They most definitely either demanded 2 years of back fees for no license during operation, and threatened to sue for much more if the owners didn't fork over a couple thou. Lame huh?
:Recently I was asked to join either ASCAP or BMI when a disc came out I was on, in order to "collect my pennies" when a non-college radio station played the disc (pretty unlikely in my ugly corner). I looked into both for a while and couldn't find much detail in the protection of this case here, and I started to wonder about it... would there be some music industry rep prowling the mom n' pop scene in some town where a worker happened to throw my music on in the cafe they worked at without getting licensing permission, and then my $.08 royalty would involve the fine some independent business had to fork over? It seems like these agencies could in effect hurt small business while making money on fines not trickled down to small artists who sign up with them. maybe i'm paranoid, but it was enough to make me feel that i'd rather have someone use my stuff like copyleft than potentially fuck over a small business indirectly.
:Anyone have any truth/fact/experience with this situation? I am curious, and interested in other people bringing it up here.
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::So I sent out a question about this to ASCAP...also are there any bands locally who are ASCAP members...
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:::ASCAP recently hit javalounge up for two years of back fees and a current years' licensing to not only play anything over the PA on cd or ipod format, but even local artists covered by ASCAP. Not only can you get hit with a $1,000 fine per transgression with recorded music, but if there's a live music component, a cover song can put a venue another 1,000 bucks in the hole.
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:::They recently served Luna's Cafe with a contract also.
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:::I think they DO go after mom and pop places, and the Sacramento representative is named Jeff. He drives a big black pickup truck with an electronic leg lift and a wife with a huge Tammy Wynette style beehive. Beware the ASCAP!
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::::I don't think The ASCAP/BMI royalty collector dudes get their panties in a bunch over "mom 'n' pop" places, they mostly keep track of chains, and they only collect a few cents a play in those cases. Your Pizza bros are remembering those fiasco-ass downloading trials and overreacting. Tell 'em to call ASCAP if they're really that worried.
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:::::Management at the pizza place I work out freaks out every time someone plays a cd in the store, because they claim they're running the real risk of a $10,000 (per artist played) fine at the hands of the music industry. Is there any truth to this? has anyone ever heard of a store getting $10.000 sucked out of them by a record company because they were playing a cd from home on the p.a.? Your thoughts, please.
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