General Music Chat

Wow, thanks for all the kind words everybody. I get the Lyle Lovett comparison alot and man....if you're going to be compared to somebody it's great to be compared to Lyle Lovett....a fantastic artist in every way and he had sex with Julia Roberts besides......

I think we do it, because we can. What was the question again?

We protect musicians very well, here thanks to organizations such as ASCAP. We just don't have any way to coddle musicians doing a bar gig using other peoples material and letting them know that they are the ones actually breaking the rules.

Um... Opening Can-O-Worms now...
Just a clarification regarding "playing a Beatles tune at a bar gig"

From the ASCAP website:
"Some people mistakenly assume that musicians and entertainers must obtain licenses to perform copyrighted music or that businesses where music is performed can shift their responsibility to musicians or entertainers. The law says all who participate in, or are responsible for, performances of music are legally responsible. Since it is the business owner who obtains the ultimate benefit from the performance, it is the business owner who obtains the license. Music license fees are one of the many costs of doing business."

Most venues including bars, city park & rec., state fairs etc. who offer live music pay an annual music license fee to Harry Fox for this service and it covers the performers. We play several Beatles tunes so I checked it out.

Correct. Both Ascap and BMI have reps who's responsibility it is to collect royalties from businesses that have live music and businesses that use pre-recorded music as well. The monies go to Ascap and BMI members who are composers. Currently, only royalties are paid to composers and not to performers. Performance pay for music is supposed to be the job of the musician's union. As most of you probably know, maybe 10% of performers are actually members. But the more successful in a music career you are, the more likely it is you will become a union member. Individual performers are not required to report the use of another's composition.