Posted on 08/06/2010 1:33:46 PM PDT by a fool in paradise
...P.R.O.’s license the music of the songwriters and music publishers they represent, collecting royalties whenever that music is played in a public setting...
...a significant portion of BMI’s business is to “educate” and charge — by phone and in person — the hundreds of thousands of businesses across America that don’t know or don’t care to know that they have to pay for the music they use. Besides the more obvious locales like bars and nightclubs, the list of such venues includes: funeral parlors, grocery stores, sports arenas, fitness centers, retirement homes — tens of thousands of businesses, playing a collective many billions of songs per year...
...Performing rights organizations in the United States came into being in 1914... It was formed in response to a 1909 amendment to United States copyright law that explicitly provided for performance rights as opposed to mechanical rights (paid to a performer who plays a song, regardless of who wrote it) or sync rights (music synchronized to pictures). The law — and ASCAP — were given new force when Herbert, then a celebrity composer for Broadway, sued a New York restaurant called Shanley’s after hearing one of his compositions performed there. The case took a couple of years to wind through the courts, but in the end, Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes decided for Herbert...
...a license may be as little as $300 a year. For really big operators, the cost might be as much as $9,000 per location per year, the maximum BMI is permitted to charge a single customer. (The fees are distributed to artists based on what BMI calls “an appropriate surrogate” — local radio or TV — that reflects a sampling of bars and restaurants in the area.)...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Article on BMI enforcement of music licensing for businesses.
Really really long, I had to whittle it down to just a few things. Had to omit more than half of what I wanted to discuss.
While this woman portrays herself as a poor wittle victim who gets intimidated by mean ol’ music cheat bar owners, I’d heard enough accounts of bar owners who’ve been shaken down by goons in suits who wouldn’t take no for an answer at paying up BMI/ASCAP protection fees.
Note, there is no audit of what songs are being played in the establishment if you DO pay up. They only snoop around to see if you have any infracting cuts if you don’t pay. So NONE of your money goes to the artists who you DO play, instead they prorate it based on radio and tv performance nationwide and in your community. Nickelback, Sinatra, Lady Gaga, and The Righteous Brothers are more likely to see your money than Cab Calloway, Billy Joe Shaver, Flaming Lips, or Perez Prado.
There are BMI executives in the article who bring up radio and say “but that music wasn’t free, the radio stations paid...”. Exactly, so why must you also pay BMI for having a radio on in your business (including a mechanic shop)?
They are seeking an ever expanding pool of people who must license the music. The statement is made that you can play that Ryan Adams CD at your private party (even if 500 people attend) but I doubt that is the case when it comes to a wedding DJ spinning at parties. And some scouts (boy? girl?) organization or camp got hit with fees for the campfire songs they were singing (even Happy Birthday is still under license).
I watched the Arcade Fire concert streaming on youtube last night. Before the show they had some interviews with some of the band. One of them started singing a song (In the Air Tonight I believe) and he said I better stop or we will have to pay. Kind of funny, but I think the actual limit is like 2 lines. Pretty ridiculous.
no property right left unattacked.
Two lines is still enough to pay up. In the old days of radio, you could get plugs for a bunch of songs by playing a medley (the band leaders on radio would do this).
The labels would pay you even more to sing the refrain so that people could ID the songs.
And then ASCAP had the balls to challenge BMI over “payola” in radio. ASCAP “ran things” until after the war but even as this article notes, would not publish race/R&B records or hillbilly/country. When new music started to take over the charts, ASCAP alleged unfair competition.
PS Payola is still in radio.
Note the laws changed in 1909. And then again. And then again. And then again. And then again.
Big Media owns the legislature these days.
>>I’d heard enough accounts of bar owners who’ve been shaken down by goons in suits who wouldn’t take no for an answer at paying up BMI/ASCAP protection fees.<<
I know one of those bar owners. The Ascap guy literally pounded his fist on the counter demanding that she fork over - are you ready for this - $800 a month!
She only has “originals” bands and this far has refused. It’s been about two years.
They will try to look at bands’ set lists and look for a “louie louie” or something among the bunch.
Also they will insist that if a tv is on, a commercial could come on with some song they own, ergo you pay.
None of the money gets back to the artists who are impacted.
It’s about collection, not payouts.
Yes, yes and yes. And she is still successfully fighting them. Actually she is basically saying “feel free to sue me”. Ascap would not want most Americans on that civil jury. :)
My favorite part: “I actually had a guy that I called the other day,” Baker told me, “and when I asked when he might be sending in his check, he said: ‘I don’t know, why don’t you call Obama? Ask him! He runs everything now.’
A good glimpse of the anger that’s out there. There is hardly any conversation in America without the Obama name coming up. He’s on top of people’s minds. People can’t seem to be able to wait until November. The massacre in November will be worse that most people think.
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