Performing Rights Organizations and The Gig

[scott reed]

This week a restaurant that has contracted a band I play in had the leader sign a
waiver that only music registered with BMI is to be played in the restaurant.
It seems that the ownership does not want to pay fees to both BMI and ASCAP
so a choice was made.

Interestingly, no ASCAP music eliminates most of the tunes written before 1942
along with "Happy Birthday". The band could create its own "Silent Theme
Tradition" tunes but then they would go into the ASCAP catalog because all
participating musicians are members of ASCAP.

This should be a DREAM opportunity to play tunes the audience doesn't recognize
(with the tacit blessing of the ownership, lol) but I doubt the leader is going
to appreciate a laptop computer on the stand to check BMI registration of
requests!

I also contacted ASCAP to see if I could pay the license fees but since I'm not
an owner, the license has to be held by the restaurant, not the musicians.

This is the first time in decades of experience I was invoiced or coerced into
assuming the risk of illegally performing live music by an employer.

[christ andronis]

I've never in my life heard of such a thing. Are you saying that BMI and ASCAP have narcs running around checking whether the band is playing songs licensed to their organizations without permission? Man, I'm really lucky I never got busted.

[scott reed]

Yes, both ASCAP and BMI have agents who license businesses who use its music
and attorneys to litigate non-compliance.

The only time I would be responsible would be private recording
for commercial purposes.

[Uncletoad]

I'd play what you want and let them fire you if they don't like it. I'd wager they don't know what's registered with what, they are just being cheap and trying to cover their ass.

That whole thing is ridiculous.

[Marc Piane]

I'm with Toad. This guy is freakin nuts.

Originally Posted by scott reed

Yes, both ASCAP and BMI have agents who license businesses who use its music
and attorneys to litigate non-compliance.

Sure there are lawyers for BMI and ASCAP but as long as the club has paid the necessary money and bought the necessary license from BMI/ASCAP I've never heard of anyone checking. Any public establishment that has music recorded or live has to pay in my understanding.

[scott reed]

Fingers, you hit the nail on the head, "As long as the club has paid the necessary
money and bought the necessary license from ASCAP/BMI I've never heard of
anyone checking."

The assumption is the club will pay for BOTH licenses, not either/or. The restaurant
in question USED to pay for both licenses - new ownership will not or cannot accept
this practice. Granted, the owners can't tell an ASCAP from a BMI licensed song
(I'll bet a lot of musicians can't with all the illegal fake books I've seen on stage
all these years) but the PRO representatives can and they HAVE been around.

Two years ago, my band quit this gig because the owner sent me an invoice charging
me the fee for ASCAP. I'm back as a sideman (at 2/3 the money I used to earn) as
a favor to the leader.

Some bean-counting businessmen will do whatever it takes to cut costs in a
contracting economy and maintain traditional profit margins.

[Uncletoad]

That is a gig that's not worth doing.

If a club owner is to cheap to pay the usual costs of owning their business and then holds musicians responsible for the choices he's made, then I have no respect for him and no use for his venue no matter what I get paid.

He's asking you to take responsibility for his cost of doing business, or at least work around his unwillingness to pay the usual costs of doing business.

That's usually the kind of fellow that stiffs me one night too.

I'd be finding something else to do, thats an accident waiting to happen.

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Wow...never heard of that one before. Sounds like he should be hiring undiscovered all original bands.

[Marc Piane]

Run away. This guy sounds like slime.

[Marcus Johnson]

Or...do this. Bring the laptop, or better yet, a big book with the respective ASCAP and BMI tunes and look up every single tune before you play it. Take a few minutes just to make sure that the tune is indeed registered with BMI.Make sure you explain (on the microphone)to management and the audience what you're doing.

When someone requests Happy Birthday for Aunt Zelda's Big Day at table 7, explain at length why you can't play it, and refer any questions to management. A big smile is important

If someone requests an ASCAP song, immediately have the whole band launch into a silent group interpretive dance of the requested song.

[scott reed]

An update to thank all who offered an opinion in this thread -

The leader started the gig with "Take the A Train" (an ASCAP-licensed tune) and
proceeded to play whatever he wanted.

I had the laptop on the stage with bmi.com dialed in along with a list of every
BMI song in "The Real Book" but my preparation was ignored.

Looks like it's time to hit the road...