[Dixielandjazz] Re: ASCAP

[Bill Gunter]

Listmates,

Tom Wiggins writ (concerning ASCAP et al):

>Let's not forget BMI & The Library of Congress either folks, they are 
>equally
>as onerous, all set up just to extort money from writers and composers, and
>owned and operated by a select few famous "organized composers"just to rip 
>off
>songwriters.  And we also have SESAC which is big int he same business in
>Europe.

Tom went on to recite an anecdote concerning a tour his band was on over in 
Italy. His piano player actually owned all of the material (he was the 
composer and copyright holder) and yet SESAC tried to get money from him to 
honor the copyright laws. Tom called it "extortion."

You know, it may amount to the same thing (extortion) but in actually we're 
looking at an established bureaucracy. It has regulations to which it must 
adhere regardless of the circumstances. The agent who tried to collect the 
money was simply being a good bureaucrat and was only doing his job.

Naturally administrative expenses must be paid first before the remaining 
moneys are sent to the copyright holders. Alas, the administrative costs 
simply grow with the bureacracy and after a normal period those costs 
actually exceed the moneys collected. However, since they are charged with a 
social function (providing funds to the artists) it would be unseemly for 
them to actually collect more money from them to fully cover the 
administrative costs.

Therefore, the artist should be grateful that he/she is not charged extra 
for the dedication of the SESAC employees in making sure that the artist 
gets what is rightfully his or hers.

Is this a wonderful world or what!

Cheers,

Bill "By the way, you all owe me money" Gunter
jazzboard at hotmail.com

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