It also worth mentioning that the current incarnation of the recording industry is built on what were once controversial, even criminal, acts: sampling and payola (here is a Wikipedia link for those who are unfamiliar with the latter).

Just for the record, I'm 50, and enforcement of ASCAP/BMI fees has been an issue for music venues as long as I've been performing. This is not new. One venue I used to play at almost 30 years ago insisted people only play original music. This was fine as long as the individual artists were not members of ASCAP/BMI, which I did not join until the early 1990s.

Muzak is one solution that was invented to get around this for commercial venues. Muzak is pays the license so it's subscribers do not, and they pay Muzak to pipe in perpetual insipidity.

A blog on The Hill today sheds more light on what's happening with changes in the law, right now.

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/s ... l-quagmire

So things are happening related to this issue on multiple fronts, and they will continue to do so. I don't believe ASCAP and BMI are all-powerful... but they are very powerful.

Where do you get the idea that only the top 200 artists still get surveyed?

https://futureofmusic.org/blog/2012/10/ ... uring-acts

BMI and SESAC have similar programs...

do your homework, Kevmeister...

On a side note, I was once bumped from a brunch gig in 1988 because I was blocking the retail coffee merch zone. I went in a couple of weeks later to get some coffee, and they were playing my tape during brunch...

Sometimes the venues are the scumbags...

That is not a matter of changing law; that is matter of changing strategies to circumvent the law (as correctly noted in the blog post). Having said that, the good news being that the Department of Justice might continue to interpret their enforcement responsibilities as they have is not good news.

I didn't say it was "only" the top 200, I said it was "primarily" the top 200 because they ARE primarily the ones who are being tracked.

I got this idea from places like THE ARTICLE YOU JUST FURNISHED, in which it is stated very clearly in the 2nd paragraph. The fact that ASCAP came up with some BS shell game a couple years ago to make people think their way of doing business over the past several decades has somehow structurally changed does not mean it's true. I have very successful friends who know it isn't, so I got the idea from them as well. Also, I can see and read and hear with my own senses.

The fact is, the program you just referred to is the driving force behind the acceleration of lawsuits and night club closures.

So, you do your research and I will do mine, okay, TAPMEISTER?

K Rex

Well, I don't know how many people on this board are even trying to make a living with music (with or without airplay). Most of us scramble as best we can to get by, and have to wear many hats...

"Success" for most musicians I know means having people come to listen to you play... But if a TV station decides to use a piece of music from one of my recordings, the chances of me being able to efficiently negotiate a contract with them for that as an individual are almost zero. PROs have a place, but that place is being abused in this context, as we all acknowledge.

Places like Youtube seem to have developed some good strategies for dealing with these issues. I've chosen not to "monetize" my YouTube videos for the most part because I don't want to make people sit through ads at the beginning of them. In order to have the ability to select a custom thumbnail for a video though, you have to monetize at least one video.

Most of us put a lot of free music out there. At the least I say thanks for listening and watching when you do.

Great idea! Show of Free Hands?

Mike

This is true, but we must remember that ASCAP is not necessarily the only (let alone the correct) way to go about dealing with that problem.

I appreciate that wholeheartedly, apart from that one time when you reminded me of my Stick Wait (though you were kind enough to edit your post in light of my reply).

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byTArxOTXsU[/youtube]



So Mote it Be!!

K Rex

Kev ... that club you described ..... I think ... I used to drink there!!! All a bit hazy!!

Thinking of Olivier checking if the people who's music he played actually got any of the money he had to shell out made me think ....

With the internet being what it is you could set up a system to pay the artist direct or pay them for a license to play their music anywhere for a set period. At least then you know where the money would be going.

In more other news which is marginally related, Pandora's legal victory against ASCAP was not repeated against BMI (Ars Technica link).