[Dixielandjazz] ASCAP, BMI et al

[Dave Stoddard]

Dear Listers:

Steve Hoog wrote, in part:

"Why, then, do we bitch and moan about ASCAP and BMI and SESAC when they're 
doing what their members want them to do?  After all, if it wasn't for ASCAP 
and BMI there would be almost NO money exchanged for any performances or 
recordings, and what would happen to the recording industry?  Would you let 
a song be recorded and performed freely, live or recorded, with absolutely 
no possibility of compensation for your work?"

I, too, partly agree with this.  The problem that I have is that the 1923 
cutoff for the public domain makes it virtually impossible to compensate 
composers of older tunes.  The Sonny Bono Ripoff Act should never have been 
passed.  Something like copyright protection for the life of the composer 
plus fifty years would have been much more reasonable.  Under that scenario 
the music of King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Walter Donaldson and George 
Gershwin would now be public domain.

Even a 75-year copyright would be better than what we have now.  That would 
free us up to 1932, and would leave a huge inventory of OKOM tunes to work 
from without fear of retaliation.  Composers who wrote popular songs in the 
1920s would almost all be over 100 years old by now, and almost none of them 
are left to compensate.

Regards,
Dave Stoddard