick - BVA (Oct 10, 2018)

mouse said:


> No need for the hate bro


Referring to my opinion of the track?


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## C M Dess (Oct 10, 2018)

I'm thinking about CMDess private. Funding secured. I can afford to buy it at .00000004 per share now that I control my catalog. That's .00000003 above the Spotify value. My Saudi non-binaries know what's up!

Truth be told I know inside I'm only worth about .00000001 for the whole catalog (with the exception of fart symphony No.2). shhh...don't tell the ruling class.

How can I even tell if it's really me posting? Can I prove it? Well the post does kinda suck. Yup it's me. Darn.


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## dgburns (Oct 10, 2018)

I’m gonna go have another beer.


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## Patrick de Caumette (Oct 10, 2018)

I got over 400 minutes of original music at prime time on a major network (ABC) affiliate.
The ridiculous ASCAP survey system made it so that i never made a penny, since they claimed that the slot (7pm !) didn't fall within the survey's windows.
I had the backing of the network's president, spent hours on the phone with ASCAP, to no avail.
This would never happen with the french PRO, la SACEM.
They will collect every penny from the most remote bar anywhere within their juridiction.
ASCAP (and the US model) sucks!


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## Desire Inspires (Oct 10, 2018)

Patrick de Caumette said:


> I got over 400 minutes of original music at prime time on a major network (ABC) affiliate.
> The ridiculous ASCAP survey system made it so that i never made a penny, since they claimed that the slot (7pm !) didn't fall within the survey's windows.
> I had the backing of the network's president, spent hours on the phone with ASCAP, to no avail.
> This would never happen with the french PRO, la SACEM.
> ...



Speak brother, speak!


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## Desire Inspires (Jul 19, 2019)

Info for those of you still with ASCAP:


ASCAP’s Survey and Distribution System: Rules & Policies

Performance Use Types


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