| October 25, 2007
There has been considerable confusion about how to make payments to ASCAP for several years now. In fact, sometime in 2006 ASCAP ceased to process payments made by Society choruses. Unfortunately, after a period of time, someone within the ASCAP organization misplaced those payments and they are now gone forever. In 2005, the annual minimum payment due to ASCAP was $193. In 2006, that minimum payment was $201. In 2007, the minimum fee was $204. If your chapter had a show in any or all of those years, the chapter owes (or owed) the minimum fee for that year. In 2005, most chapters paid their ASCAP fee at the time of their show and the amount owed for the individual show(s) was less that the annual minimum fee. The chapters were still responsible for paying the difference between the annual minimum and what they paid at the time of their show(s). This was not always done. Sometime thereafter I suggested that the chapters pay the full annual minimum fee with their first show report for the year because 95% of our chapters would not reach the minimum fee based on the calculation specified by ASCAP. The other 5% of the chapters would owe more than the minimum fee. Frank Santarelli and I met with the folks from ASCAP on October 23rd and are very close to agreeing to a new process that will make life much easier for everyone concerned in the future. In the meantime, we need to clean up payments for 2005-2007. I ask that each chapter that had a show in 2005, 2006 and 2007 review their financial records to make sure that they paid the appropriate fee(s) to ASCAP. Please remember that in 2006 and 2007, although some of the chapters may have sent a check to ASCAP, those checks may not have been negotiated by ASCAP and are now lost. Those chapters will need to reissue a check to ASCAP for the minimum fee for those years. I know this is a hassle and we have worked hard to come up with a plan/process that will be much easier for everyone in the future. All payments for 2005-2007 should be made payable to ASCAP and mailed directly to Michele Wright, Director of Account Services, ASCAP, 2675 Paces Ferry Road, Atlanta, GA 30339. Be sure to identify your chapter by name and number and indicate the year(s) for which the payment(s) are being made. DO NOT SEND THE CHECK TO THE SOCIETY IN NASHVILLE. HERE IS AN EXCEPTION: ASCAP has kept and will negotiate the checks they received later this year and the following chapter checks will be cashed:
Again, those checks listed will be processed and those chapters do not owe any additional money for 2007. Please remember that if your chapter did not have a show in any of the given years, you do NOT owe the minimum fee to ASCAP. If you did have a show or shows, you do owe the fee. Within the next couple of weeks I expect to be able to announce an agreement with ASCAP for dealing with the 2008 and beyond fees. In the meantime, please review your records and let’s get everything up to date with ASCAP. They are truly our friends. If you have any questions at all about this, please don’t hesitate to give me a call. Thanx very much for your cooperation.
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