The small Connecticut town of New Milford has gotten the attention of ASCAP. They are being told to pay for a license but the town says no...
Several months ago, the town of New Milford decided not to sign a licensing agreement with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
The fee for this "agreement" is $280. It seems a small price to pay but Mayor Pat Murphy, and some on Town Council, feel the town shouldn't be paying out.
Last May, in a split 4-3 vote along party lines, the council tabled "indefinitely" acting on a license agreement with ASCAP.
Prior to the vote, ASCAP billed the town $280 for a license agreement to provide coverage for most performances presented on town property and at functions and events hosted by New Milford.
Mayor Murphy told the council she has received a letter from ASCAP which begins,
"We are writing in a final effort to resolve matters before it becomes necessary to refer this matter to our counsel with instructions to proceed with legal action."
Jennifer Chadwick, from ASCAP, said in the letter,
"Simply put, we prefer to avoid litigation."
Back in May, New Milford town attorney Randy DiBella told the council that,
"No town government is immune. The federal [copyright] statute does not exempt the town."
Councilman John Lillis, also an attorney, agreed with those who said the town has an obligation to pay the license agreement, even if it's unlikely ASCAP would sue the town. He remarked it's a way composers and other artists are paid for their work and said it would cover all town agencies.
But some other council members opposed paying the fee.
"I think it's ridiculous," said Mrs. Sherry.
Mayor Murphy has called the fee "extortion."
Councilman Roger Szendy added in May, "I think they are shaking the tree to see what falls."
Mr. Lillis made a motion in May to pay a $280 fee for 2006, which would increase yearly based on the Consumer Price Index.
With the RIAA dominating the news in regards to copyright most people are unaware of ASCAP.
Some residents of the town are looking at the issue and wondering why the town and not the performers should be forced to pay this "tax."
The following is from the ASCAP FAQ
5. Aren't musicians, entertainers and DJ's responsible for obtaining permission for music they perform?
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.
Clearly ASCAP feels it is up to the entity that is hosting the performance rather then the performers themselves.
To be honest, $280 is a very small price to pay for a town that hosts concerts on the green every year.
With that said, the concerts on the green features bands that use their own material or material that is so old as to be in the public domain.
So, if the town does not host events that use copyrighted music why should they pay?
"Well, what about gala events," you might ask? The town does not put on any gala events. It is a small town in Connecticut! The only big events are parades and any music performed in those parades is covered by the licenses already in place with the school system.
I'm curious to see if the town's refusal to pay will end up in a court battle.
I'm going to keep my eye on this one and report back as more information comes to light.
source - News Times Live
source - Mayor's Office and people around town.
ASCAP is not in the wrong. The town is. Public performances put on by a town have to pay this fee and a fine from BMI could also follow.
Now, if the town were to have musicians playing NON-COPY WRITTEN SONGS, this would not be an issue.
Solution: pay the fee and start hiring local talent to play their own material.
Paul,
That *is* the issue. The concerts on the Green series *is* local talent who play their own material. The only times copywriten music is played in town is when the High School puts on a performance and they already pay ASCAP!
I see this as a case of ASCAP trying to double bill the town.
I’ve heard plenty of bands that play cover material on the Green over the past 20 years.
High School bands don’t pay ASCAP – shows how wrong you are
Linda, you are a dumb bitch. Our school has paid ASCAP a blanket fee each year since 1976. Why don’t you go shoot your mouth off somewhere else.
ASCAP and copyright laws are not in cahoots. ASCAP acts as a policing agent, but the REAL police do not enforce the ASCAP position. ASCAP can whine all they want, I you do not pay them, there is nothing they can do, except keep trying to collect the fees they say are theirs.
ASCAP, when businesses do pay them, return very little of the fees to the musicians, thus (almost) committing a fraudulent act on the business (breaking knee caps may be a better tactic)
Don’t pay the fees, and see what happens. My guess is NOTHING!
Ascap have Issued legal proceedings against my Bar/Restaurant. in NY. stating I owe for past years and for ignoring their numerous attempts to open lines of communication, a law firm representing them has a number of what they consider violations, which I have no argument with. However I am still left feeling like a lot of you, that this is extortion. My fee for the upcoming year would be $1400.00. HELP
Yes,indeed! I agree with everyone here regarding ASCAP. I feel that this is pure EXTORTION! ASCAP has been going around and harassing my bar the last 2 years trying to collect. Well, what gets me is, I finally got tired of their harassment so I paid the fee for last year & the year before that. NOW, they are coming back still trying to collect for last year & the years before that. I am now starting to believe there is a hidden agenda scam behind all this. Why can’t the Senate do something about this? It is not fair!
