[Editor Charlie sez: Follow the money.]

Songwriters, producers and managers are asking why ASCAP isn’t paying them just when they need income the most.

Discontent is said to be brewing among ASCAP writers who are still waiting for their promised April income distribution. The PRO has already made its latest scheduled publisher payment but a letter from CEO Elizabeth Matthews went out to writers saying their money would be delayed. ASCAP’s letter blamed the fact that it works on a “cash basis” rather than an “accrual basis,” meaning payments are based on income received in the same quarter, rather than money stored up from previous quarters. And when closed businesses declined to pay stipulated licensing fees on time (or at all), they were caught with a shortfall.

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