Comments on: Hard Times for Jefferson’s Small Music Venues

By: LarZ

LarZ — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 16:49:08 +0000

Hey Jerry! Reading this post? Care to join us in the newest discussion regarding the CSM article?

What is BMI doing for small venues and emerging performers, Jerry?

By: donnie

donnie — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 23:17:00 +0000

thanks tom,

post this to the new list, please.

yes, we are at it again.

like some bad drug. or better, some idiotic commercial tune stuck in our heads (for which we continuously pay a consciousness tax).

i think we should be able charge rent for the invasion of our consciousness by such commercial junk.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 22:54:10 +0000

It seems to me that this is pretty over the top. I am a painter and if I want to paint something or someone I can do it. I can paint anyone – celebrity, politician – anyone – and there’s nothing anyone can do about. I can paint and sell a painting of Tom Petty if I want. Nothing anyone can do about that. Images of famous people are out in the world and fair game to any artist that wishes to create art based on them. I can’t, however, make ‘multiples’ of someones image, for sale, without their permission. A person automatically owns the rights to their own image – and although I can create a piece of art work from anyones image (and sell it if I want), I can’t REPRODUCE it for profit. No one can say “you don’t have a right to use someones property without permission”. Although your image is your ‘property’, I can paint it, draw it or sculpt it. I am an artist and free to paint what I want. It is when I wish to reproduce your image for profit that licensing comes into play.
A song is out there in the world, once released to the general public, just as is an image. If I have a song in my head or heart or wherever, and I want to sing it or play it on the guitar, I should be able to do that. If I want to record someone elses song and sell the recordings, I should get permission and pay a royalty. If I want to sing that song on a streetcorner, in my car, the park, a coffeehouse, a church or school I should be able to do that, as there isn’t any money involved. The song is free to live in the world anywhere but in America. People all over the world are singing and playing Americas songs. But not in America, thanks to BMI and ASCAP. I’ve grown up with Bob Dylan’s songs and used to enjoy playing them with my friends. Never made any money doing it, they were songs in my heart and I could sing them if I wanted to. Don’t think Bob Dylan would mind, honestly.
Now an industry that can say that a small business in a town of 3500 people should have to pay the same ‘tax’, ‘license fees’ or whatever you care to call it as a similar business in New York City or Las Vegas is an agency with it’s head in it’s ass and no grasp of reality.
I strongly urge Americans to boycott ASCAP and BMI artists altogether, since they are letting their agents remove the music we’ve supported and loved all our lives from our lives.

By: Jerry Bailey

Jerry Bailey — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 23:12:36 +0000

Donnie –
Sorry I confused you. We do have agreements with songwriters to represent the public performances of their music — that is, to collect their royalties and distribute to them. There is no charge to songwriters for this agreement. BMI has about 300,000 songwriters and composers under such agreements, along with about 75,000 publishers. We don’t require songwriters to have a license to perfom their own music, and we don’t have such a license that we can offer them. If a songwriter were to own a venue such as a bar or club where songs belonging to others are performed, that songwriter, like any other business owner, would need a BMI music agreement to cover those songs which he doesn’t own.

BMI licenses the venues, not the songwriters. Under copyright law, anyone involved in the performance of music (recorded or live) could be held responsible, but in practice, only the venue is required to be licensed.

BMI is exploring ways to pay royalties to songwriters who don’t have radio, television or major concert tours. Most BMI revenue comes from those sources, so those songwriters receive most of the royalties at present. Writers who play only small live venues don’t receive muich at present because the collective revenue from these venues is very small, and there are so many songwriters at this tier of their career. Also, under most scenerios, tracking the music in such small venues would cost more than the revenue collected.

Stay tuned. Recently, however, there have been some suggestions put forth which may make it possible to improve this situation for songwriters who play only small venues. If we can find a viable way to make it work, we’ll do it.

