[Dixielandjazz] ASCAP SURVEY

[Stephen G Barbone]

> "Roy (Bud) Taylor" <budtuba at gmail.com> asks:
>
>
> What I'm wondering here is of all the bands represented on this  
> mailing
> list, how many recall any action taken by ASCAP against restaurants  
> because
> your band played a post-1922 song?  More specifically, here is an  
> online
> poll of information on the subject:
>
> 1.  Did you ever play for a venue without their coverage of ASCAP  
> licensing
> (to your knowlege)?

YES
>
> 2.  Did you ever play for a venue where an ASCAP official contacted  
> the
> venue during or after the event and demanded compensation?

YES
>
> 3.  If so, how much did ASCAP request?

NOT SURE but it was for a monthly fee of around $500.
>
> 4.  If you played ASCAP tunes, and ASCAP demanded compensation from  
> the
> venue, did ASCAP merely slap their hand (the first time) or follow  
> through
> with legal action to collect compensation?

REP DIDN'T KNOW  IF WE WERE PLAYING ASCAP TUNES
>
> 5.  If ASCAP did contact the venue about performance of tunes  
> published
> after 1922, was there a representative of ASCAP at the event taking  
> notes or
> talking with management, or the band?

HE SPOKE WITH BAND AND WITH MANAGEMENT. AS SOON AS HE SPOKE WITH US,  
WE PLAYED PRE 1923 TUNES. MANAGEMENT TOLD REP TO GET LOST SINCE THIS  
WAS A BLUES VENUE AND THEY ONLY PLAYED BMI SONGS ON THEIR HOUSE SYSTEM  
and BMI TUNES BY LIVE BANDS .
>
> 6.  If this has happened to your band, does ASCAP hound your band's
> performances to collect from additional venues after they first  
> discovered
> your infraction?

NOT SPECIFICALLY TO MY KNOWLEDGE. HOWEVER A COUPLE OF  VENUES OVER THE  
YEARS HAVE ASKED US NOT TO PLAY TUNES UNDER ASCAP LICENSE. FOR THEM,  
WE SUBMIT A LIST OF PRE 1923 TUNES, AND/OR BMI TUNES WHICH WE WILL  
PLAY AT THEIR EVENT, OR TUNES WE HAVE RENAMED AND CLAIM WRITER'S  
CREDIT FOR..
>
> 7.  How many jazz societies represented herein to this mailing list,  
> pay a
> fee to ASCAP, and if so, how much to they pay?

DON'T KNOW.

> It seems that this policy, if true, would be counter to ASCAP's best
> interest.  For example, if they do actively monitor restaurants, or  
> village
> recreation committees who sponsor concerts, or small-time music  
> festivals,
> jazz societies, etc., that they would be more inclined to advise the  
> sponsor
> on the first infraction, rather than coming down hard on them with  
> very high
> compensation "fines".   Perhaps, the licensing reputation is what  
> causes so
> many young performers from avoiding evergreen songs that have ASCAP  
> coverage
> by only performing songs they have composed.  This would mean that  
> as new
> performers populate the field, the performance of ASCAP songs were  
> be ever
> impacted to the point that in a very few number of years, people  
> would NEVER
> hear an ASCAP song in a public performance.

BEST INTEREST? Well, I think the ASCAP police work on some sort of  
percentage basis. So they will lie, cheat and steal to get a venue to  
pay "royalties".  Naturally those royalties will never go to the  
composer, but simply be used to cover overhead and tpay the policemen.  
It is a SCAM.

Another way to get around ASCAP is to simply rename the tune. For  
example play sweet Georgia Brown (1925) but call it something else.  
The ASCAP police will not know the difference, especially if you play  
without charts..

The modern jazz guys did this time and again. Monk's "Bright  
Mississippi" is "Sweet Georgia Brown" and his "Hackensack" is "Lady Be  
Good" etc. Even Country Joe McDonald of The Fish, called "Muskrat  
Ramble" . . . ""I Feel Like I'm Fixin To Die", or more popularly known  
as "One Two Three What Are We Fighting For?"


> Comments from all of you on any of these questions would be very
> interesting, I am sure.  Should we WORRY about being put out of  
> business by
> ASCAP?

NAH, just don't play their songs.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband