- Alter Ego on Facebook
- Local classic rock cover band Alter Ego perform at 69 Taps in Medina on August 31, 2013. The bar and its former management are being sued for copyright violation for having the performance and not paying licensing fees
Last August, a suburban Cleveland classic rock cover band called Alter Ego got together at 69 Taps in Medina on a Friday night and belted out the standard classic rock tunes: “Jesse’s Girl,” “Fortunate Son,” “You Really Got me,” “Brown Eyed Girl” and, of course, “Free Bird” among other songs of that ilk that every cover band plays.
But this week, the bar, company that used to operate it, and the two guys who controlled that company now face a copyright lawsuit in federal court from Broadcast Music, Inc — the massive and powerful music licensing organization — and the companies that hold the copyrights to 10 classic rock songs performed that night, who are alleging “ten claims of willful copyright infringement.”
Venues where music is played — bars, restaurants, clubs, theaters, whatever — must pay a licensing fee to the licensing company or they risk facing federal lawsuits from those massive national organizations. BMI owns the public performance rights to 8.5 million songs and they want to make sure they get their cut from any place that plays any of them, recorded or live, even if it’s just hosting a performance of by small-time cover band made up of regular guys with day jobs getting together for the fun of it (the band is not liable: it’s the sole responsibility of the venue to get the license).
The stakeholders
The suit is spearheaded by Broadcast Music, Inc. BMI controls the public performance licensing rights to 8.5 million songs. For any of those songs to be legally played publicly, venues pay BMI a fee for access to their catalogue, and BMI then distributes most of that to the copyright holders. In fiscal year 2013, for example, BMI collected more than $944 million in licensing fees and distributed $814 million to its member songwriters, composers, and music publishers.
Also joining BMI in the suit against the bar are the music companies that own the actual musical composition copyrights for the songs that were performed, such as Universal, Concord Music Group, EMI Virgin, Fourteenth Hour Music, Springtime Music, Dandelion Music, Jay-Boy, and Cyanide Publishing.
Those 10 corporations are bringing the copyright infringement lawsuit against the following three following parties:
-1: T-Man, LLC, the company set up by two guys (below) that controlled 69 Taps locations in Medina, Akron and Wadsworth.
-2: Jon Middendorf, who was a “managing member and President of T-Man, LLC” with “responsibility for the operation and management” of the bar, who had the “right and ability to supervise the activities.”
-3: Thomas Manfreda, who was “a member and Secretary” of the company and bar.
As of last November, Middendorf and Manfreda no longer have a stake in 69 Taps, according to a bartender at the Medina location.
The show in question
“Cleveland based classic rock cover band” Alter EGO is made up of four suburban guys with corporate jobs who perform every so often at sports bars in Northeast Ohio. The Medina 69 Taps bar hosted them on a Friday night last August. The band is not named in the suit because they are not responsible or liable for anything in it, but a Facebook event listing for the performance and subsequent pictures posted on social media detail it was them.
Here are the 10 songs 69 Taps and its former owners Jon Middendorf and Thomas Manfreda are accused of violating the copyrights of, when they “caused (the songs) to be publicly performed at the Establishment” on August 31, 2013:
-1: “Bad Moon Rising” written by John Fogerty
-2: “Brown Eyed Girl” written by Van Morrison
-3: “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” written by the members of Poison
-4: “Fortunate Son” written by John Fogerty
-5: “Free Bird” written by Allen Collins and Ronnie Van Zant of Lynyrd Skynyrd
-6: “Jessie’s Girl” written by by Rick Springfield
-7: “Mustang Sally” written by Bonny Rice
-8: “Some Kind of Wonderful” written by John Ellison
-9: “Talk Dirty To Me” written by the members of Poison
-10: “You Really Got Me” written by Ray Davies of The Kinks
The Alter Ego performance of these songs — which are seemingly played by every rock cover band with at least one suburban white guy between the ages of 35 and 65 — is federal lawsuit-worthy, per the BMI complaint, because it caused them “great and incalculable damage”:
The specific acts of copyright infringement alleged in the Complaint, as well as the Defendants’ entire course of conduct, have caused and are causing Plaintiffs great and incalculable damage. By continuing to provide unauthorized public performances of works in the BMI Repertoire at the Establishment, Defendants threaten to continue committing copyright infringement. Unless this Court restrains Defendants from committing further acts of copyright infringement, Plaintiffs will suffer irreparable injury for which they have no adequate remedy at law.
They are asking the court to prevent 69 Taps from playing any of the music, to pay money for damages, and for attorney’s fees:
A. Defendants, their agents, servants, employees, and all persons acting under their permission and authority, be enjoined and restrained from infringing, in any manner, the copyrighted musical compositions licensed by BMI…
B. Defendants be ordered to to pay statutory damages…
C. Defendants be ordered to pay costs, including a reasonable attorney’s fee…
D. Plaintiffs have such other and further relief as is just and equitable.
Questions and answers
I reached out to Cleveland attorney Robert E. Chudakoff, who’s representing the 10 corporate plaintiffs, for some more specifics about the case. He didn’t return my phone call and forwarded my email to a BMI spokeswoman at their national office in New York. She responded to a few of my questions via email.
