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

ASCAP?

[bersl2]

More like "ASSHAT".

Paging Ray Beckerman

[eldavojohn]

If you know anyone who can help BA Dave in his plight, please contact him.

Number of certified lawyers that read Slashdot: 5.

Number who actually give a shit: 1.

Paging Ray Beckerman alias NewYorkCountryLawyer.

Re:Paging Ray Beckerman

[commodore64_love]

I think if I was this guy, I'd just ignore the lawsuit completely and continue doing what I've always done. Cost: $0.00. Eventually due to my lack of participation the court case would probably be decided in ASCAP's favor, and I'd be fined a couple million dollars. Then I'd start calling folks like CNN, NBC, FOX, PBS to publicize the ridiculous nature of a law that fines average citizens a couple million dollars, just because they sampled a few seconds in a parody. It would embarrass ASCAP, get the attention of Congress, and lead to change.

Another outcome is that the Judge would simply throw-out the case. Again my cost would be $0.00.
And a final outcome is that if this thing drags-on, I might die of old age, then the whole thing is moot.

I wonder how Weird Al Yankovic feels about this case? He too is affected if it's decided parodies/samplings are no longer allowed. Who knows, maybe he's next in line to be sued. Well whatever. Dear ASCAP/RIAA/MPAA/Authors Guild: Fuck ye. And eat a bullet.

Re:Paging Ray Beckerman

[DJ Particle]

B.A.Dave uses backing tracks supplied by Karaoke-Version.com, who has given him permission to use said tracks. I have the same agreement with them, myself.

Re:Paging Ray Beckerman

[Carnivore]

Yes, but that's just to be polite. He doesn't have to, which protected him from Coolio when he proceeded with 'Amish Paradise' even though Coolio claimed that he had not granted permission for the parody.

Re:Paging Ray Beckerman

[shark72]

I checked out the FAQ on that site. They write (emphasis mine):

Use in public events

We are happy to allow the use of our soundtracks in public places and during events, commercial or not. However, and for your information, we'd like to remind you that you must receive an official agreement from your national music rights management office (MCPS in UK for example) to be legally compliant.

If the event is private and non-commercial, use of soundtracks is, of course, allowed and not restricted.

Other use (Recording/Streaming/Broadcasting...)

Recording rights of our soundtracks (Whether it's on a specific media or not) is not included in the price.

Prior to any recording of one of our soundtracks, it is mandatory to file for a written authorisation. Any use of any of our available tracks, without prior agreement, is a violation in regards of French Law dated July 3-1985 and International Conventions. Be aware that Moral Copyright allows Songwriters/Composers to forbid any re-use of his work if he finds this use doesn't respect the original design.

I'm not sure about that "moral copyright" part (it may relate to jurisdictions outside the US) but the rest matches my understanding: karaoke-versions.com licenses for private, in-home use, but if you want to broadcast it or record it, you need to get additional authorization -- ie. ASCAP or BMI in the US.

This appears to contradict your statement. Do you have a more comprehensive contract with karaoke-versions.com which allows for recording and broadcast?

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!

Re:Starting?

[Misch]

Get a Sirius/XM business account. The business account includes rights to play in your business.

$25/month last I looked.

Re:Starting?

[destiny71]

Not playing covers songs isn't enough for them.

ASCAP in effect shut down a local venue because they had no way to pay the exceptionally high fees they wanted in order to allow live music to be played.

They catered to local, younger musicians playing ORIGINAL music. At first, they let them go because they were playing original music. Then, they came back and said they had to pay the fees.

Why? because someone warming up, tuning up, or whatever may play a few notes that someone else wrote.

This place was for a younger audience, so no alcohol sales. Cover charges were just to keep the place open. They had to close down.

Re:Starting?

[Bellegante]

[quote]When you play a songwriter's composition in a way that makes you money (such as attracting customers), you owe that songwriter a cut. [/quote]

Why? No, seriously, why? It doesn't take money from the people who made the music, it doesn't even deny them CD sales in the way that piracy could theoretically do (though there is no hard evidence that it does).

The reason the stupid copyright law exists in the first place is to benefit the people! It isn't so that you can claim profit from each and every rendition of a song throughout space and time. A cover band playing a professional song will never detract from the professional group's funds, and I defy you to find anything to the contrary.

Explain the moral obligation society has to pay an artist for every single performance of work that he originated, please.

Starts to?!

[linumax]

ASCAP has been in this much much longer than RIAA.

