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[zenmandan]

I was talking to a manager the other day that has been managing an establishment in Fort Wayne for several years. He said that it costs them around $4000 a year to pay off ASCAP and a few other licensing types companies. Specifically, he said ASCAP was about $1500 a year, which was around what the bar I used to manage in Terre Haute used to pay. Fees are based on the amount of entertainment you have (bands, dj's, juke box, etc.), TV's (whether you have cable) and other things along those lines. The bar I managed didn't pay their fees once and we were told to stop all entertainment until they were paid or we'd have some large penalties to pay. My boss had always paid before, he just forgot to send them a check, so we paid and Karaoke with Mad Mike was able to continue. Woot.

[Recordstar]

Harry Fox doesn't collect performance royalties. They collect mechanical rights fees for MOST (not all, but virtually all) publishers.

I stand corrected, thank you. Been thinking too much on performance royaltys lately.. However, you still need to check with HFA for that side of the house too.

[SurrealRecords]

I'm definitely a fan for protecting the artists and songwriters and making sure they are paid, but I think the system is broken and I don't think royalties are actually being paid to all the people that deserve them. There is no trail to show the artist is actually getting paid from the licensing fees that a club, coffee shop, fitness center, etc... pays in order to play or have licensed music performed in their venue. The club pays a fee and there is no obligation for logs of any sort (not that they could ever keep something like that anyways).

Since there is no log, The organizations (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, and more) "assume" the songs being played reflect commercial radio. Does music being played in a coffee house reflect the music being played on commercial radio? Most likely not and most likely the artist who actually has the rights to the "covers" being played are not actually the ones being paid. Sort of sucks that a small coffee shop would have to pay fees for an acoustic duo that comes in in order to pay the wrong people.

ASCAP and BMI are also two companies that recently have been going after venues that play the radio in the background. Now, technically the radio stations already paid music licensing fees so would making the small bar with a radio pay fees for turning on the radio be double collection? I have no idea, but its definitely been a debate. Legally, it has been called a public performance.

There is a bunch of BS with their system, but legally it stands and they are winning cases. The only way I can see to start winning back would be for a club to actually pay the fee and track all the songs played (like that would or could ever happen anyways). Go ask ASCAP for a log of the amount of money to see where it went. I'd bet it did not go where it probably should have. It probably didn't even go to a single artist. That is the shame of their system, but I doubt it will change anytime in the near future. I think it actually sucks for the smaller artists, but great for the artists that own the air with commercial radio.