Also, we now have new technology to identify brief pieces of music in commercials, jingles and themes played on radio and TV and hope to pay those songwriters more accurately in the near future. We recently announced royalty distributions tied directly to music performed in NFL and NHL stadiums and arenas. We can identify that music now, whereas, in the past, royalties from those sources was distributed according to radio airplay of songwriters. For some time, we have been able to distribute on the songs played on web sites, digital jukeboxes, and commerical music services. Royalty distributions are increasingly becoming more accurate for everyone, and more writers are able to share in the distributions.

Jerry

By: donnie

donnie — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:54:39 +0000

“In fact, BMI doesn’t even have a music license to offer songwriters, unless they own the establishment where the works of others are played without permission.”

jerry, i’m not sure what this means? you don’t have agreements with songwriters, unless they own a venue?

By: Jerry Bailey

Jerry Bailey — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:26:14 +0000

Dear Clusteruc#k –

BMI doesn’t trade stock on any market and is not directly affected by changes in the market. BMI doesn’t pay dividends to any stockholders, either. Sorry to disappoint you.

Dear FunGus –
A songwriter has the exclusive right to perform his/her songs anywhere. The “suits” cannot “take you down” for singing your songs. In fact, BMI doesn’t even have a music license to offer songwriters, unless they own the establishment where the works of others are played without permission.

If stores or cafes want to play background or mood music, there are a number of commercial music services which are licensed to provide such music in businesses. They provide a wide range of music, and it doesn’t cost a whole lot. And there’s always radio. No additional BMI or ASCAP license is required, since the CMS has already paid that.

Great songs do add a lot to the ambiance of a business. That’s why songwriters and composers expect to get paid for public performances (recorded or live) of their work.

Jerry

By: Clusteruc#k to the poor house

Clusteruc#k to the poor house — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 18:17:28 +0000

Ever since BMI came and swept gigs dry, when I walk into businesses in Siskiyou county I don’t hear any background mood music in any stores or any cafes. Wow its so sad! Thank You all of you sell outs! Maybe BMI will loose their asses in the stock market and they will join the cluster!

By: donnie

donnie — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 15:55:51 +0000

uh oh, here we go, again.

By: FunGus

FunGus — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 15:31:46 +0000

Nice stuff, JD.

Just don’t go around singing them in public… the suits’ll take you down!

By: Jim Dyar

Jim Dyar — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 21:51:06 +0000

A bit of news here. The affable Casey Beathard was named BMI’s songwriter of the year. He co-wrote a bunch of hit mainstream country songs this year.
Here are some examples of his work:

… from Rodney Adkins’ “Cleaning this Gun (Come On In Boy)”:

“Come on in boy, sit on down
And tell me ’bout yourself
So you like my daughter, do you now?
Yeah we think she’s something else
She’s her daddy’s girl her mama’s world
She deserves respect, that’s what she’ll get, ain’t it son?
Now y’all run along and have some fun
I’ll see you when you get back
Bet I’ll be up all night
Still cleaning this … ”

… from Billy Ray Cyrus and Miley Cyrus’ “Ready, Set, Don’t Go”:

“She’s gotta do, what she’s gotta do
And I’ve got to like it or not
She’s got dreams too big for this town
And she needs to give them a shot
Wherever they are”

Open up my bank account and ship all my money to Casey Beathard. The guy is a genius.

I’ve been listening to these crappy lyrics from James McMurtry’s 2008 album “Just Us Kids.”

… from the song “Hurricane Party.”

“Candles flickered on the back bar
The building was shakin’ from the wind
I bought a whiskey for the gypsy
And she turned my leather back into skin
Just a fleeting sense
Of that rare suspense
I once thought made the world go ’round

Some insurance man biker is yelling out for one more beer
But a part-time pirate just can’t get much respect around here
We got our problems too man
We’ll get to you in just a minute
Sit your drunk ass down
Yeah there’s no one to talk to
When the lines go down”