[asterisk-users] Royalty for On Hold Music ?

[Jay R. Ashworth]

On Mon, Aug 06, 2007 at 12:18:36AM -0400, SIP wrote:
> Jay R. Ashworth wrote:
> > ASCAP and BMI annual blankets aren't actually that expensive.  A live
> > music venue run by some friends of mine had both, and for 535 fire-code
> > seating and about 150 nights a year, I think they paid $500 a year to
> > each of them.
> >
> > So, let's decide that songwriting is something worth paying people to
> > do (that's who BMI and ASCAP royalties go to, people), and quit
> > whining, ok?
>
> Oh I'm hardly whining. Songwriters usually JUST scrape by on their 
> music, and are often screwed over both by people who don't pay royalties 
> and by ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, NPMI, etc, who are perfectly happy to adjust 
> the royalties paid out in such ways as to maximise what they get to keep 
> and minimise what they have to share.

Ok, I retract 'whining'.  :-)  I'm not in a position to speak about
whether the PRI's are screwing their members or not, but I would assume
they're not screwing them as badly as record companies who own their
performers masters.

>                                        I'm merely explaining that, if you 
> WANT to tempt fate and not pay performance royalties for on-hold music 
> or music in the lobby of your office, then you have less of a chance of 
> having to worry about it if you're a tiny shop than if you're a big one. 

Sure.

> And also that there are ways around having to pay yearly fees by using 
> royalty-free music or writing your own.

Not always, which was the point of my original followup: not all buyout
music avoids BMI and ASCAP licensing; the buyout is on the *recording
and sync rights*, not always the performance licensing.

> However, if you get caught willfully performing copyrighted music 
> without paying ASCAP, BMI, et al, you're liable for a $100,000 fine 
> ($20,000 per song if it's not deemed willful) per song.

I wonder how much of *that* money goes to the songwriters.  ;-)

Cheers
-- jra
-- 
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