About what made the August 31 set by Alter EGO an “unauthorized performance” (more than the hundreds of cover bands playing this exact moment), she responded:
Copyright encompasses several different rights, one of which is referred to as the “performing right”, by which songwriters, composers and music publishers hold the exclusive right to play their music publicly and the authority to allow or not allow others to do the same. Any performance of music “outside a normal circle of family and friends” is considered a public performance that requires permission from the copyright holder. Therefore, if the proper music license is not in place at any particular establishment and copyrighted songs are being played, that is an infringement.
On the legal issues at play in the case against 69 Taps, she said:
The legal responsibilities to license music are outlined in Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Act. As stated above, in order to publicly perform a copyrighted musical work, the establishment at which music is offered to the public must have authorization from the copyright holder. The protection afforded by copyright enables songwriters to earn a living from their music so that they can continue to create new music.
Before bringing suit, BMI makes extensive efforts to attempt to license a business. It is often the case that we will reach out dozens of times over extended and lengthy periods to offer our establishments ample time to respond and to enter into a BMI license. We even try to visit some of the establishments in person, at which point we may confirm that certain songs are being played without proper permission. Even after we have identified that musical works are being performed and infringed upon, BMI attempts once again to offer to resolve the matter by offering a license. Filing an infringement action is our last resort.
About what bar owners need to do in order to host cover bands while being copyright compliant, she said:
Any business owner that plays (or wants to play) music publicly, will need the proper music license in order to be compliant with the copyright law. A single BMI license is cost-efficient and provides legal permission to publicly perform more than 8.5 million musical works by more than 600,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers.
Further reading
Check out the “frequently asked questions” page on the BMI site just to see more about how the system works
For some perspective on what bar and club owners have to deal with to play music in their businesses, check out “License to Kill the Music: ASCAP & BMI Bullying Local Music Venues” by the Phoenix New Times.
69 Taps Copyright Lawsuit (PDF)
69 Taps Copyright Lawsuit (Text)
This article appears in Mar 19-25, 2014.
The moral of the story — don’t blab about things on Facebook.
Wow, what bullshit. Makes sense why 69 taps is under new ownership…all these b.s. laws now a days, can’t even have a party without having a license to party….title 17 of F*** you!
Songs have been covered by bar bands for decades. Now it’s a crime?
Typical of the litigious time we’re living in.
Moral of the story…Don’t play shitty music.
A must read for all places providing music to their customers; and as it says in the complaint, “recorded or live.” I think this is terrible! What a money grubbing society we have become. I have known for a long time that it’s been all about the money, but this is just too much!
Every restaurant and bar that plays music, whether live or even a jukebox has to pay licensing fees to BMI, SESAC and ASCAP. ALL Bars and Restaurants have to pay and 99% do to avoid these lawsuits. Its common knowledge in the hospitality industry. Seems as though 69 Taps didn’t pay their licensing fees when every other bar in the area does.
Not saying it is right (sure its the big guy beating up the little guy), but bars have been paying licensing fees to these companies for decades. Why does 69 Taps think it is exempt? 69 Taps should have paid the $300 licensing fee (and this covers a full year)….now they face expensive attorney fees.
Just not how an operation is supposed to be ran. A good operator and music promoter would of paid the fees to avoid this kind of disaster.
Unfortunately 69 Taps will lose this case if it goes to trial. there is too much precedence for the licensing companies not to win.
Uhh…what you people don’t seem to realize is that bars and clubs need to pay their BMI/ASCAP licensing. Period. This isn’t a new law.
Umm, it’s not a small fee like 300, its more like 5000 to 10k per year depending on size. Its not just bmi, you have to pay ASCAP too.
moral of the story… play real music, quit with the crappy covers
Maybe that will FINALLY get these obnoxious songs OUT of bars and bands old, tired playlists!! FINALLY!!!!
To the lumpheads here that keep wagging a finger and telling musicians to play ‘originals’. You are the same ignoramous’ that wouldn’t lift one cheek of fat crack ass off your broken down sagging couch (television internment device) to go see a band at an establishment, because you are too lazy, too crotchety, and most of all … too tone deaf to even appreciate a live (or otherwise) piece of music. Since you are clearly out of touch by a couple decades (as if you geeks ever fit into any cool scene ever), hear this loud and clear: the people that go out to hear live music, enjoy covers. Especially from that rich period represented by the short list that comprises the substance of the lawsuit dealt with in this article. Sure, originals are cool … but the rule of thumb is: maybe one or two a night. At most! People wanna hear the songs they know and love. So lumpheads. Go back to your solid diet of fat chips, bratwurst and sugar wash drinks …. turn the flatscreen up so you can hear it, and shut the f*** up!!!
