[Dixielandjazz] The Grinches at Ascap go to Camp

[tcashwigg at aol.com]

This folks just goes to show you how far these bastards will go to 
collect money, event to  the point of making people pay for a gift 
given tot hem by the author of the tune , yeah they are really 
protecting the artist interest herein.   One who donates his ropyalties 
to the organization they now demand to pay for the money they are about 
to get for free.


It is high time to burn them at the Stake.


Cheers,

Tom


This is what happens every time you give over power to represent you to 
anybody else and especially to a government or organization that  has 
YOUR BEST INTEREST AT HEART  at least until they start to collect 
substantial money.


JUSTY SAY NO !!  HELL NO !~! SHIT NO any way you want to understand it  
 What part of NO don't you bastards understand:))

Brings to mind another great quote:   Taxation with NO Representation 
!!!!


Cheers,

Tom Wiggins   and yes my Union Dues check is in the mail too !



-----Original Message-----
From: barbonestreet at earthlink.net
To: Tcashwigg at aol.com
Cc: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
Sent: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 12:37 PM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] The Grinches at Ascap go to Camp

   List-Message-Recipient: tcashwigg at aol.com
Just in case we think ASCAP started to go after the little people 
recently,
check this article from The Wall Street Journal 11 years ago. Note the 
$5000
penalty and 6 days in jail for willful violations.

It is well to note that the below action by ASCAP created a furor in the
media. Even Shaquille O Neal offored to pay the royalties for 10 years, 
as
all sorts of outrage was made public. And BMI offered all its songs to 
the
girl scouts free of charge.

Net result? The grinch at ASCAP granted a temporary waiver to the Girls
Scouts and others who sing songs, including Happy Birthday, around the
campfire.

Wonder if we poor OKOMers could generate some press outrage? Hey, maybe
Kenny G or Woody Allen would offer to pay the royalties for small 
venues who
hire live OKOM bands? Or maybe we could get some Girl Scouts to attend 
our
public performances? :-) VBG

Cheers,
Steve Barbone

The Birds May Sing, But Campers Can't Unless They Pay Up

By Lisa Bannon, The Wall Street Journal AUGIUST 23, 1996

Something is missing at Diablo Day Camp in Lafayette, Calif., this 
year. At
the 3 p.m. sing-along in a wooded canyon near Oakland, 214 Girl Scouts 
are
learning the summer dance craze, the Macarena. Keeping time by slapping
their hands across their arms and hips, they jiggle, hop and stomp. They
spin, wiggle and shake. They bounce for two minutes. In silence. 
"Yesterday,
I told them we could be sued if we played the music," explains Teesie 
King,
camp co-director and a volunteer mom. "So they decided they'd learn it
without the music."

Watching the campers' mute contortions, Mrs. King shakes her head. "It 
seems
so different," she allows, "when you do the Macarena in silence."

Starting this summer, American Society of Composers, Authors & 
Publishers
has informed camps nationwide that they must pay license fees to use 
any of
the four million copyrighted songs written or published by Ascap's 
68,000
members. Those who sing or play but don't pay, Ascap warns, may be 
violating
the law.

Like restaurants, hotels, bars, stores and clubs, which already pay 
fees to
use copyrighted music, camps -- including non-profit ones such as those 
run
by the Girl Scouts -- are being told to ante up. The demand covers not 
only
recorded music but also songs around the campfire.

"They buy paper, twine and glue for their crafts -- they can pay for the
music, too," says John Lo Frumento, Ascap's chief operating officer. If
offenders keep singing without paying, he says, "we will sue them if
necessary." No more "Edelweiss" free of charge. No more "This Land Is 
Your
Land." An Ascap spokesman says "Kumbaya" isn't on its list, but "God 
Bless
America" is.

Diablo, an all-volunteer day camp that charges girls $44 a week to cover
expenses, would owe Ascap $591 this year, based on the camp's size and 
how
long it runs. Another composer group, Sesac Inc., which owns copyrights 
to
such popular tunes as Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind," says it plans 
to
ask camps for another set of royalties this fall.

So far, Girl Scouts of the U.S.A., the national organization based in 
New
York, isn't playing along with royalty demands. But the American Camping
Association, in Martinsville, Ind., which includes many Scout camps, 
advises
members to comply. Diablo's regional Girl Scout Council in Oakland is 
low on
cash and decided its 20 area camps can't afford the extra expense. 
Rather
than risk a lawsuit, the council told all the camps to scratch 
copyrighted
songs from their programs even though only a few received warning 
letters.

