FREE THE MUSIC: Monthly ad-hoc bluegrass jam vs ASCAP/BMI
I go to a loosely organized once-monthly bluegrass jam hosted by a local burger joint. In addition to seasoned musicians, students and beginners are encouraged to participate. We play mostly traditional pieces: gospel tunes, fiddle tunes like "Red Wing" and "Soldier's Joy" and things like "Rocky Top." Due to limited parking being used up by musicians, hosting the jam was actually hurting the owner's business so it had to be moved to Mondays, on his slowest night.
The owner was recently contacted by ASCAP and BMI demanding $1,400 per year in licensing fees!
...and that is only two of the four prominent licensing organizations. Needless to say, ASCAP will probably suceed in killing this jam session.
I also go to a slow jam that is open to anyone that can count to four and shake a rattle in time with the music. Apparently, if anyone other than your mother and best friend are listening, it is deemed "public performance" and therefore requires a license. For the sake of other Anchorage musicians, I hope the other listed jams hosted at local cafes and coffee houses don't meet with the same fate. Who are the ASCAP nerds that go around takin' names, anyway? Why would you go out of your way to kill an amateur jam session? Maybe they are just frustrated musicians that didn't get the chance for a solo break. I don't know about your jams, but at ours, even the most rank beginner is offered a break and is politely tolerated and encouraged, even if it doesn't sound that good to begin with. FREE THE MUSIC
Ken Brown
Anchorage, AK
I've seen similar topics in discussions among house concert folks and for small venues that have live (paid) entertainment, but I had not heard of public jam venues being harassed.
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/58778.php
I know the large bluegrass club that operates in our area passes a donation bucket at the monthly open mic and acoustic jam... maybe they have 210 million dollars set aside just in case.
-Shawn
The worse part of this situation is that BMI doesn't do squat for the musician who's only cut one or five CD's and is going from gig to gig trying to make money performing and selling CD's. The $1,400 pays the big boys like Elton John, Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney for use of their tunes. BMI sends in stoolies to bars not displaying their marker and woe to the establishment who even plays elevator music in the women's john. You or the bar owner might have a case if you can prove all the music ever played was public domain but good luck.
You might want to take a couple of aspirin now... you're gonna have a headache before you're done...
The Better Business Bureau explains "Music in the Marketplace"
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About BMI & GL
16: Who Is Responsible for Public Performance Fees If Musicians Are Playing Live Music?
If the musical performance is taking place on the premises, the establishment is responsible for obtaining public performance rights. This responsibility cannot be passed on to anyone else even if musicians hired by management are independent contractors and exceed or ignore specific instructions on what music can or cannot be played. Since it’s the establishment that’s being enhanced by music, the establishment is responsible for ensuring it is properly licensed, similar to other legal responsibilities a business must handle.
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ASCAP & BMI -- Protectors of Artists or Shadowy Thieves?
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Here's one where the guy only performed original or public domain music and they still gave him a heck of a go!
HOW ONE INDEPENDENT MUSICIAN DEFEATED BMI
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The sounds of silence in Bernal Heights
Tavern owner ends live music after ASCAP suits
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Discussion of BMI issues at theSession.org
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Letter from Marilyn Kretsingerm, Assistant General Counsel to The Honorable John M. McHugh
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Scroll down to
PROs The Performing Rights Organizations
"Licensing is an "all or none" consideration. The PROs do not license song-by-song from their repertoires - you can't negotiate a license based on using only a percentage of their material. Traditional material that is not listed with any PRO is exempt from licensing, but keep in mind that artists do license their arrangements of traditional songs, and those do come under licensing requirements."
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Clubs must pay to play, suit says
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Snopes - "The well known song, "Happy Birthday" is protected by copyright." - True.
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100 things we didn't know this time last year
Here's an end of year almanac.
100. Musical instrument shops must pay an annual royalty to cover shoppers who
perform a recognizable riff before they buy, thereby making a "public performance".
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All That Is Not Given Is Lost: Irish Traditional Music, Copyright, and Common Property
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The Politics of Performing Rights?
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Irish Traditional Music and the Copyright Debate.
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BMI & ASCAP taking law suits too far
"Lawsuits are being filed even against clubs, bars and coffee houses that don't play copyrighted music, without any thought to fairness or justice. "
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Member of Black Hairy Possum
Webmistress of BHP and NEMOFOTMAD sites
I have been in the music business successfully since 1959 and sang and played with Pete Seeger, Dave Van Ronk and others, and have been involved in over 350 albums of recorded music over the past half century. I totally resent the intrusion of BMI and ASCAP in open mic and free venues and their claim that "there is no longer any such thing as public domain". They demand money if I sing my own songs and they demand money if I sing folk songs, even if they are 400 years old! They are killing the music business with their unmitigated corporate (or is it mafia???) greed, and they are making it impossible for young musicians and oldtimers such as myself to give to the public, to -- as Pete Seeger often said, "Do something for others not for profit". I plan to continue to host and participate in park concerts, and am planning sunday jam sessions in my meditation center just to show that I can't be scared into paying blackmail/extortion to anyone. I am looking into withdrawing from BMI and plan to join the massive class-action suit against them and the other organizations who have decided to punish musicians and the free venues that host them!