This is perfectly normal in most countries around the world.
If you are a venue and make money from music you have to pay the artists (well the organisation that collects for the artists). If you are a clothes store and play music to your customers all day, you must pay.
If the band makes a record of which music they play then royalties will go to their favourite musicians. If they play original music, the money will come back to the band itself. Otherwise it’s distributed on averages from radio play.
Kind of shocked that a music venue wouldn’t be aware of their responsibilities here.
BMI and their lawyers are the scum of the earth. Can’t anyone here do basic math? They collected $944mil and gave the artists (whom I’m sure had no choice) $814. Anyone else reading this have a company that went out and gave itself a $130mil raise by screwing all the little guys in the country? I’m sure CCR gets a check for $.33 a year for their “damage,” that a bar band sang their song giving them free publicity. It’s just another form of a class action lawsuit which is tons of money for one attorney agency and pennies for the real victims. I love BMI’s response about “reaching out.” This is the same move the mafia uses on little business, “pay us insurance so you are protected. FROM US!” Don’t pay and we make a huge example out of you! Scum bags!
Screw BMI!
Hire bands that play ORIGINAL music! The musicians that play good original music need YOUR support!
We need NEW music out there anyways,this isn’t the 70s anymore!
If you want music you need musicians. It costs money to play music. Instuments, travel,education ect.. It’s not a cheap investment to dedicate part of your life to music. If we’re lucky we may write some songs people want to listen too. Should we not be paid back for our investment? Are musicians not aloud to take part in the free market at all? If you make spaghetti sauce and people love it, you sell it. You make some money off your invention and to protect your investment you had it copy written. Now if someone wants your recipe or just to use your sauce they pay for it. Why can’t you all see that’s what ASCAP and BMI are doing for their talent? Musicians need them so we can continue to be musicians. Let the musician have a future and pay them. We all enjoy some form of music it’s so let keep it.
As a SESAC published and licensed songwriter, I think this is a good thing. It’s in part how I make my living. Venues should know that there are three (3) music licensing organizations; ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. All three licenses should be obtained by the venue to be fully covered.
As a published and licensed songwriter, this is a good thing. It’s in part how I make my living. Venues should realize that they must be licensed by all three licensing organizations to be fully covered; ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC.
Can BMI prove these songs were played? What garbage
All venues that play music, whether live or streamed on a radio must pay a fee to the 3 licensing companies. BMI,ASCAP and SESAC. A venue the size of 69 taps is about $200 per license for the entire year. 90% of the money goes to the musicians who actually writer the music that is being played. Yes, the companies make profit but they are protecting musicians. Surely, you can’t fault them. It seems that 69 Taps just had some bad owners who were unaware (or didn’t care) of the laws that would allow them to run such a business. These fees are as necessary as rent and utilities in a bar…
exactly what Jessica said. if you’re going to start complaining about unfair charges driving bar owners out of business, encourage them to stop paying for liquor licenses and just open up in a storefront and start selling. better yet, find bootleggers so they don’t have to pay those unfair taxes on every bottle of booze. savings are everywhere if you look.
Well, if the damage is “incalculable”, then award them NOTHING, and make them pay the attorney fees for the Defendants.
BTW, I’d like to see a cover band called “The Defendants” that refuses to get or pay those licensing fees!
Fight The Man!!!!
To all the “struggling songwriters”: we don’t REQUIRE you to do what you do. I suspect you do it because you like it, and a few would do it for free! The Grateful Dead had no problem with, and, in fact, encouraged bootleg recordings of their concerts! They didn’t ask for licensing or recording fees from their fans, and those bootlegs probably brought in far more fans than any music company could have with traditional marketing techniques.
So, BMI made $130M enforcing those copyrights? Why aren’t the songwriters demanding more of that profit? I’ll wager the CEO of BMI makes more than 90% of the artists under their control!!
Better still, how about a licensing agency that operates as a non-profit entity? IMHO, venues might feel better about paying the fee if they knew all of the profits were going to the songwriters.
Finally, how much money should a songwriter get for a hit song? Maybe the fans would feel better about paying instead of pirating if a hit song went into the public domain after a few years! Why should we pay Warner Music a fee to sing “Happy Birthday” at some venue when the songwriters have been dead for years? IMHO, they’re acting like patent trolls!!
A bar band playing cover tunes… Great and incalculable damage?? You have got to be f***ing kidding, right, BMI?
BMi… They probably don’t care if you cover something that doesn’t have dollar signs attached to it. Dollar signs for bmi, that is, NOT the artist. After all, when do record labels or the fcc or bmi or any of those faceless ghouls care about the musicians they’re milking? They care about them as much as they care about the person BUYING and LISTENING to the music – THEY DONT…
Boycot corporate mainstream music. I haven’t listened to radio or any “trendy” famous artists for 10 years, and I am a better person for it. Trust me, you will be to. And those fat cats will be skinny and starving in no time. THEN they’ll care about the artists, but it will be too late, the world will already have become a much better place without the middle man.
