Your Studio's payment policy... how long do you wait?

[FMiguelez]

I'll send a separate bill for my advisory services.

Or else, I'll be hearing from YOUR lawyer

Seriously. I really appreciate all the advise and suggestions I get here. Hopefully I will get to be of assistance for you guys soon.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Hopefully I will get to be of assistance for you guys soon.

Huh? You certainly have many times over, my friend. Thank you.

[David Polich]

Just to add a few cents of observation -

Obviously, you will have to resort to legal means (even if it's only a threatening
letter) to try and recover the money.

Once you begin a process of that, don't expect any work from this company in
the future.

Be sure to determine whether the cost of legal action exceeds the amount to
be recovered. If it does, then forget about it - it won't be worth it. We've all
at one time or another done some work "for free" that we've had to write off (and believe
me, I write it off come tax time).

Lastly, life isn't fair, and in this world there are folks who intend to pay, and folks
who don't. If someone stalls on paying, beyond the payment terms date that was
agreed on, then they simply have no intention of paying you, and they count on
it being too costly for you to sue them for it.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

We've all at one time or another done some work "for free" that we've had to write off (and believe
me, I write it off come tax time).

If you have a good accountant and he advises you that's legal, then go for it. But a client simply not paying you is NOT "bad debt" as defined by the tax code. As for clients not using you in the future, it depends on the client. An occasional lapse may be forgivable, but a chronic problem or non-payment of any kind is grounds for legal action. Most of these payments are under $5k in my experience and small claims works nicely. Not sure if Mexico has such a system but frankly there's so much else going on there right now that I'd be wary of annoying anyone!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29583080/

[FMiguelez]

.

I consulted with a few Mexican colleagues about this as well. They are big studios. Most told me it was probably "not worth it", and, in such cases, they put the unpaid losses under "un-payable accounts".

But, I, being stubborn as a mule, and mostly too idealistic, I refuse to accept that. It's not so much the money per se, but the fact. It is just wrong. I feel that if I just shrug and accept it, I'm disrespecting my profession and encouraging such acts of bad faith.
So I did take this matter to my lawyer, and he's looking into this. The worst thing that can happen is that, being in Mexico, a place where laws were meant to be laughed at and being ignored, that he tells me that we would have to spend lots of money and wait for years to see any progress... Well, what the hell. It MAY very well come to that. But at least I will be satisfied that I gave it my best (reasonable) shot.
We may get surprised by this company, and we may get a full payment (plus expenses plus interest, in DOLLARS). Back then the dollar exchange was around 10 pesos to the dollar. Lately, it's been more like 15 pesos to the dollar, so I asked my lawyer that, AT LEAST, he should get the original amount in dollars.

He's still working on it. I will know what will happen soon enough

I'm not afraid of not working with CocaCola anymore. So what? Who cares? Who wants clients like this anyway? To give my best and then have them refuse to pay me again? (Se van MUCHO a la chingada. James would appreciate me not translating that)

Fortunately, all my other clients always pay... they take long, buy they ALWAYS pay. So those are the ones I care about and the ones I want to keep working with.

Michael:
WOW! I made it a point, long ago, to not bother listening nor reading news anymore. So you can say that I've been quite "disconnected" from the very pleasant and encouraging Mexican news.... until now. Wow. That link you provided is more than disturbing. I knew things were going bad, but not THAT bad

Fortunately, those things happen up-north (mostly), and, as long as you are not into distributing drugs, or anything illegal, you should be ok... in theory. But we always need lots of luck to not get randomly kidnaped in this ugly city.

And you are totally right saying you'd be wary of annoying anyone down here. You just never know if that person is going to be THE wrong person to piss off!! It's very dangerous. That's why, I always try to remain calm when driving, just minding my business, and not being a hot shot... graveyards are full of those people.

I just hope nobody at that company that owes me money is related to any drug cartels

But seriously, those killings, those drug problems, and those bad-news make everything else look like a walk in the park in comparison, including clients not paying

[FMiguelez]

.