"At first I thought, 'You guys have got to be kidding,"' says Sharon 
Kosch,
the council's director of program services. "They can't sing the songs? 
But
it's pretty threatening. We were told the penalty can be $5,000 and six 
days
in jail."

So, the camp's directors have scrutinized its official "Elf Manual" 
and, in
the section headed "Favorite Songs at Diablo Day Camp," have crossed 
out the
most popular copyrighted tunes with black Magic Marker. The Scouts know
about only a few of the banned songs because Ascap hasn't mailed out a
complete list; it comprises four million songs and runs 70,000 pages. 
Ascap
says it has, however, put a list on the Internet.

After finishing off hot dogs and s'mores for lunch, the Elves -- senior
Scouts charged with helping younger campers -- gather in a circle with
directors to decide what they can sing. "Is 'Row Row Row Your Boat'
copyrighted?" asks Holly Foster, a 14-year-old Elf with a turquoise 
happy
face on her cheek. "Row Row Row Your Boat" may float, the directors 
decide,
but "Puff the Magic Dragon" definitely is out. "How about 'Ring Around 
the
Rosie'?" another Elf asks. The directors veto it.

"We wanted to sing 'Underwear,' but it's set to the tune of 'Battle 
Hymn of
the Republic,"' says Mrs. King, the co-director. "We're not sure if 
that's
copyrighted; so, we don't sing it." "When in doubt, don't sing," advises
Site Director Leslie Shanders.

Even harder than figuring out which songs are which, directors say, is
explaining it all to young Brownies. "They think copyright means the 
'mean
people,' " says Debby Cwalina, a 14-year-old Elf. Mr. Holly explains it 
to
them this way: "The people who wrote it have a thing on it. A little 'c'
with circles around it. There's an alarm on it. And if you sing it, 
BOOM!"
That explanation doesn't always sink in. Alissa Fiset, age 8, crinkles 
her
nose when asked why she can't sing "Puff the Magic Dragon." While 
squirting
a friend with a water bottle, she says: "They did a rewrite on it. A 
copy
thing. But why can't they just take the 'c' away?"

Ascap, which is based in New York, defends the royalties. "Songwriters 
are
small-business people who write songs to make a living," Mr. Lo Frumento
says. "The royalties allow them to send their kids to Girl Scout camp, 
too."
The federal copyright act allows composers and music publishers to 
demand
royalty payments for any public performance of copyrighted material. 
The law
defines a public performance as "where a substantial number of persons
outside of a normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances is
gathered." Although the law has been on the books since 1909, Ascap 
began
notifying large music users, such as hotels, only a little over a 
decade ago
and more recently has worked its way down to small users, such as 
rodeos and
funeral homes. This year, it negotiated a reduced annual fee of $257 
with
camps enrolled in the American Camping Association. For camps, such as
Diablo, that aren't association members, the fees are higher, ranging 
from
$308 to $1,439 a year. Small camps that last two weeks or less get a 
special
rate of $77.

Penalties for noncompliance can be stiff. The law sets fines up to 
$25,000
or a year in prison, or both, for major infringements. Ascap, which 
sends
monitors around the country, has successfully sued restaurants, 
retailers
and private clubs, Mr. Lo Frumento says. While the law hasn't been 
tested on
camps, copyright attorneys say even little girls would lose.

"If you make an exception for the Girl Scouts, you could set a practical
precedent," says Russell Frackman, a Los Angeles copyright lawyer. "You 
give
the impression that a particular use is not an infringement, and that 
can be
used against you in the future."

Ascap contends that its members have contributed heavily to the Scouts 
over
the years. In 1940, Irving Berlin donated all future royalties from his 
"God
Bless America" to the New York City Boy Scout and Girl Scout councils.
Although the Scouts still get royalties from it, Mr. Lo Frumento 
concedes
that, nevertheless, they can't sing it without paying the fee. So, it's 
back
to black Magic Markers.

After finishing the Macarena at the Diablo sing-along, one mother 
whispers
that today is the sixth birthday of David Warneke, a camp volunteer's 
son.
"We're not allowed to sing 'Happy Birthday,' " warns Debi Jansen, a
co-director. Huddling with the Elves, the directors come up with a plan:
Sing a modified "Happy Birthday" to the tune of "Ninety-Nine Bottles of 
Beer
on the Wall." But Mrs. Jansen is worried. "I hope that's not 
copyrighted,
too," she frets.


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