I find it so telling of the modern world we live in, where an article about copyright fees and the negligence of a shady business owner motivates people to tell my band to stop playing crappy cover songs….
Music isn’t free. Stop stealing music.especially when it puts money in your pocket. The bar made money from these songs being played (I hope) and they didn’t want to pay probably $400 a year to cover a license.
PROs aren’t the enemy, they collect royalties on behalf of songwriters and publishers, not the man.
you cant “just play original music” and be done with these extortionists. they will still hound you and hire local music teachers to come into your bar and sit around and listen for the off chance someone plays brown-eyed girl, then they’ll have a signed affidavit testifying to the fact that their agent heard a copyright infringement. even if you have your bands sign a disclaimer saying all their music is original and unlicensed, the club owner will be sued if the band then takes a classic rock request from the audience. or plays “happy birthday” to a crowd member. such bullshit…
I just talked to both Ray Davies and Van Morrison, both of them IMMEDIATELY went completely broke one day after this band sang their songs. Tragic but 100% true – really……..
The band and club are totally in the wrong. I have some friends in a small local band and they paid fees for cover songs. Everyone in the band knew about the copyright laws and it was common knowledge with all the bands that played at local venues. You do not have the right to rip off the work of other artists.
Explain how the band was wrong? It is the venue’s responsibility to pay the fees. No band pays any fees to play cover songs, if your friend did, he got ripped off…Did you even read the article which states we were specifically not liable?
If I have my details wrong I apologize. My comment was based to time I was with my friend’s band and they were discussing adding songs by Bob Dylan and John Prine to their show and the CD they would be making from it. They were checking to see that fees were paid and they had their paperwork in order before they would perform or make the CD.
Unbelievable! So are we going to be seeing all the money grubbing lawyers sitting in the back of a club taking song notes now? Errrrrrrr We need to invent a new social network with a legal log on screen that says that “all lawyers and legal employees of the music industry are not welcomed or allowed inside” and if they enter they “waive all their rights and are trespassing”! Paybacks a bitch!
Mark, absolutely if they were to be making a cd of the performance, but not for a sat night live show of cover songs! Could we have checked to see if they paid the fees? yes…but not our legal responsibility….
There are many good points in this bag-o-crap but not that last one Mark. The part about “you do not have the right to rip off other artist”. Please. That applies to the founding level, not cover bands. I am confident everyone in the bar knew they were not Van Morrison, CCR or any other celebrity. I am confident everyone in the bar knew this band did not write these songs. These are songs everyone likes to hear when they are out and about and would have played them on the j-box if the band wasnt there. If anything the band works hard to entertain saps like you. It isnt just the 4 (or w/e) hours on stage they have worked to put this together for YOU. They KNEW they were not getting rich playing songs everyone has heard before but likes. Yea….if Miley Cyrus steals one of Beyonces songs because she overheard it in the stufdio one day and liked it, and got it recorded, launched and played before Beyonce did, then makes millions off of it …that….THAT is ripping off an artist. I am an original songwriter myself and do not like playing on stage. When I do hear one of my songs played, by a band, it is flattering- I dont wonder if i am losing money. “Imitation is the best form of flattery”, can’t imagine how I would feel if (on top of the feeling peeps like my song) I also would be going to a home later that got paid for by it and getting there in a car bought by it also. Rip off the other artist….joke. They are called “cover” bands for a reason.
Some comments suggest playing original music only. I’d like to add that there are a lot of good old songs that are no longer covered by copyright.
Sorry, as a musician who writes and records original songs I’m with BMI on this one. Pay the license if you want cover bands, otherwise book bands who write their own music.
“Imitation is the best form of flattery”
Flattery doesn’t pay rent. how about someone shadows you at your job then takes part of your paycheck. you wont miss just a little right? it’s expected.
The bar is making money of other people’s work. patrons come to the bar to see a band perform a song someone wrote and popularized.
The band is not at fault and not responsible for the license. The bar is stealing. The money a P.R.O. collects doesn’t just go to led zeppelin, it trickles down to artists/songwriters that don’t have Maseratis as well.
BMI and ASCAP are Not-For Profit Businesses. The distinction between that and non-profit is by the IRS.
Mark,
Your follow-up was correct. These licensing fees are nothing new, and anyone who wants to call themselves a “band” needs to learn to live within the rules. Songwriters are just as much a part of the performance as the musicians are, and they deserve their compensation. BMI and ASCAP do that for them. Our po-dunk little family band did a couple of records (vinyl, so I’m dating myself here), and we paid our fees. I was just a kid, but I think we sent about $36 in for our run of 1000 albums to BMI. (Because of the genre of our music, it was all in BMI.) I know it was chump change, but I was happy to know that the writers of those songs and their heirs were not only being properly compensated, but their contribution to art respected and acknowledged, even if it was by a tiny little family band.
