Youth In Harmony Challenge

Has your chapter completed the first “Youth In Harmony Challenge”?  If so, let us know about it!  Now is the perfect time to support a local school by attending a concert, helping them with ushering or fundraising, or introducing a Singing Valentine’s Program to a school’s choral department.  You can also complete the “Challenge” by identifying a qualified member of your chapter to serve as your “Chapter VP of Student Activities” for 2009.  Once you complete any of these, send an e-mail to youthchallenge@barbershop.org by January 31, 2009.  In an upcoming Harmonizer, your chapter will be recognized and listed as completing the “Challenge."  Check out page 50 of the September/October 2008 issue of The Harmonizer for more details!

New Membership Brochure Flying off the Shelves!

This new brochure is designed with eight-panels and four folds. One of the eight panels has room for mailing and return address information. When unfolded it creates an eye-catching 10x17 poster which can be displayed proudly at your meeting location, at local schools or the break room where you work. It can be customized to include chapter meeting and contact information using a stamp or address label. It is available in lots of 50 for $14.99 or lots of 10 for $4.99, plus shipping by visiting www.harmonymarketplace.com or calling 800.876.7464.

Use the New Membership Video PSAs to Promote Barbershop to Potential Members

The Barbershop Harmony Society is always looking for ways to expand awareness and attract new members to our organization.  Video is one of the most popular mediums available to organizations to get their message communicated to others. Click on this link /videopsa.aspx to visit a web page where you can  download five different video PSAs available to Society chapters. You can have a tech savvy member of your chapter “right click” to download these files to a computer and burn these DVDs yourself in house and make as many copies as you want at no charge. You can also visit the Society’s official channel on www.YouTube.com “Barbershop38” to grab the code for the 60-second International PSA and embed this code on your chapter or district website. If burning your own DVDs is not an option, you can also call the Harmony Marketplace at 800.876.7464 and order a quantity for these for a nominal fee.  The item number is 202423. Each DVD will have three PSAs with the Society’s toll-free membership hotline (60/30/15) and two local PSAs (60/30) that can be customized with a chapter’s contact information.

ASCAP Update

If you have/had a chapter show in 2008, please send a check for a minimum fee of $210 made payable to the Barbershop Harmony Society and send it to our office here in Nashville.  We (the Society) will see that the appropriate fee is paid to ASCAP. 

For 2009, we have established the annual minimum ASCAP fee to be $215 and we ask that you follow the same payment process as outlined above until further notice.  

For chapters that have shows to the extent that they would exceed the annual minimum fee of $210, please use the percentage of .0050 as a multiplier against your gross ticket sales in order to calculate the amount you owe ASCAP for each show.

Most chapters will not even come close to the annual minimum and should just pay the annual minimum with their first show license fees.

Questions should be sent to John Schneider jschneider@barbershop.org.