Is This Anything New

[SlashdotOgre]

I can't say I'm surprised, from the limited knowledge I have on the subject, these guys along with BMI have been on the bullies for years. For a good example from a couple years ago, check out The Richard Phillips vs BMI Story in which an independent artist, who only performed his own music (no covers, etc.), which he owned the copyright to, was pushed out of a job.

Re:If you are right by the law...

[TheRealFixer]

Bankrupt you with costly legal fees. Which is why these conglomerates go after people who don't have the financial ability to defend themselves.

Re:Soap box, ballot box, and jury box have failed.

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm never one to stand in the way of a murderous rampage (in fact I stand as far away as possible) but I think perhaps you're overreacting just a bit. Why not just boycott them? No one is forcing you to use them or any of their "properties". Just leave them to drown in their own cultural dregs.

Not all parodies are legit

[pines225]

... ignore the 2 Live Crew Supreme Court decision that parodies are new derivative works

What the Supreme Court said was that if a parody was sufficiently transformative, this would operate in its favour when weighing up the fair use factors. BA Dave is taking the position that because he created a parody, fair use applies, but the Supreme Court stamped on that theory pretty sharply:

"Like a book review quoting the copyrighted material criticized, parody may or may not be fair use, and petitioner's suggestion that any parodic use is presumptively fair has no more justification in law or fact than the equally hopeful claim that any use for news reporting should be presumed fair."

Now I've no idea how transformative BA Dave's parodies are, but this quote should at least show him that he needs to do a little more than cry "parody" if he's going to convince them to back off. Let's hope he can. And let's be grateful he is in the US where parody is given some recognition as a fair use. In the UK, for instance, it's viewed as being no more legitimate than any other form of copying.

Re:Not all parodies are legit

[bigbigbison]

It also depends on what the parody song is about. Is it parodying the song itself, as Weird Al does, or is it using the melody of the song to create a parody of something else. I'm not a lawyer, and I've never heard of Below Average Dave before so I've no idea if this is the case (or even true) but if the song is not parodying the original song but just using the melody to parody something else, then using the song is not fair use. The Penny Arcade guys ran into this when they ran a parody of American McGee's Alice which used Strawberry Shortcake.

Re:Why Is the Music Industry So Messed Up?

[TinBromide]

They grew that way because its so durned easy to hum a tune, write it down, and then expect to make a lifetime income off of that melody you came up with when you were on the crapper. Once people became hooked on a lifetime of income for a few days work, it became expected and their representative groups took up the fight against all threats, legal or otherwise. Seeing as the end consumer doesn't care about where the music comes from, its up to the RIAA and ASCAP and company to make the consumers care.

What was the quote? Evil is what happens when good people do nothing? Well nobody did anything, so evil happened.

Re:Why Is the Music Industry So Messed Up?

[idontgno]

Why is it that the music industry seems to be so corrupt?

1. A property which is both intangible and easily reproducable. That's not at all conducive to the artificial scarcity necessary to make a buck.
2. Money. Lots of money. A tradition of lots of money. And now that money is at risk. The artificial scarcity is taking a serious beating, and now the middleman's essential role of getting between the creator and the consumer is becoming much less essential, so that sweet sweet moolah is crossing their palm less often.
3. Success. Because the entertainment IP dinosaur still has influence, the law (both legislative and, to an extent, judicial) is swinging in their direction. Success in lawmaking and litigation encourages more of the same, even if an outside observer would call the process "corrupt". Cuz, you know, "corrupt" or "not corrupt" doesn't matter; "successful" and "moneymaking" is the only standard.

I think that's why it seems worse. Because, to some degree, it is.

Re:Soap box, ballot box, and jury box have failed.

[SanityInAnarchy]

Then, what should I do if I'm an aspiring musician, and I'd like to draw on some of my cultural heritage -- and yes, copyright lasts so insanely long that we are talking about cultural heritage here -- and these thugs come and sue me?

In other words: What do we do about The Grey Album?

For that matter, as part of my "boycott", should I stop singing Happy Birthday?

Fuck no. I will not spend my life avoiding our culture because it happens to be owned by a few corporations. I will continue to assert that this is our culture, not theirs.

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.

Re:Soap box, ballot box, and jury box have failed.

[perryizgr8]

There is no other way out.

I don't know, suicide worked pretty well for me - you should try it!

so you're telling me you created a highly advanced artificial intelligence to respond to /. articles before you killed yourself? and all that from your basement?
and you did not make the code open source? shame!