Those that criticize BMI here would be the first to throw stones at the bar owner if he had been bootlegging without paying the taxes, “sharing” in the staff tips, or selling untaxed tobacco a the bar. Are you honestly going to sit there and say that a songwriter deserves less?
This makes me happy. Now maybe real bands who are trying there hardest to get their music heard will get the chance instead of bars enjoying cover bands. If you want to hear those songs get a jukebox.
Actually this has always been the case as long as I’ve been playing out and working in the music industry (mid ’80’s)…. Bars, clubs and restaurants all have to pay a licensing fee to play music… whether it be out of a jukebox, or a live band playing covers. That’s actually what BMI is for, to collect royalties for the artists from anyone who uses their material for entertainment purposes… I’m not sure why this is coming off as big news since this is what happens to any club that doesn’t pay their licensing fee… It’s almost like making big new for being shut down for not having a current liquor license.
“real” bands Ryan? Real writers use spell-check…..Sorry bar patrons enjoy cover bands more than “real” bands…I honestly never knew there was a difference!
Ryan…Stop bitching about cover bands. The finest symphony orchestras in the world are technically cover bands. And I think they qualify as “real bands.” There are lead players in orchestras that have more talent than the collective musicians in some of those “real bands” you speak of.
it is a good thing we all just steal their music online nowadays. who would want to put a penny more in the pocket of a company like bmi?
Copyright law only benefits corporations, because they manage to wrangle the money from the original artists anyway. Abolish it!
This is how songwriters make their money. Writing songs is their job. They should get paid for it. What is the question? The bands don’t pay it, the establishment does. This is not a new law…it has been this way for decades. Why would some of you think the writers shouldn’t get paid? Many of you are the same folks that are downloading music illegally. That is theft! You are depriving the artists and their families of the rightful income. Same with the establishments that don’t pay the fees. Would you work and not get paid?
it is not up to the rest of the world to figure out how to come up with a business plan so that a person can make money from their creative efforts. Once the idea, thing, piece has been released to the world, it is up to the creator to find a way to sell that thing. Use of protection by the states gun barrel is one way, but that only works as long as your market accepts that sort of thing, or are unaware of alternatives. Protectionism is a dying game, and people are waking up to the racket. Enjoy the fruits of your mafia daddy while it lasts. In the meantime, I will continue to give my music away for free or sell it as I see fit, by my own efforts, without force on anyone.
To the morons who think venues should not have to pay a fee for music. How about if I come to your business, say, a restaurant, eat your food, and then walk out without paying. Is that okay with you. First (David Child) the bands don’t pay the fees, the venues do. Sure no one ask people to be songwriters. No one asked you to be whatever you are, but if you didn’t get paid for it you would be squawking your head off. Songwriters, like everyone else, deserve to be paid for the songs they produce.
Mark – Learn to read. If your friends in a band paid fees to cover songs, they got ripped off. The band are not responsible for the fees, the venues are. The was made very clear in the story. Of course, maybe your’re from Cleveland and that explains your ignorance.
I understand that that song writers need to make a living, but there should be some exemption for a performance of a cover band for an audience of less than say 200 people.. most gigs this size aren’t making mega bucks and probably do more good promoting the song writer’s catalog than harm in lost revenue. if the cover or tribute band is good and gets popular enough they start playing bigger shows and the song writers get paid.. if the bands suck and no one goes to the shows, no harm no foul.. just my thought on it..
Were the songs dead on performances of the songs in question? Played as written or Sang as written? I saw the list and it was like 10 songs out of how many the band played. They must have hit more than that if BMI owns the rights to Millions of songs. I’d say that others have had some liberties taken with them and became original.
For all the musicians who are bitching about how bands should play only originals instead of covers… If you had an inkling of how the music business works, BMI and ASCAP would be the 1st entities you’d want to sign up with if you were serious about it… If you disagree, that’s fine… at this time, you don’t know enough about the music industry to succeed at it, so I would suggest a few music business courses to clue you in… If you’re a hobbiest who’s happy playing originals in your basement and some private parties, then you don’t have to worry about it.
For all of the complainers; musicians in general get paid little enough as it is. Denying them/us income from appropriate and negotiated licensing fees is like rubbing salt in the wound. Why is it you people have no qualms with paying $35-$500 to see one of your favorite artists perform a live concert but bitch, whine, and moan when asked to pay a $2-$5 cover charge to hear local musicians. Especially when those local musicians play both cover tunes and originals.
