An Interview with Mark Northam

Atlas Plugged had the chance to chat with composer, editor and royalty guru Mark Northam about the pros and cons of our friendly neighborhood Performing Rights Organizations:

AP: You founded The Film Music Network and The Film Music Institute. You also publish Royalty Week newsletter and the International Music & Rights Organization Directory. The latter contains a supplement that describes how artists can affiliate themselves directly with foreign PROs. Sounds like a labor of love to me. Have you been burned by domestic PROs?

MN: I wouldn’t say burned. I made some bad decisions early on in my career, though. I went to UCLA, and didn’t learn much about Royalties. And I was an accounting major! So I made it my passion to really learn as much as I could about this stuff, especially regarding performance royalties. I mean, it’s not like ASCAP and BMI are holding seminars…

AP: JASRAC, GEMA, SACEM: how are most foreign PROs different from their counterparts in the US? Are their policies different?

MN: In Europe most of the countries have a single society to collect performing and mechanical rights royalties for artists, and in most cases, if there is not one society, than the performing and mechanical rights organizations are connected at the hip.

One thing that is important: unless artists affiliate directly with these foreign societies, they must go through their domestic PROs- which only throw out a number and then block your communications with the foreign PROs so that you can only speak to them.

They take deductions. How much? They say it’s 4%, but why don’t they show that? The cue sheets are wrong.

AP: How does this factor into the recent CRB decision regarding Web Radio in the US?

MN: Right now, in terms of sound recording copyrights, there are a lot of unanswered questions. PANDORA, one of the largest webcasters, has even cancelled all of their streams abroad. We are seeing a big period of questions and disruptions in services. Why? Because every country is going to try and do something.

AP: How do foreign PROs collect royalties? Do they do things differently?

MN: In Europe there is talk of a “Hybrid Right.” A single license. Depending on whether the sound recording is a stream or a download the split will factor differently. For a download, the majority of the royalties would be mechanical. For a stream, the majority would be performance.

You see, in Europe it all comes on the same statement.

AP: How can American artists affiliate themselves directly with overseas PROs?

MN: I know people who have called their domestic PROs to ask about joining foreign societies who were told “no, you can’t do that.” The problem is, you can. You have to call the foreign PROs directly. Then you can ask that particular society to represent you for more than just that country.

My favorite society- IMRO, in Ireland- I could call IMRO and ask them to represent me for the world (outside the US and Canada). The cool thing about that is that IMRO pays their artists electronically eleven times a year. And, they take no commission. So if SACEM in France sends IMRO $100 of your royalties, you get $100.

AP: Really? So how do they make money?

MN: From the float. That money might sit in their account for three weeks. They just collect the interest.

AP: Are artists better off abroad?

MN: Well, I find dealing with ASCAP’s member services to be a horrible experience. These European societies, however, have been around much longer. When we were fighting the Civil War they were collecting performance royalties.

They are far more experienced. The foreign societies are also more successful solving International issues. The Foreign PRO SACEM in France offers pensions. You can earn a pension. What a concept!

AP: Are foreign PROs right for everybody?

MN: Unless you have a very large catalogue, then it might not be all that beneficial. It might not be worth the hassle of dealing with different languages, etc. But the thing to remember here is that you can carve up the world and have yourself represented as you like. Many people will choose a foreign society and say “represent me for the rest of the world.”

AP: Why don’t American PROs allow their artists clear avenues of affiliation with foreign agencies?

MN: They don’t want to loose money.

AP: So, there are no services in the US to help mediate that process?

MN: None.