Connecticut Town Tells ASCAP, BMI, SESAC To Get Lost Over Royalty Bills…
Three years ago, the town of New Milford, Connecticut got a bill from ASCAP demanding $280 in licensing fees, because the local town center sometimes will have music playing. Even at that amount, the mayor felt it was ridiculous, since it was a munici…
[...] Ramblings from the Marginalized The small Connecticut town of New Milford has gotten the attention of ASCAP. They are being told to pay for a license but the town says no… [...]
Our church also pays ASCAP for the right to sing hymns. Found that out recently but I didn’t follow up on it. I simply told the pastor that I thought it was a racket. He said the church could not afford to fight any legal proceedings in court.
Licensing fees are not required for any music that is used as part of a religious service. If you are singing hymns only during church services you should not have to pay ASCAP, BMI or SESAC anything.
Venue perspective:
A restaurant bar in Eureka Springs, Arkansas was recently “turned in” to ASCAP by a disguntled ex-employee of the hotel that hosts the venue. The ASCAP “protection racket extortion fee” for Year 2009, their first year in operation, was (arbitrarily?) assesed at over $2700. That kind of money for a 99 seat capacity venue is ridiculous. How do they determine the fee? A public municipality would pay at least $27,000 a year based on their criteria and comparison to private venues. Our city has a local park that features live music regularly, including buskers who play their own and other artists’ songs. Maybe we should call the FBI on these “freeloaders.” Put them all in jail. A quick door-to-door survey of our live music competitors-neigbor businesses was conducted by us regarding the ASCAP extortion racket. None of them are paying the fee and don’t intend to. Why would our venue deliberately put ourselves in a competitively disadvantaged position by “volunteering” to pay this fee and incurring the higher cost of doing business than our competition? Raising our prices to cover this would drive our customers to the competition. We could always cut live music from our service package. How would that help artists, arrangers and composers? We think NOT. JUST SAY NO to ASCAP.
Artist perspective:
I am one of the criminal artists who plays for this venue. I play a mix of 33% originals and 66% ‘covers.’ I used to play 50/50. I could play 100% originals. I have been writing songs for over 40 years. The reason why I commit the criminal act of playing other writers’ material during my show is customer demand. The couple who comes in for their Anniversary wants my dueling piano partner and I to play the song they fell in love to. They always get up to dance when we “fire it up.” How romantic! And in general, people like to hear songs they are familiar with in these settings. Unfamiliar music requires them to listen carefully. No one eating dinner listens with both ears while they are talking with their table
guest(s). Like the Billy Joel song says, “I never want to work that hard.” {Uh Oh, did I just commit a federal offense by quoting BJ?} In this case , working hard to listen to an unfamiliar song whenever I just want to relax and turn off my mind for a while.
As far as helping artists by “enforcing” this legal technicality that needs to be Supremely challenged), the money goes for ASCAP administrative costs. The artist never sees a dime from this ASCAP revenue stream. I recently discovered a YouTube video of a Dallas, Texas musician who was playing one of my songs in a self-produced video of a live performance in Omaha. I never gave this guy a “right of first refusal” or any kind of permission to perform my song which was a previously unrecorded work. He was passing it off as one of his songs, because he never gave me credit as the author. BMI, my songwriter licensing organization has never sent me a dime for this airplay and ASCAP/BMI has done nothing to protect me or my two composer-performer sons from multiple acts of piracy (internet digital distributon) committed against us in the last five years. If you are not a big name act with a small army of attorneys, forget it. Case in point: My twin brother as Stevie Ray Vaughan’s songwriting partner has made a significant amount of raoyalties over the years from the 13 songs he co-wrote with the late, great Mr. Vaughan. My sons and I are unknown, but write songs that are equal in artistic quality. Our reward? Continuous piracy by other performers who don’t have an original bone in their bodies. They carry concealed weapons (recorders) into the venue to steal songs from us. They contact studios who have recorded our demos and acquire copies illegally. They find studio musicians who have worked for us on demos to copy their copies. At great personal expense, our only recourse is to seek personal injury damages against these pirates. Why doesn’t ASCAP enforce these real crimes against the artist. Once I or someone I have been granted permission to record my songs, I could care less if a player played that song at a live show. In fact, I would be grateful for the free advertising and promotion.
Legal perspective:
One of the many ways I have underwritten my own career over the years was working as a paralegal. So I know more than the average bear about the law in general. As a composer, arranger and publisher (who keeps getting ripped off), I have intensely studied the federal Copyright Law. A point of legal procedure: If the issue in question here is a federal crime according to ASCAP, how can they take civil action as implied by their litigation threat? ASCAP certainly doesn’t have the legal authority to enforce a federal law. If the FBI won’t enforce this Mickey Mouse federal law, then who will. JUST SAY NO to the ASCAP RACKETTEERS.
P.S. I am sick and tired of ASCAP essentially eliminating live music in thousands of American live venues that I am qualified to work in. This has cost me a bundle in opportunity costs over the last 40 years.
Dale Bramhall