Quitcherbitchin…..
well… Just an FYI, all of my bands songs (as are many indi and up an coming bands) are registered with BMI…. If we played there and this venue did not have a license in place then they would still be in violation. For the record BMI does pay all of their artist for live performances provided the artist provides BMI with a list of dates of performances.
and the annual fee is based on the size of the venue-
all the more reason to support local ORIGINAL music artists…
you can play music at a bar without BMI or ASCAP fees … … but only originals .. this is more and more of an issue as bands are trying to recover the $ they loose from File sharing and dropping sales..this is and has always been the way… venue owners are the ones responsible .. bands or Djs dont have to worry …
Yes, you have to pay BMI, ASCAP, & SESAC. This is nothing new. In EVERY case that I’ve heard of the bars that get sued have had multiple warnings that have gone unheeded. I own a bar/venue and when I FINALLY began paying them (after a bar in the area was fined $25k) they thanked me and there were no retroactive fees involved. Does it suck? Yes. Can you dodge them? Only until you get caught, then it’s going to cost you. They have very good lawyers, $130 million worth.
It definitely DOES suck that this particular venue is getting hit with a lawsuit but they really didn’t do their due diligence neglecting to get their proper performing licenses. I would have to think anybody who owns a bar or restaurant would be well aware that this is an important step they needed to take to avoid legal trouble down the road as it has been shown time and again that those in the music industry are not afraid to sue for so-called “damages”.
The fines are hilariously steep, however, and copyright laws have been needing a more reasonable facelift for a long time now.
To be clear, ASCAP is a member owned, non-profit. The total money collected, minus operational expenses is distributed to the writers and publishers. BMI is not member owned and has to make a profit to operate; however, $1.3 million referenced in the article is not profit. It is what they operate from.
Licensing music for public performance has been the law since the late 1800s and started with classical music. The problem is, smaller venues have flown under the radar for so long that this seems like news to them. If you are a venue that provides music, whether live or recorded, you need to license it. It isn’t that expensive. If $200/yr to ASCAP, BMI and SECAC will break you, then you shouldn’t be in the business.
It is the cost of doing business. If you sell alcohol, you must have a liquor license.
Just another sign of corporate greed. People have been doing cover songs for years. There are bands that got signed because of playing cover tunes. Why weren’t they sued? They weren’t sued because the the corporation found a way to make money of them. Its rich man greedy bullshit
this has GOT to be a piss take – even the litigious yanks arent this stupid.
This is a strange case, and I agree, it does have a “David and Goliath” look to it. But it is a tenent of copyright law that the copyright holder who is not vigilant in protecting his rights will lose them. “Vigilant” means the copyright holder must or should sue to enforce his rights against all infringers, no matter how modest their market power might be.
In the 1980’s Xerox conducted a campaign like this to prevent the public from using the word “xerox” as a synonym of “copying”. Coca-cola has been vigilant in preventing its brand name from devolving into a generic name for all soda pop. Etc.
If Broadcast Music wins, its measure of damages will be the license fee that the defendants would have paid them — a small amount of money, no doubt. Common sense should tell anyone, Broadcast Music is not looking for a big payday here.
It might well be too late to prevent any band from a public performance of copyrighted songs, and if so, Broadcast Music will lose. OTOH, if it is not too late, it is certainly almost too late.
Broadcast Music could choose only to give up its copyright rights altogether or sue. What would you have had them do?
Like UFO said years ago It you fucking licensing laws
you would think the artist could ask bmi to stop perusing these venues. cover bands remind people of a time when music wasn’t complete shit and in turn sends them to itunes/amazon to buy the original songs.
its a win win situation its just the greed of bmi.
“Guys with corporate jobs playing classic rock tunes”. Ugh. That’s what has killed a lot of the music scene out here in SoCal…but I digress.
What about the bands who are not of iconic status who rely upon their music being the vehicle that puts food on their table? It’s all covered under these laws and it would be a better story *if* one of the more unknown artists’ work were the ones called into question and they be justly compensated for the trouble. But everyone thinks that all the iconic folks are “flush with cash” and in many cases they’re right.
But in some cases there’s artists from yesteryear that I know personally who, were it not for the BMI check coming in every quarter would be homeless.
So whether they were playing Freebird or the newest hit from some local songwriter guy, it’s still a fact that *if* you are going to play OPM (Other People’s Music) in your club, then you gotta pay the dues to the PROs (Performance Rights Organizations). Clear & simple- the club is profiting from the use of OPM and those people need to be compensated. “But it’s just an hour of music, what’s the harm?” I’ve seen a club sell $10k in drinks in one hour so yeah, it’s “big business”.
These organizations exist so that people (like me) who do not have corporate jobs can get compensated for their work.
Musicians in this country don’t get taken very seriously to begin with so it’s kinda nice to know that there’s someone lookin’ out for us. Sorry that happened to the club, but I’m pretty sure they probably had many opportunities to fix that and just took their chances.
Besides, Congress and the US government don’t want to piss off their “propaganda catapult” so that’s why you see them honoring every whim of the media industry. That’s why they send SWAT team military-style raids to New Zealand to catch up with Kim Dotcom. That’s why they sue 10 year olds’ parents for their college funds for downloading tunes.
