ASCAP Starts To Act Like the RIAA

Scott Lockwood writes "Below Average Dave, a Dr. Demento style parody artist, has been shut down by the ASCAP. This collective, acting as badly as the RIAA, is now attempting to ignore the 2 Live Crew Supreme Court decision that parodies are new derivative works. Just like the RIAA, ASCAP seems intent on misrepresents the law. If you know anyone who can help BA Dave in his plight, please contact him." This artist doesn't have the resources to fight the ASCAP, even though the law is pretty clearly on his side. Anyone at the EFF or the ACLU interested?

Comments

Starting?

[mmkkbb]

BMI and ASCAP have been thugs for a long time, threatening bar and club owners for licensing agreements for offering live music. For this reason, AS220 in Providence no longer allows musicians to perform any cover songs!

Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts

[NewYorkCountryLawyer]

In a case of this nature, the guy's best bet is, in my opinion, Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts or EFF.

Re:Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts

[PopeRatzo]

Here in Chicago, we've got an outfit called Lawyers for the Creative Arts that I couldn't recommend more highly. They're really nice folks over there and great lawyers. They have helped me and lots of my friends many times.

If you're a Chicago artist or musician or writer and you need a lawyer, this is a great place to go. Just remember, when you hit it big, do something nice for LCA so they can keep helping "starving" artists. They're really easy to get to, too - just a block from the Chicago Ave. Brown Line stop.

Young artists just starting to do a little business ought to get in touch with them even if they don't think they need a lawyer at the moment. They'll not only help you make sure that you're doing things properly, in a legal sense, but they're great at putting creative people in touch with one another, which, even when it doesn't result in some synergistic result, makes you understand that you're not alone.