[Dixielandjazz] Who is BMI?

Tue Apr 17 06:53:45 PDT 2007

Hi Scott,

I have composed some tunes, which I have copyrighted, but I never joined 
ASCAP or BMI.  I looked into it once or twice but something prevented me 
from joining.  Probably the fact that the songs I wrote were OKOM, targeted 
for a select audience, and most likely would never provide much of a return 
in royalties from those organizations, certainly not as much as the dues I 
would have to pay.  But you ask a good question.  I am curious too if there 
are ASCAP or BMI member on this list.  I would like to hear what they have 
to say.

Tom B.
----------------
>From: "Scott Anthony" <santh at pacbell.net>
>To: Tom Belmessieri <TBELMO at hotmail.com>
>CC: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
>Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Who is BMI?
>Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 18:53:55 -0700
>
>List-Message-Recipient: tbelmo at hotmail.com
>Is there anyone on this list (lurker or contributor) who is a member of 
>ASCAP or BMI? There must be some musicians who have written tunes that are 
>subscribers. Maybe if the membership of these organizations starts to speak 
>out, some things might change.
>
>Scott Anthony
>
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Scott Anthony" <santh at pacbell.net>
>To: <santh at pacbell.net>
>Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
>Sent: Sunday, April 15, 2007 9:58 PM
>Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Who is BMI?
>
>
>>List-Message-Recipient: santh at pacbell.net
>>Here is what I replied off list to Phil Eggers (who with his wife Gerri, 
>>by the way are VERY enthusiastic fans of OKOM) about his outrage with 
>>ASCAP and BMI:
>>
>>It is always the location that pays the licensing fees, not the musicians. 
>>This is part of the reason our era of music is dying out in terms of live 
>>performance in clubs/bars. Owners and managers of great places to play are 
>>not willing to pay the licensing fees, so live music is out. It seems like 
>>ASCAP and BMI and others are shooting themselves in the foot really. If 
>>live music is put out of business in an area, one of their revenue streams 
>>dries up. I don't really understand their logic.
>>
>>I ran into this problem last year when I tried to play one night a week at 
>>our local pizza place. They did not want to pay anything because then they 
>>would want to advertize, and as soon as a venue advertizes "Live Music" 
>>ASCAP, BMI, and at least one other licensing organization turns up 
>>demanding licensing fees. Between all three, the fees for Goat Hill Pizza 
>>would have been about $1000 per year. There does not seem to be any kind 
>>of sliding scale, or anything. Another problem at this location was that 
>>the owner was already paying licensing fees to the same organizations for 
>>playing background music on his CD player.
>>
>>It's all very well and good that composers and their estates and other 
>>copyright owners (now usually some big corporation like Time Warner or 
>>Sony) get paid for public performances of their music, but ASCAP and BMI 
>>base their payments to composers on local current airtime which means in 
>>our case, when I play an evening of compositions/songs written almost 
>>entirely before 1940, some #1 hit rock band that has a lot of radio air 
>>time gets a percentage of what the venue has to pay in licensing fees 
>>because the music we play has literally or practically zero play time in 
>>our area.
>>
>>It used to be that a representative would come to a club and "sample" the 
>>music so that the fees might at least be sent in the general direction of 
>>the true copyright owners.
>>
>>Here are some interesting articles:
>>
>>http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/12/03/BUGL13CH5H26.DTL
>>http://www.woodpecker.com/writing/essays/royalty-politics.html
>>
>>Last year I thought of a possible solution to this problem: start a 
>>Traditional Jazz Licensing Fee fund. Bands can
>>apply to this fund to get full or partial fee payments that locations can 
>>use to pay off ASCAP and BMI. I haven't thought through the details but it 
>>might be a possibility.
>>
>>Scott Anthony
>>Golden Gate Rhythm Machine
>>