And just so you all don’t think I’m a throbbing member for thinking this way, I give away a lot of stuff for free to begin with. http://billysbeats.com (Yeah there’s paid stuff but if you dig, you’ll find the freebies).
First of all, the poster above that said their band paid for a license, is full of it. The VENUE has to provide the license, because as a DJ, I cannot even get a license. Secondly, chances are the venue already has a license, if they have a jukebox that had those tunes in it, but companies like BMI and ASCAP say that one doesn’t count. Thirdly, if the venue DOES have a jukebox with those tunes in it, then total out how much it would have cost to play them in the jukebox, and thats what BMI should get. Artists and writers need to wake up and stop using the middle man to extort damages from people who will gladly pay REASONABLE fees to play their music live. There are no licenses that are $200 or $300 like someone posted above, go to the websites for BMI and ASCAP and see for yourself.
Wish them good luck with that suit. To bad photographers didn’t have such an easy time sueing people that steal their work, I would be rich by now.
That is why I write and perform my own music .. we as independent artist own all are songs ..
The fact is if you own a small bar or club,you already know that your patrons won’t sit in your seats to hear unknowns play their untested originals. An up and coming band must play covers mixed in with their originals in order to get heard. Go back and look at the early records of the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, and the Allman Brothers. They mixed in plenty of covers. Good music fills the seats and sells beer.
Some one finally got sued for playing “Freebird” There is justice in this world after all. This made my day!
It is painfully unfortunate that so few of you recognize that a song, just as any other intellectual property was copywritten by the artist for just the protection that is being claimed here. If you invented something, or wrote something, or otherwise created something that was valuable enough to allow you to make a living from it, and spent the time and money to protect it legally, and someone stole it from you, would you not seek to enforce the rights afforded you by the law. It is stealing, period. And it doesn’t matter if you like it or not.
Download music, or movies, or any other form of entertainment without paying for it, and it’s the same thing. Stealing!
I’ve spent my whole life in the music business, and have worked for several of the artists whose songs are in question here. The theft of intellectual property has changed the music industry from being a wonderful, opportunity rich venue of employment potential, to a wasteland where the only way to make a living is to tour so long and hard that you wonder how you’re going to make it sometimes.
And as for the comment about The Grateful Dead encouraging bootleg recording. A concert is one thing, but don’t think for one second that there was ever a time when the records weren’t protected. Do you really think that just because we love what we do, we should give it you for nothing? Shame on anyone who thinks like that. Who do you think you are? If you spent your whole life, as I have, honing your craft to be the very best at what you do, in my case over 45 years, and your boss decided that because you really seemed to enjoy your job you should consider that payment enough, and work for free, what would you do?
Tom Weber
Guitar Technician
VanHalen/Poison/Reba McEntire
Every bar knows that they have to have the licensing. This is nothing new… Every now and then a bar will decide they don’t want to pay it and will have bands play. If you have a band play ANY covers, you have to pay the fee. If they are ONLY playing their original, non-published songs, then the license is not required. The license also covers any “house music” the bars play in the background and etc. There is also licensing for anything played on tv screens in bars – that’s why they usually get a special business version of DirecTV or Dish that includes the licensing fee. The bar is at fault. They knew better. I’ve seen bars right it before and loose. It’s simply a yearly fee that allows them to use/play copyrighted music, it’s not that hard to understand.
I see both sides of this story. As a musician myself, I have written my own music. I see nothing wrong with performing cover tunes. But if you record it for sale/distribution then that should be the issue. If this is so big of an issue…does that mean when you take lessons and you learn to play your favorite songs you have to pay? For all those out there that are down on cover bands…get over it. You complain about the music they play but you are doing nothing to learn this craft yourself. If you can’t appreciate good music, stay home…don’t go to the bar/club to see these guys play if you’re going to moan and groan about it. Why don’t you just stay home and watch a tear jerker movie.
Michael Thomas Patrick Murphy – Yes they can. They send out scouts all the time. I’ve had it happen. Trust me.
Play originals, or die with the rest. That’s what it boils down to. Problem is, nobody wants to hear something new or give it a chance. And unless people from the age bracket show up, you’re done. Seems like there’s no medium. It has to be a kid band, something they heard on American Idol, The Voice, etc. – or a major band that’s already made it in the biz. Us musicians that have poured out our hearts and souls to entertain in honkey-tonks and bars are being forced out. In order to survive, one has to have the whole package. If you’re going to push originals, Either: 1. – You already made it and you play concerts, or 2. – You have a smokin’ hot 19-year-old chick up swinging her ass in front of the crowd with 4 young studs backing her up. Or for all you older musicians, you can add young singers and players to sell your own stuff to an audience. Take for example, Paul McCartney. He’s the only old guy in the show. He can get by with his fame, and his band gives the younger generation some eye-candy. You have to get crafty these days. That’s why you see all these old guys merging with artists like Metallica, Neil Young with grunge bands, etc. People are finally waking up. We have to fight to survive. If not, I guess it’s time for us veterans to start selling the tickets at the front door.
most of the copy bands I see don’t play the songs right anyway so stick it up your ass bmi !
