General Music Chat

The last I heard Europe provides that all musicians are covered under licensing laws so musicians have an easier time receiving money for their performances. From what I gather they belong to licensing agencies like ASCAP that collect money for their performances along with recorded material. The Europeans seem to value art and their artists a bit more than we do here.

And politically...... I think the answer lies in a balance between Liberal and conservative beliefs. I'm liberal and i think the Dems are screwing up phenomenally and they are becoming as corrupt as the Reps. But you gotta protect the little guy sometimes. The playing field is not even no matter how hard you argue against it, and the rich would ride roughshod over the poor if you don't provide some sort of protection.
I'm for the total public funding of elections right now. It won't solve all the problems but it will get things going again.....

We are not Europeans. You are wrong when you say the Democrats are screwing up . Our whole constitutional system is being played like a fine tuned fiddle. Even Hillary Clinton got screwed out of an honest shot at being the democratic presidential candidate.

Stranger, The problem is the corruption on both sides.
you also sound like a total liberal that has forgotten that it is the Govt that is so large and out of control rides roughshod over the poor. I don't understand were all you liberals keep blaming the wealthy for all the problems of our country. A wealthy man makes 1 million dollars, and pays 5 hundred thousand in taxes. A poor man makes $1000 and in all the evil of hidden taxes and fees pays 500 dollars. And all the dems and reps stand up and say ... see how much we help the poor. Vote for us. Our government was set up so that we do not make the wealthy poor ,, but we create an economy were we make the poor,,,, wealthy. Why do so many people have a FLOCKING PROBLEM WITH SUCCESS!

ANYTHING less is Socialism . WE ARE NOT EUROPEANS.

Ah Sh it ... here we go again.

Eh...just cuz it ISN'T American, doesn't mean that it's ipso facto UN-American! It may be a very good idea to adopt this sorta thing in the USA, but I'd wanna delve a bit deeper into it before jumping into anything whole-hearted.

No idea about this? Out of the loop to be honest. Perhaps some British folks could comment?

There's no right and wrong answer to ANY of these political arguments. Take the stimulus bill. I keep hearing what a giant waste of taxpayers dollars it is. On one of the local news programs they are researching where all the stimulus dollars have been spent in Kansas and Missouri (I live in the Kansas City metro area). They went out to Marion Lake in central Kansas to see that some of the stimulus dollars (about $2 million) had been spent improving the campgrounds and installation of 13 brand new pit toilets. They interviewed one of the campers and he said it was a huge waste of dollars. This project only provided about 80 temporary jobs which lasted a few months. Then they interviewed the administrator of the state park and he said there was a significant increase in tourists because of the campground improvements. Then they went to a nearby town and interviewed the owner of a local sporting goods store who had seen a large increase in business since the completion of the campground project. Then they interviewed one of the manufacturers of the campground equipment and they had a huge increase in sales. So maybe the "waste" of taxpayers' dollars wasn't really a "waste" after all. Maybe instead of yelling and screaming because we don't see instant gratification maybe we should wait and see a gradual improvement of the economy as the stimulus dollars gradually kick in. It takes a LONG TIME TO RECOVER FROM A RECESSION. The government can't help anybody if it doesn't have the funding to do so. Time will tell...

Awesome, Bob. Very moderate and patient perspective; there's too many extreme points of view these days. It will take a long time to recover, but we're Americans and we will persist and succeed.

First we already have that system that stranger was talking about.
Any time you play a public performance such as a bar, you are supposed to report the use of someone else's intellectual property,,[song] to the proper performing rights organization and pay a royalty. Think about that the next time you play a Beatles song .
Fortunately this rarely enforced because of the tiny amounts of money involved and the sheer number bands playing small venues. Try and do it for a commercial or TV show and the results would be PAY up.

Chris you are right ,I was wrong.. I meant to say you are wrong about just blaming the democrats.
The way you would just walk away because someone is not going allow a lie and says you are wrong... That's the problem with people when they get their feelings hurt because someone says they are wrong. Put your hands over your ears and eyes. Chris you can pick on me all you want at least you are civil.

As far as following any european model, I just smacks of ONE WORLD GLOBAL GOVERNMENT. Slowly this is being fed into the American way of thinking. Our history and culture have been downplayed. Our president traveled and apologized to world leaders,,,, for Americans.

Bob , I didn't get into anything about the stimulus bill, I guess creating 80 temp jobs is much better that just handing out unemployment checks. Sad thing is some one like Phil could have handled contracting a job like that,,,,but he would have had to post surety and performance bonds that would have cost to much and besides he probably wouldn't have known who to pay off.

"ya gotta keep em separated"

Seattle... huh

Bob,

I bet the costs of the work in that park far out weighed the profits from it by a long shot. Gov union temporary jobs. Over paid state union worker jobs that cost people in the long run because the gov doesn't have any income other than what comes out of your pockets. No jobs here.

So we pay for the "stimulus" bail out. I hardly consider stealing my hard earned money and trashing our children's future by putting them into debt to give employment to a few over paid over pensioned state workers "jobs" for two months real job creation.

Hey STRANGER, just wanted to add something more important. You have some really cool tunes up on your profile. Thank you Dean, I really enjoyed them and your video. Next time don't be such a stranger.

Who called "THE BITCH PATROL" and didn't notify me.

Wtf, I bitch better than you do.. lol