[Dixielandjazz] ASCAP

[willc]

I have not been an ASCAP member long enough to know whether there was ever
racial discrimination in membership, and given the overwhelming dominance of
Jews in it, I'm inclined to doubt it.  I do know that there was never a class
distinction in membership. You either qualify for membership or you don't. There
was a time when you could sign up as an "associate" but that didn''t get you
royalties.

Instead of fairy tales and supposition, girls, why not try looking at WWW.
ASCAP.COM which tells all about copyrights, licensing, how ASCAP works, etc. BMI
probably has a website, too. And you'll probably be able to contact Marilyn
Bergman, a prominent songwriter and ASCAP president, who will provide you with
facts.
Kindly,
Will Connelly


Mike Durham wrote:

> Steve Barbone wrote (extract):
>
> >Jelly Roll Morton's royalties? I think ASCAP did not let him join until
> >shortly before he died. So, he never made much money at all on
> >royalties.....
>
> >He may well have sold the licensing rights to his tunes for $100 each to
> >some one else. (Melrose?), because there was no way for him to collect, but
> >I do not know this for a fact.
>
> - In fact, Jelly was admitted a couple of years before he died, to ASCAP's
> lowest possible category. He then left his royalties to Anita Gonzalez (tho
> some say she wrote his last will & testament for him), and her estate still
> collects them. However, the Melrose brothers wrote banal lyrics to many of
> Jelly's published tunes, and thus got half the composer royalties as well as
> the publisher's slice. Jelly was really mad about that (see the great book
> "Oh, Mister Jelly!" published by Jazzmedia aps).
>
> Mike.
>
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