>>----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve Barbone" 
>><barbonestreet at earthlink.net>
>>To: <santh at pacbell.net>
>>Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
>>Sent: Sunday, April 15, 2007 11:54 AM
>>Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Who is BMI?
>>
>>
>>>List-Message-Recipient: santh at pacbell.net
>>>sharp-b at clearwire.net asked about BMI (polite snip)
>>>
>>>>Just exactly who are these people who show up and demand this money
>>>>and level the fines? Do they actually have the legal authority to do
>>>>so? ?Are they from out of town, just sweeping through, threatening
>>>>people with fines, hoping they'll pay up??
>>>
>>>BMI is a performing rights organization which collects license fees on
>>>behalf of songwriters, composers, and music publishers that it represents
>>>and distributes them as royalties to those members who works have been
>>>performed. They represent 300,000 + composers/publishers and have 
>>>6,500,000
>>>songs under their control. ASCAP probably has more.
>>>
>>>They issue licenses to various users of music like radio and TV stations,
>>>internet music providers, ringtones, nightclubs, discos, restaurants,
>>>jukeboxes, live concerts, etc. They then track the public performances of
>>>members music and collect/distribute royalties to them. Easily tracked in
>>>large venues, radio, TV, Downloads, etc.
>>>
>>>So far, so good. HOWEVER. In restaurant, or other small venue live
>>>performances it is impossible for them to track whose music was played. 
>>>So
>>>they charge a flat fee to those venues which is calculated on venue size,
>>>and number of performances per year.
>>>
>>>ASCAP and SESAC operate in similar fashion.
>>>
>>>Who get those live unaudited Royalties? Probably only the top
>>>composers/publishing houses. Probably not the composer or publisher of 
>>>the
>>>songs we play in the Dixieland genre.
>>>
>>>Fees, start around $600 per year for a blanket license plus $35 per live
>>>performance. In essence, assuming all 3 companies go after a venue that 
>>>has
>>>OKOM on weekends, that is $1800 for the three licenses and $35 times 3,
>>>times 104 or $10,920 per year, plus the $1800 for a total of $12,720 
>>>payable
>>>by the restaurant, or pizza hut, or what ever. Maybe that's why Shakey's
>>>quit having banjo groups perform? Who needs to spend an extra $12,720 
>>>above
>>>the band cost when you can use radio music without charge.
>>>
>>>BMI represents 300,000 + composers, publishers and has 6,500,000 songs 
>>>under
>>>their control. ASCAP has more.
>>>
>>>That's why public domain songs are important. Any song published before
>>>1/1/23 is no longer copyrighted and therefore not subject to license 
>>>charges
>>>of any kind. However, since Congressman Sonny Bono got a copyright 
>>>extension
>>>law passed before he skied into a tree, NO SONGS THAT ARE COPYRIGHTED 
>>>AFTER
>>>1/21/23 WILL ENTER PUBLIC DOMAIN UNTIL AFTER 2019. (Because under the 
>>>Bono
>>>law, songs copyrighted between 1923 and 1978 are now protected for 95 
>>>years.
>>>So those 1923 songs, plus 95 more years of protection = 1/1/2019)
>>>
>>>You can probably bet the farm that when 2019 arrives, some "poor" soul
>>>crying about intellectual property will lobby Congress for additional
>>>extensions. It is a shameless rip-off. But it is also quite legal and if
>>>push comes to shove, BMI et al will most always win in court should they
>>>bring a suit and the fines are a lot larger than the licenses.
>>>
>>>Partial solution is to carry a list of public Domain Songs with you and 
>>>play
>>>them, and or write and play your own music. Show the list to Guido from 
>>>BMI
>>>when he shows up to check a venue. :-) VBG.
>>>
>>>BTW, songs copyrighted after 1978 are protected for the life of the last
>>>living author plus 70 years.
>>>
>>>Now you know why Michael Jackson bought the rights to a lot of Beatles
>>>tunes. They constitute a money factory for him.
>>>
>>>Cheers,
>>>Steve Barbone
>>>
>>>
>>>_______________________________________________
>>>Dixielandjazz mailing list
>>>Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
>>>http://ml.islandnet.com/mailman/listinfo/dixielandjazz
>>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
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