[Dixielandjazz] "Copyright Vultures"

[eupher dude]

What a disgusting phrase.

ASCAP and BMI are both poorly run, in terms of working with the membership they supposedly represent, so it's time for the members (more specifically, the members who are not major labels) to do something about it.

I don't have membership in either.  So, take whatever you want with a grain of salt, or a pound of it, I don't care.

The complaint is that payments are not made, that all the money is staying with the big guns and with the organizations.

So, do something about it.  Complain.  Raise hell.  Get involved.  Get others as pissed off as you are.

It does no good for those of us who are working musicians to bitch and complain to each other about it, either.  We need to take things up with ASCAP and BMI.  I've had several long conversations with a couple of different ASCAP reps.  They are not "vultures", they are doing their job.  

Look, it's simple.  A composer joined ASCAP because they were promised payment from performances of their work.  How else is a composer going to make money?  Yes, there are movies and TV and stage shows, but c'mon.  A composer has the right to make money off a piece of music he/she writes.  A performer who uses that music to make money owes something, in the case of recordings.  A club owner who uses that music to make a lot more money than they pay a performer owes something, too.  

It's called the law of the land.  And, ASCAP and BMI are the main US groups which are essentially hired by the composers and publishers to make sure the money is properly collected.  If that money doesn't make it to the proper channels, that's wrong, but responsibility lies with the client--the composer or that composer's rights holder.  After all, most composers sell/sold the rights to those tunes, often for very little.  Complain about the big houses making lots of money off a tune?  You didn't have to sell it.

You have recordings commercially available?  You don't want to make money from them?  You'd rather have them dealt over Limewire or whatever, and never see any $$?  Fine, that's your choice.  If I hear a recording I've made on the radio, I want to be sure I'm going to see my 5 cents for that.  I'll fight for it, because if I hear it on one station, it's probably played on many more stations.  And, that's what BMI does, partially, is check logs and get payment.  And distribute those payments.  Hopefully.

But we can't bitch about those on the front lines.  They want to see music performed live too, because their income depends on it.  

Don't complain, take action.

steve "enough is enough" hoog

_________________________________________________________________
Windows Live™: E-mail. Chat. Share. Get more ways to connect. 
http://windowslive.com/explore?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_t2_allup_explore_012009