Music Industry Shaking Down Coffee Shops

realjd writes with news out of Florida that music licensing companies are now hitting small bars and coffee shops that offer live music, even if only occasionally and even if the musicians don't get paid. One coffee-shop owner told musicians they can only perform their own songs from now on. "A restaurant owner who doesn't even offer live music was approached for payment for having the TV on while the Monday Night Football theme played. And if the owners pay up to one licensing company, all of the others start harassing them, calling four times a day, demanding payment too. It sounds like they don't even check whether any copyright violations occurred, they're just sending bills to any business that may or may not have live music."

Comments

Humming?

[Pharmboy]

Damn, now I'm afraid to even hum a tune in Starbucks!

Re:Humming?

[Anonymous Coward]

you should be afraid - you'd be annoying the crap out of a bunch of people hopped up on caffeine and snacky cakes who want to smack you upside your humming head with their laptops . .

Re:Derivative Works?

[node 3]

BTW, what's the ASCAP fee for your sig?

Just curious :-)

I am copyrighting the term "anonymous coward."

[alfredo]

Pay up suckers.

Re:Artists Truly Devastated

[ScrewMaster]

These assholes need to be put against a wall and shot.

Make that "in the kneecaps" and I'll buy it.

Re:Good

[feepness]

I agree with lots of the posts from Americans I have seen here in slashdot before that state that if USA is *this* terrible why are people still willing to live there? I really can not understand it, what is it there in the USA that people, even some Britons (I live in Britain today) want to live there??

I don't know. Ask the Mexicans.

Re:Artists Truly Devastated

[robbiethefett]

How long till people are sued for humming?!! Fuck them all!!! Well, I'm not sure about the getting sued part, but I can tell you, you can be arrested for paying for humming. And sometimes before you can even fuck them all!

Re:This in't just about cover songs

[Anonymous Coward]

I hate to nitpick, but, you can't just whip statistics out of your ass.

You must be new here.

RIAA Shakedowns

[portnux]

One time I farted and it kind of sounded like Metallica. Should I b talking to a lawyer?

Re:Right to Read

[squiggleslash]

Flashback to Slashdot back in 1939:

RIAA Invades Poland
Posted by Zonk on 1939-09-01 19:51
from the 45rpm piracy dept

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes:

"The BBC Home Service is reporting that the jackbooted thugs of teh RIAA have just crossed the border into Poland, having already annexed Czechoslovakia and closed down hundreds of independent labels in Germany. Is this yet another arm of their campaign against innocent 12 year old grandmothers? Are you being sued? Call 1-800-SLASHDOTAMBULANCECHASER now!"

Update: 09/01 23:53 GMT by CT: Lots of readers have asked us to correct a slight error in the above, it's Nazi Germany that's invaded Poland, not the RIAA.

Re:Artists Truly Devastated

[robson]

Man, this is so harshly on target. Beatles played all old school rock'n'roll songs in Hamburg and for MONEY. My pick no one bothered to collect money from them then.

Right. And history will correctly judge The Beatles not as brilliant songwriters but as the cold-blooded criminals that they were.

Re: off topic reply to this story

[scharkalvin]

Years age the state of N.H. had some state sponsored liquor stores on
the interstate. Residents of Mass. would cross the border to buy liquor
cheap in N.H. (bootlegging ?). Well Mass. get pissed off at loosing
state sales taxes on booze so they had the Mass. state troopers stationed
in unmarked cars in front of the N.H. liquor stores to radio license tag
numbers back to troopers on the Mass. side of the border. The Mass. cops
would then arrest those who crossed the border with the booze.
The N.H. state police got even. They arrested the Mass. troopers for loitering.