Broken Bands and Old Songs

[Silencio]

Venues that host live music pay licensing fees to ASCAP and BMI that cover the music played in the venue. The hall/theater/bar owner pays it, it's not the band's responsibility.

I don't know a lot about trademark, which is what image stuff like Kiss's make-up would fall under. I'd guess that if Kiss wanted to stop tribute bands from using their trademarked images, they could, but what would be the point? Those guys probably help sell records.

[Recordstar]

Live performance royalites are covered much the same way ...EXCEPT... you may have heard of various venues paying a "fee" to ASCAP, BMI, SESAC...etc.. such as nightclubs, Coliseum, The Verizon Center, Ramada Wagon Wheel...and the list goes on. There is a formula that calculates the fee that is paid to the Professional Royalty Organizations (PRO's). It's based on the history of the venue and other factors. These are then distributed, usually quarterly by the PRO to the appropriate authors. There is more to this actually, but that is it in a "nutshell". And it is much the same for radio plays and TV broadcast (music videos) and such. I'm not going to get into "trademark" issues regarding tribute bands. That's a whole issue in itself.

[echosauce1]

Thanks for the response. One more and I'll quit bugging you. Does the fee a venue pays apply to each instance of the song a band performs or is it covered in an all inclusive deal that also covers songs played over the pa between sets? I imagine a flat fee thing exists for other business like restaurants, stores and the like that provide prerecorded music over dinner and such?

Also thanks for clearing up copyright vs trademark. I wasn't thinking about it when I wrote it but it makes sense. Two totally different things.

[echosauce1]

Sorry, recordstar posted while I was typing. He beat my question to the punch.

[Recordstar]

Thanks for the response. One more and I'll quit bugging you. Does the fee a venue pays apply to each instance of the song a band performs or is it covered in an all inclusive deal that also covers songs played over the pa between sets? I imagine a flat fee thing exists for other business like restaurants, stores and the like that provide prerecorded music over dinner and such?

Also thanks for clearing up copyright vs trademark. I wasn't thinking about it when I wrote it but it makes sense. Two totally different things.

The "fee" is calculated on the "overall activity" of the venue and each PRO's music control participation, and not necessarily on a per song basis. Each PRO has "counters" that monitor the various venues in their area and the PRO applies those figures to their "formula" to determine the fee. This usually applies to all performance venues to include karaoke, DJ's...etc.. Did that help anymore?? Damn..we need that workshop !!!!

[echosauce1]

Yeah, that helps. I understood from your first response but like I added, I was typing when you posted so I didn't see it until after. Thanks though. I think the workshop would be a good idea.

[bassjones]

Okay, one more. Fame by David Bowie. That signature guitar lick is a direct rip off of a classic James Brown song. You know "Fame, do do do do do do"... Can't remember the JB tune, but it's note for note.

[Silencio]

Well, we're getting away from law and into opinion here, but in my opinion, the lick in "Fame" would not be actionable. Any given guitar lick has been played a million times, and in "Fame," there is no attempt to reproduce the timbre of the original (I don't know which JB record you're referring to either, bassjones, but "Fame" doesn't sound like a JB record).

You could probably get someone to litigate it, but I don't think there's a snowball's chance you'd win.

[bassjones]

True dat.