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Local bar paying price for unlicensed music
The Mount Airy News ^
| July 30, 2010
| Reeser
Posted on 10/30/2010 9:25:25 AM PDT by Reeser
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Intellectual property is one thing, but bands can't play a couple covers in a club? I know the music industry has been clobbered...but when we talk about a "license" to play live songs? Who controls these licenses? Does performance art have to appeal to the government for a license? Am I just paranoid, or is this as frightening as it sounds? Any attorneys out there in Freeperland, who can set my mind at ease?
1
posted on
10/30/2010 9:25:32 AM PDT
by
Reeser
To: Reeser
What if I whistle a tune in public?
To: Reeser
Interesting that they are going after the bars and not the bands. Perhaps they don’t want to anger the musicians. But, I would think that this would do that anyway. The bars aren’t going to pay the license fees, they will require the bands to do it. Musicians will be eating their own. Not going to turn out well for the music industry.
To: Reeser
This is insane! I wonder how they came to choose this bar to take action against. Mount Airy isn’t exactly the center of the universe, and other than the locals, probably no one has even heard of this place. Why aren’t they taking action against the band that played the music?
4
posted on
10/30/2010 9:32:08 AM PDT
by
KoRn
(Department of Homeland Security, Certified - "Right Wing Extremist")
To: pieceofthepuzzle
What if I sing Kareoki? Will I be sued?
Looks like the end of fun to me.
5
posted on
10/30/2010 9:32:18 AM PDT
by
240B
(he is doing everything he said he wouldn't and not doing what he said he would)
To: pieceofthepuzzle
What if I whistle a tune in public? Well, you can't sing "Happy Birthday to You" in a public restaurant.
I recently explained why to my 23 year old niece, (she and her husband are hobbyist musicians) and she was shocked.
6
posted on
10/30/2010 9:34:28 AM PDT
by
Navy Patriot
(Sarah and the Conservatives will rock your world.)
To: Reeser
Does the bar have a Jukebox? If so, they are already paying royalties, if they had the Jukebox installed by a company that does that. And ASCAP isn’t then only game in town, there’s also BMI. This sounds to me like the dying gasps of a music industry that is fading away, due to the Internet. I say tough cookies. I play in a cover band. We don’t pay royalties, nor will we ever. The places that hire us have jukeboxes, and they pay fees every quarter to ASCAP and BMI through the company they rent the jukebox from. That covers any music played in their bar, even by a cover band.
7
posted on
10/30/2010 9:36:28 AM PDT
by
nobdysfool
(If the government was in charge of the Sahara, there would be a shortage of sand....)
To: Reeser
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday dear (whomever)
Happy Birthday to you
OK, sue me now.
The copyright laws were designed to encourage creativity — not to be a boon for those who have not created. Nor were they designed to create a sitting post with a fishing line.
8
posted on
10/30/2010 9:36:32 AM PDT
by
freedumb2003
(The TOTUS-Reader: omnipotence at home, impotence abroad (Weekly Standard))
To: 240B

Turn your self in. No more fun is allowed. Confess to your sin of fun.
9
posted on
10/30/2010 9:37:35 AM PDT
by
Lockbar
(March toward the sound of the guns.)
To: Reeser
No more singing to my dogs I guess.
10
posted on
10/30/2010 9:38:18 AM PDT
by
kanawa
(Obama - "The only people who don't want to disclose the truth are people with something to hide.")
To: Navy Patriot
Well, you can't sing "Happy Birthday to You" in a public restaurant. You're nuts. Only the weakest shadow of a human being would kowtow to that nonsense from the RIAA and other industry thugs.
11
posted on
10/30/2010 9:39:33 AM PDT
by
steve86
(Acerbic by nature, not nurture)
To: KoRn
Mount Airy isnt exactly the center of the universe, and other than the locals, probably no one has even heard of this place. That's precisely why they are targeting this guy: he probably doesn't have the resources to fight it and will settle, and then once the lawyers have established the precedent they can target larger venues from a position of strength.
They don't go after the musicians for two reasons: 1) the musicians don't have any resources at all, while the bars at least have some working capital that can be seized; 2) you don't want to tip off the musicians, just let them keep playing the copyrighted music so that other clubs can be targeted in the future.
12
posted on
10/30/2010 9:39:48 AM PDT
by
Cu Roi
To: 240B
“What if I sing Karaoke? Will I be sued?”
Based on some of the Karaoke I've heard I'd actually favor moving straight to incarceration.
To: Reeser
14
posted on
10/30/2010 9:43:37 AM PDT
by
LibFreeOrDie
(Obama promised a gold mine, but will give us the shaft.)
To: Reeser
IMHO, a live entertainer can perform whatever song they want to. Unless they're doing some kind of multi-song imitation of Frampton or some such, this is simply fair use.
If I want to play Sweet Home Alabama for a crowd, I'm bloody well gonna do it, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, as much as I like them, can kiss my ass...
15
posted on
10/30/2010 9:44:01 AM PDT
by
sargon
(I don't like the sound of these "boncentration bamps")
To: Reeser
ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC have turned into extortion rackets.
When I was in radio we had to pay those three a monthly licensing fee for the right to play the records - when in fact (at least back then) the artists and composers wouldn't have sold their music had it not first been heard on radio.
All music houses were scrambling to get stations to play their music - even leading to the big "payola" scam.
The stations were actually giving the music companies "free advertising", and yet had to pay THEM for the priviledge.
They never had to stoop to raiding bars and karoke houses before, so they are obviously hurting. Going after a song that is over 50 years old ("Walking the Dog") is a sign of desparation.
The artists and composers have wised up to these people and are publishing and distributing their own songs, without the splitting of royalties with the big three. The time for these rackets should be over and anything over 20 years old should be public domain.
16
posted on
10/30/2010 9:46:09 AM PDT
by
FrankR
(November 2nd is NOT an election - it's a RESTRAINING ORDER.....VOTE!)
To: Reeser
Good grief. One of my inlaws has a country music group and sometimes plays for pay in the local bars. This is pretty common here in Vermont, to have local bands play on a Saturday night. Or for that matter, to play at weddings and community celebrations.
Looks like it’s only a matter of time before the lawyers come around and put a stop to it.
17
posted on
10/30/2010 9:49:15 AM PDT
by
Cicero
(Marcus Tullius.)
To: sargon
"If I want to play Sweet Home Alabama for a crowd, I'm bloody well gonna do it, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, as much as I like them, can kiss my ass... "
Bars, karaoki, and the like keep people like Jimmy Buffet and his "Margaritaville alive. If not for people using the song, he would be long gone. The same for "Hotel California", and other signature songs. They actually make money from bars singing their tunes, but want to double up.
18
posted on
10/30/2010 9:50:23 AM PDT
by
Jaidyn
To: sargon
"If I want to play Sweet Home Alabama for a crowd, I'm bloody well gonna do it, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, as much as I like them, can kiss my ass... "
Bars, karaoki, and the like keep people like Jimmy Buffet and his "Margaritaville alive. If not for people using the song, he would be long gone. The same for "Hotel California", and other signature songs. They actually make money from bars singing their tunes, but want to double up.
19
posted on
10/30/2010 9:50:34 AM PDT
by
Jaidyn
To: Reeser
ASCAP......they’re a bunch of jerks.
20
posted on
10/30/2010 9:52:16 AM PDT
by
Psycho_Bunny
(Hail To The Fail-In-Chief)
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