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Permalink Reply by Chris on October 14, 2010 at 2:28pm

Kathy Fadorsen said:

It was an issue with my store I had local artist their own music was told I would have to prove I was not playing any one of their artist music.They hounded and threatend with a lawsuit and fines. I consulted a lawyer and was told it would be to costly for me to fight it just pay or stop all music.

If you feed a stray cat out your back door, they tend to come back and see if there is still food there. If you back down from BMI and ASCAP's empty threats, they still use them.
My response was, "Bring it, you have nothing, I'm (and i was at the time) no-profit, and my artists are being compensated on premises for their own works. Send your truck loads of lawyers, and let's get this over with."
Oddly enough, I've never heard from them again.
If you're clean, it's a scare tactic. If you are actually playing the copyrighted tunes of a composer or author in your place and not compensating them via ASCAP or BMI, then I'll be driving that truckload of lawyers to your place to bust you.

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Kettyle on October 20, 2010 at 12:31pm

I've paid ASCAP over $500 this year. Now I've got SESAC calling me and sending letters weekly. We have live, local music every night (only charge cover 2 nights a wk.), but we definitely want to be able to use Ipods and CD's. I'm finally sending them a payment.

I pay more than $1k a year just in licensing fees for music.

I find them to be rude, pushy, and snarky whenever I have the displeasure of dealing with them on the phone.

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Permalink Reply by Dennis McQuoid on October 25, 2010 at 12:56pm

I was in a cafe a couple weeks ago. Their music was Hawaiian music streamed from the local cable TV guide station. So I had pleasant music to listen to while I enjoyed my lunch. And by watching the monitor, I knew exactly what was going to be on TV for the next two hours!



Jeff Jaworski said:

Maybe pump an internet radio stream through the shop's speakers? Perhaps an international station like Triple J so as to circumvent whatever laws there are here in the US concerning internet radio??

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Permalink Reply by ryan mcdougall on October 26, 2010 at 1:42pm

Ascap and BMI Cannot sue you for using unlicensed music. It's just not possible, they don't own the rights to the public performance of unlicensed music. And as far as them demanding you prove that you're not using music either one owns the rights to, well, I believe, after reading up on it at wikipedia and Law.cornell.edu, the burden of proof in this case would most likely be on the plaintiff. I think... It f'n should be. If not you should be able to counter sue them stating that they owe you money, and have been playing music you own the rights to without your permission and you wouldn't have to prove it. Then the courts would be a mess with frivolous suits. Well, here's some more info...

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-...

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Permalink Reply by Brady on October 26, 2010 at 2:41pm

As I understand it, the biggest risk is that the musician that is playing at your shop might play something that was licensed and your staff might not realize it. If there happened to be a witness in the audience, you are on the hook for 10k. There are stories of ASCAP sending in plants to do just this, and there is nothing at all illegal about this practice. Infuriating though.

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