Trouble for cover bands?

[Melisan]

Maidens,

I'd like your thoughts on this. I'm not a musician or in the biz but this strikes me as basically targetting every cover band in existence.

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from: http://www.cincypost.com/2002/11/07/ohcopyright110702.html

Bar ordered to pay for bands' mistakes

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered operators of an Erlanger bar to fork over $9,000 to Broadcast Music Inc. of New York City for allowing live bands to perform 12 copyrighted songs without permission from BMI, the media giant that holds the right to license the songs for public performances.

U.S. District Court Judge William Bertelsman in Covington ordered Peacox Inc., which operates Peacox Bar and Grill on Donaldson Road, and two of its officers to pay $750 per song, the minimum fine under federal law.

The maximum is $30,000 per claim of infringement. BMI had asked the judge to levy a fine of at least $3,000 per claim against Peacox Inc. and its president, Peggy Sue Cox, and secretary-treasurer, Leia Heding.

Among the songs at the center of the suit are "Rock Steady" written by Aretha Franklin and "We're An American Band" written by Don Brewer.

BMI has licensing rights to some 4.5 million copyrighted songs by artists as diverse as murdered former Beatle John Lennon, rapper Snoop Dogg and country singer Faith Hill.

The business also has an aggressive investigative arm that monitors radio, television, Internet, recorded and live performances of the songs.

It was that last category that tripped up the Peacox.

When BMI - and the 26 parties that own the copyright to the songs - sued Peacox Inc. last December, it said one of its investigators caught live bands playing 12 of the company's songs during visits in 2001 on May 26 and 27 and Aug. 3 and 4.

BMI said in the suit that before those dates, it had contacted Peacox 33 times to notify it of the need for a licensing agreement, which lets BMI collect fees and pass along a percentage of them to the artists.

Peacox's Heding said in a court affidavit that she has only a high-school education and although she hires bands, she manages the business during the day so doesn't know what is being performed at night.

Peacox President Cox said in an affidavit that she is not involved in the management of the bar and knew nothing of the flap until BMI filed suit.
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[Mr Toast]

I thought this was what the A.S.C.A.P. fees were for. My understanding is that if your station/club has performances of other peoples works (such a cover band doing their set), that you were required to pay these fees, which would cover the copyright issues.

However, I've never discussed this with any club owners, and with the latest changes to music copyright I'm not sure if this was changed in some way. Anyone else have recent experience with this?

 

[Bruce Chickinson]

There are various kinds of "ENTERTAINMENT LICENSES" that club owners are required to have by law. Some allow women to perform w/ bare titties...some allow women to dance w/ bikiniis and some allow bands to perform live copyrighted material and the "jukebox licenses" allow just that....jukeboxes. It's not something bands have to deal with but club owners do.... and have had to deal w/ this for decades...many do not comply I'm sure but it's a standard entertainment license that you can get through the city. If you are going to have cover bands, it's an operating expense.

That woman's ignorance cost her dearly.

 

[smylex]

The Harry Fox Agency usually sends around it's employees to find out which businesses are using musicto encourage business, including clubs, dental offices, restaurants, coffee shops, etc. The HFA sets the rates for the amount that business owners pay based on their capacity or seating. Unless a business is using a subscription music provider (i.e. Muzak) they are required by law to pay for the use of the music in their business.

This is yet another reason to view BMI suspiciously, for me. In an interview with Pete Townsend of The Who, Pete stated that he had to sue BMI for the right to use his own band's songs on The Who's last tour.

 

[Keyser Soze]

Originally posted by smylex


This is yet another reason to view BMI suspiciously, for me. In an interview with Pete Townsend of The Who, Pete stated that he had to sue BMI for the right to use his own band's songs on The Who's last tour.

bloody hell! really?

 

[smylex]

Yes, really. The performing rights org's usually do a good job, but there are times when they seem pretty clueless. I think in this situation they are just trying to make an example out of some poor club owner.