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In reply to the discussion: Open mic nights at bar lead to lawsuit from BMI over music, ask for $121,000 [View all]Robb
(39,665 posts)99. I was on a first-name basis with around 20 live-music club owners in SF in the 1990s.
BMI/ASCAP harassment came up frequently. Every one of them thought of it as a shake-down. And it went down just like the pizza place story above.
That's my 2 cents.
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Open mic nights at bar lead to lawsuit from BMI over music, ask for $121,000 [View all]
The Straight Story
Feb 2013
OP
You do understand that BMI is a copyright agency and it does not "release" songs.
Walk away
Feb 2013
#126
First of all, not all composers are performers. They may only make money from their creations.
Walk away
Feb 2013
#171
In the late 70s, I worked at at Pizza Shop/Bar in Pgh. I was there the day....
Junkdrawer
Feb 2013
#5
You do realize that BMI is a not for profit company that represents song writers rights.
Walk away
Feb 2013
#128
I picture Mozart presenting an opera in a theater, amateur musicians singing it
JDPriestly
Feb 2013
#154
I think that suing bar owners for presenting a composer's music played by amateur
JDPriestly
Feb 2013
#180
not to mention that with karaoke, money has already been paid, both by the company that made
HiPointDem
Feb 2013
#94
People want free stuff, even on the DU. It amazes me that people think BMI should not....
Logical
Feb 2013
#11
Really, on the radio, the TV and the Juke Box, which most saloon owners don't own but
Cleita
Feb 2013
#20
Most artist are never covered during open mic night, mostly A list artist hits.
Exultant Democracy
Feb 2013
#81
Why should someone get to play their music with no compensation? No different than someone using....
Logical
Feb 2013
#19
Because if someone uses your photo or graphic art in a book or a magazine you get paid for it.
Cleita
Feb 2013
#22
The band is being played to play the music. They play popular music. Thus they are making money....
Logical
Feb 2013
#36
Logical. Sometimes you show a pretty big lack of it and this is one of these times.
Cleita
Feb 2013
#40
LOL, you call your rambling 'logic'? I am subjects to billboard I don't want to see...
Logical
Feb 2013
#44
And some libraries LEND CDs which is fine. But you want a band to be able to play someones...
Logical
Feb 2013
#53
That explains a lot. You should have led with that and saved us both a lot of time. n-t
Logical
Feb 2013
#85
That's exactly what they want, Cleita. Their greed has blinded them to the inevitable end of
Egalitarian Thug
Feb 2013
#57
When it comes to BMI or MCI I do know, and you know from the content of your post
Cleita
Feb 2013
#50
The fact is they can't keep track of it at that street level, so they are keeping most of the
Cleita
Feb 2013
#71
is your catalog played by bar bands in 50-seat venues? or sung on open mic nights by joe schmoe
HiPointDem
Feb 2013
#142
ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) and BMI (Broadcast Music,
HiPointDem
Feb 2013
#113
You can't play your own BMI registered music in locations that don't pay BMI...
ThatCoffeeLady
Apr 2015
#184
So, those of us who can sit down a play a tune we have heard. Should we play royalties
JDPriestly
Feb 2013
#155
what's the name of your band. I'll look for your stuff. If you don't want to post it please
KittyWampus
Feb 2013
#23
Most people don't come to DU for the music so I can understand why your ad didn't get a
Cleita
Feb 2013
#27
amateurs performing popular songs in taverns have never been subject to fees from song-publishing
HiPointDem
Feb 2013
#60
I'm not against musicians being paid, only when they keep getting paid over and over
Cleita
Feb 2013
#35
It's not about Madonna & the Stones. It's about the .99999% who you never heard of.
graham4anything
Feb 2013
#51
So how does making a rural bar pay a license for nothing in exchange help those musicians?
Cleita
Feb 2013
#54
Nothing in exchange? They make $$$ selling food and drinks at their place
graham4anything
Feb 2013
#62
The idea of owning a bar is to make money, but it's a Main Street type of operation,
Cleita
Feb 2013
#67
so funny. the musicians don't get but a fraction of the price. it's mostly overhead to the money
HiPointDem
Feb 2013
#61
as an example-Do you give away your services for free in whatever job you do or have done?
graham4anything
Feb 2013
#78
the majority of song royalties go to the moneymen, not the writers. and it's the moneymen pushing
HiPointDem
Feb 2013
#84
I myself have asked at places if royalties are paid. And made a call. Because fair is fair.
graham4anything
Feb 2013
#97
yeah, the music mafia even tried to extort the girl scout songbook. because, you know, the
HiPointDem
Feb 2013
#122
I was on a first-name basis with around 20 live-music club owners in SF in the 1990s.
Robb
Feb 2013
#99
I hate those people. They suck money out of bar owners for music that is even played on the
Cleita
Feb 2013
#13
This has been going on since the sixties and seventies when I was a bartender and
Cleita
Feb 2013
#30
How soon before individuals are hit with a lawsuit for singing while walking down the street,
MadHound
Feb 2013
#15
Henry Robbins is an idiot. I have several friends who own nightclubs & even -I- knew you have to pay
KittyWampus
Feb 2013
#21
Some places operate as neighborhood bars and after you pay the help, other licenses
Cleita
Feb 2013
#32
why should you have to pay for the beer? it's gone through the distributor...hasn't it made enough?
spanone
Feb 2013
#55
the songwriters don't get but a fraction of the price anytime their song is performed, even in
HiPointDem
Feb 2013
#63
Thank you. Most people who criticize BMI have yet to create anything of artistic value
wtmusic
Feb 2013
#69
there's not money in it mainly because of the dominance of corporations and organizations like
HiPointDem
Feb 2013
#144
maybe 'publishing industry' isn't the right term; i amend it to 'corporations like time-warner'.
HiPointDem
Feb 2013
#175
It's still asinine. Open mic nites are like amateur hour contests, without prizes.
MADem
Feb 2013
#90
nope, they sue & threaten the bar owners, not the musicians. deeper pockets and more to lose.
HiPointDem
Feb 2013
#119
the bar owner hires the musicians and controls the door charge, so not sure how the band would
HiPointDem
Feb 2013
#132
i don't know what kind of bands you're talking about, but most bar bands around here (and there
HiPointDem
Feb 2013
#149
so with karaoke & juke boxes you pay twice: once for the 'records/tape/digital recordings,' +
HiPointDem
Feb 2013
#148
$2,600.00 for a year to play anyone's songs period is actually not very much.
Lint Head
Feb 2013
#104
most get *nothing*. And publishers take the lion's share. So the claim that taking dinky little
HiPointDem
Feb 2013
#118
"Taking dinky little music venues to court," or threatening them with such, is exactly what they're
HiPointDem
Feb 2013
#124
you didn't debunk anything. & if a venue with 15 audience members & no liquor ain't 'dinky,'
HiPointDem
Feb 2013
#131
I made no claims about *you*. I said most get nothing, and that publishers and money men take
HiPointDem
Feb 2013
#139
non-profit is not synonymous with 'good'. it's actually not even synonymous with 'non-profit'.
HiPointDem
Feb 2013
#178
actually, it's the opposite. make it impossible for local venues to host live music and musicians
HiPointDem
Feb 2013
#151
take a look at the place on google maps. it's a low-rent dive across the street from a cornfield.
HiPointDem
Feb 2013
#153