Si, señor!! A HUEVO!

My lawyer just called me. My check is ready. He made them pay me what they owed, plus a handsome extra for all the trouble.
He has it, and Monday I will pick it up.

I just wanted to give this topic closure, with a golden bracket

Drinks are on me

Thank you all that participated in this thread!

[James Steele]

(Se van MUCHO a la chingada. James would appreciate me not translating that)

James lives in San Diego, a 30 minute drive from the border of our good neighbor too the south. So I understand enough to get the gist! And I don't pay you. Non-paying or more often LATE paying clients are a pet peeve of mine. How many times have I heard "Oh, we didn't get that invoice." Or when I call and tell them they're past due (on Net 30), that's when they tell you they didn't get it. With some people I email the invoice in PDF, then follow up with a phone call to their Accounts Payable to CONFIRM they got it. Then ask them if they need a W-9 form (needed for independent contractors in U.S.-- not every one asks for one), because sometimes I call after 30 days and they say "Oh... we can't pay that until we have a W-9"... but they're not going to tell you that, they'll just hold your money longer.

I knew someone who worked in Accounts Payable at a big company and they told me they hated it because they're whole job was maximizing cash flow by putting off as many vendors as they could for as long as they could... but not so much that the vendor would stop doing business with them. I used to do some work with Sea World here and there which is owned by Anheiser Busch. After the giant Dutch beverage company bought AB, they sent a letter out to all the vendors informing them that ALL invoices from then on would be payed NET 120 DAYS!! They said you could notify them if that wasn't possible, but it might mean they would seek out an alternate vendor. I wrote them and declined saying that I could not let them keep my money for FOUR MONTHS after performing work for them. Oh well.

[FMiguelez]

.

I hear you, James.

Yeah, I should've figured you might understand my profanity



As the economy continues to deteriorate here, Ad Agencies are taking longer and longer to pay too.
My girlfriend was just "let-go" from her agency last week, and next week they will let go 50 or so more people there! Apparently, they were like 70% short of their income goal for last semester, and are approaching red number operation very quickly. And it's one of the biggest agencies here!

And they are shooting themselves in their feet. They are doing the same kind of productions for MUCH less money. I think that 5 years from now, they will cease to exist, and be replaced by much smaller offices dealing with less accounts.

I'm starting to feel the bite! I think I will have to diversify more, and probably even have to go back to doing music for soap operas again Not very glamorous, but royalties are VERY good, and I get to write music that I like anyway (suspense, action, intrigue, etc.).

Let us go on strike

[SixStringGeek]

As the economy continues to deteriorate here, Ad Agencies are taking longer and longer to pay too.

I see that happening everywhere - not just the studio biz. Everybody is trying to get some slack in their cash flow by delaying payments - which is just making everything tighter.

[mikehalloran]

Are you a member of ASCAP, BMI or SESAC? If not a member of one of the three performing rights organizations (PROs), why not?

You have been performed. Someone should be looking out for your rights. That's what the PROs do.

If you have not filed the Copyright certificates, technically, you can't sue for violation - doesn't mean your lawyer can't threaten. Anyway, get your certificate filed, get cue sheets in order -- ask your PRO how to do that -- and, at least get your performance royalties. Your PRO has already collected the monies, they just don't know whom to pay. Normally, you have a one year window from your last performance to do this and three years to go after someone for Copyright violation.

The above only applies to your rights as the composer and publisher (If you are doing the licensing, you are the publisher). For monies related to being the artist/producer/performer etc. none of the above applies. Get a good contract attorney.


Disclaimer: The above opinions are my own. I am not an attorney nor am I practicing law. I do not speak for anyone other myself. I am a songwriter/publisher member of ASCAP since 1986.

[FMiguelez]

.

Hi, MikeHalloran.

In order to avoid being repetitive, and because of the similarity of my response, we could continue here:

http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtop ... 69#p307330

I do belong to a PRO: SGAE.

Thank you.