[Dixielandjazz] Regarding BMI...FROM JOHN SOULIS

[Edgerton, Paul A]

Unfortunately, John Soulis made some mistakes in his summary of
copyright (not "copy write") law and licensing organizations.

Not to deprecate John's work, but to clarify, here are a few of the ones
I noticed:

#1: Licensing organization do not enforce copyright law, the courts do
that.  The licensing agencies just collect licensing fees, usually by
means of a blanket license.  If no fees are due (say you perform only
your own original music and nobody else does) then the licensing
agencies have no interest in you at all.

#3: The profit motive has no bearing on the collection of license fees.
When you use somebody else's intellectual property, you owe them a fee
(absent some other agreement).  Some types of use require written
permission, others can get a "compulsory license."  Some limited use is
permitted under the Fair Use Doctrine, but just what constitutes "fair
use" is a slippery thing.

#4: In the US, copyright is inherent in the work itself.  You are
entitled to copyright protection even if you don't include the copyright
symbol (c) date and name of the owner.  However, doing so protects your
rights in some other countries and can help establish ownership in the
event of a dispute.

The answer to the question "Where does the money go?" is: some of it is
retained by the agency as a fee or commission, the rest is paid to the
copyright holders (not necessarily the author) in the form of royalties.


If you really want to know the gory details, read the Copyright Act of
1976, and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and then discuss them
with your favorite entertainment law practitioner.  Or just take the
easy way out and stick with public domain source material and your own
original works.  Many people just don't worry about it.  After all, you
can't get blood from a turnip.  Right?

-- Paul Edgerton