The Catalogue is estimated to be composed of over
12,000
music
titles (the “
Copyrighted Songs
”),
of which
approximately
1,430
royalty income in recent years.
EMI has provided the Trust with a listing of the top 50 earning songs in the Catalogue during the 2020 calendar year (the “
Top 50 Songs
”), together with certain copyright information with respect to each of the Top 50 Songs (the “
2020 Listing
”). A copy of the 2020 Listing, as provided by EMI, is included in the Trust’s annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020. The 2020 Listing does not include any information regarding Copyrighted Songs for the 2021 calendar year.
Payments to the Trust of the Contingent Portion are typically made in March, June, September and December for the prior calendar quarter. The payments received are accounted for on a cash basis, as are expenses of the Trust. The Declaration of Trust provides for the distribution of the amounts it receives in Contingent Portion payments to the Unit Holders after payment of, or withholdings in connection with, expenses and liabilities of the Trust.
The Trust’s financial statements reflect only cash transactions and do not include transactions that would be recorded in financial statements presented on the accrual basis of accounting, as contemplated by generally accepted accounting principles in the United States. The Trust does not prepare a balance sheet or a statement of cash flows.
These unaudited financial statements should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and related notes in the Trust’s Annual Report on
Form 10-K
for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020. The cash receipts and distributions for the interim periods presented are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the full year.
No provision for income taxes has been made since the liability thereof is that of the Unit Holders and not the Trust.
NOTE 3. GOVERNANCE OF THE TRUST
The Trust does not have, nor does the Declaration of Trust provide for, officers, a board of directors or any employees. HSBC Bank, USA, N.A. is the Corporate Trustee of the Trust, and Lee Eastman and Michael E. Reiss are the Individual Trustees of the Trust. Pursuant to the Declaration of Trust, Trustees of the Trust serve until their removal, resignation, incapacity, or in the case of Individual Trustees, their death.
On December 23, 2014, the Trust adopted a code of ethics (as defined in Item 406
of Regulation S-K under the
Securities Exchange Act of 1933) applicable to the Individual Trustees and the trust officers of the Corporate Trustee. A copy of the Code of Ethics will be provided to any person without charge upon written request to the Trust at its administrative office, c/o HSBC BANK USA, N.A., Corporate Trust, Issuer Services, 452 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. In addition, the Trust relies on the Corporate Trustee to abide by HSBC Bank, USA, N.A.’s Statement of Business Principles and Code of Ethics, which is available on the Corporate Trustee’s website at http://www.us.hsbc.com.
The Trust is not a corporate entity and thus does not have an Audit Committee. The Trust has established a policy with regard to audit, audit-related
and certain non-audit engagements of
its independent auditors. Under this policy, the Trust annually approves certain limited, specified recurring services which may be provided by the Trust’s accountant or independent auditors. All other engagements for services to be performed by the Trust’s independent auditors must
be separately pre-approved by the
Trust. Joel Faden acts as Chief Financial Individual providing accounting services for the Trust.
NOTE 4. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
The Trustees are paid in accordance with the Declaration of Trust, which provides that each Trustee shall receive annual compensation of $2,500, provided that such aggregate compensation to the Trustees as a group may not