I’m sure this band did not play the music exactly. Maybe they can get covered under the sampling laws, and throw this retarded lawsuit out. Like $9million wasn’t enough. They are gonna go after the little guy that can barely afford to stay open, who is helping to sell they’re product. BMI now ranks on my list with Metalica. Ok for them but not us. If that music was written by some one, why does BMI own it??? Thieves!!!
Great and incalculable damage, suuuuuuuure. What a load of BS.
Songwriters deserve income from their efforts. If they’re lucky enough to write a hit or two, they deserve a slice of the financial pie.
Copyright is a racket. It had good intentions, but companies like Disney have corrupted it by getting politicians to pass laws (sonny bono copyright extension act) to subvert the original intent of the Constitution, which was to promote the arts and NOT give a perpetual monopoly.
The case here seems like a classic mob shakedown: pay “protection money” or else.
So, the local talent show, the lip sync competitions, the Farmer’s Markets with the guy strumming his guitar, they guy on the street corner playing his sax with his case open on the sidewalk – all of these folks need to pay some over bloated corporation to have a little fun and collect a few dollars change? I understand the need for copyright laws to keep folks from recording a song and selling CDs, etc. But to shoot the little guys? That’s just abuse of a good idea. We had to shut down high school kids playing for fun at the Farmer’s Market in our town of 1200 because of this. We are not an entertainment venue, we’re a struggling Midwest community trying to boost the sales of our local farmers.
The problem here is that cover bands play their own rendition of songs. They sound different from the original recordings by the artists known for these songs. If a band wanted to record and sell their rendition of cover songs, then I could see where some agreement must be made. I can understand an establishment needing to pay a fee to have a jukebox or DJ playing the actual original recordings of songs. But attacking venues for having cover bands is ridiculous and self destructive. What next? Fining people caught singing along to songs on the radio?Copyright laws, BMI, and the like are exceeding reasonable boundaries just as means to generate additional revenue. Artists aren’t seeing much if anything from this. Their money is made from live performances, record sales, merchandise. I challenge anyone to prove that harm is done by cover bands playing in smaller local venues! It steals nothing from the writer or composer. If anything it could help draw more attention to their work and improve sales.
I pay $10/month for Spotify and another $10/mo for Zune music. That’s a measly couple hundred bucks a year to hear whatever music I want to listen to. You can say Spotify is charging too much, making a huge profit but they manage the money to pay all owners for the music. Everyone who’s in business needs to make a profit. If the laws are such that if you own the music then let us all pay for what you own. It’s simple mathematics. Hopefully the Medina ordeal and not paying is just an oversight – otherwise they will most likely get what they deserve. A fine. I’m sure they pay their liquor licensing fees…………………………..
The interesting part about the comments made by the BMI rep is where she mentions that the songwriters need to get paid, so they can continue to write. But, the truth of the matter is that in a lot of cases, the majority of the money goes to the record label NOT the artist. And because a lot of artists are now using the internet to distribute their music, the record companies are taking a major hit on the bottom line. That’s probably why they’re going after Joe Business man to try to make up for their loses.
And, as far as bands playing original material, while I’m all in favor of that, the truth is that there are only a precious few unsigned acts out there that can write well. Most cover bands play the covers because they can play other artist’s music well, but they can’t write their own Grammy award winning music.
A perfect example (without naming names), I used to follow a local (regional) cover band that absolutely killed it every night. Musicianship was there, stage presence was great, and their energy packed the house every night. But, when it came to writing original material, it was very sub par. In fact, it was barely tolerable. So, if that band wasn’t playing covers, their following would have been MUCH smaller which means fewer butts in the seats and fewer drink orders.
I just fired my dj, shut down my eqptmnt, and no longer do Karoake. Compairitively speaking, at my location I do as well with or without Karoake! People get a buzz and have fun. They aren’t looking to be signed or noticed by a label or big name song writer. BMI should be ashamed of themselves for destroying the little bit of enjoyment a bar hopper seeks. MONEY MONEY MONEY no wonder no-one wants to go to concerts anymore. No one is thanked by artists for people loving their music by mimicking it!!! They should be flattered and proud.
As an old DJ for ADVANCE DIGITAL PRODUCTIONS we had to pay our dues every year of 10.000 dollars to all the music industries out there. there is a copy right law and if you violate that law it’s 25 years in prison and 250.000 dollars in fines not including lawyer fees court cost and jail fees which in total can run into the millions. so 95 taps should pay up or be forced to have their licenes revoked. how would you like it if you where a musician and some motherfucker came along and stolled your material that you worked so damn hard to put together it’s all comes down to this follow the copy right laws or pay up