I thought the the usage of copyrighted music was handled by organizations like ASCAP, and that anyone who paid the appropriate royalty could use the music.
I also heard a radio DJ who should have known say that “fair use” allows anyone to use 22 seconds of a song without paying any royalty. (I don’t agree with that sort of “fair use” which requires no royalty, if that’s how is it).
Does anyone really know how this works legally?
I am an ASCAP member. The campaign pays royalties to ASCAP and the band can do nothing but squawk about it.
As aformer radio DJ I can tell you that a radio station can get fined BIG TIME for using snipits of a song in a commercial without permission.