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Restaurateur Loses Copyright Suit To BMI
Frosty P writes: BMI claims Amici III in Linden, New York didn't have a license when it played four tunes in its eatery one night last year, including the beloved "Bennie and the Jets" and "Brown Sugar," winning $24,000 earlier this year, and over $8,200 in attorney's fees. Giovanni Lavorato, who has been in business for 25 years, says the disc DJ brought into the eatery paid a fee to play tunes. "It's ridiculous for me to pay somebody also," he said. "This is not a nightclub. This is not a disco joint . . . How many times do they want to get paid for the stupid music?"
Artists need to hop on the CC bandwagon. Things have changed drastically since the music industry started strangling them as well as consumers.
If we had a sizable pool of popular CC licensed music, this kind of thing would be less of an issue because establishments like this could simply use it instead. There are tons of new ways for artists to get paid via CC licensed music. Maybe we can brainstorm on ideas and models for this to become a reality? I'm thinking some sort of croudfunding model might be a good first step.
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
If I buy a CD and play it in my home, how many others may be in the same room listening before I need to pay a fee?
If a company buys a CD and plays it at their place of business, who else may be in the room listening before they need to pay a fee?
I do not know the answer buy my personal opinion is "as many as I want" unless as a business the main reason why customers are paying me is to listen to those specific songs, in that case I am re-marketing them.
EXACTLY. What if the DJ had played the songs in a park? Would the city have to pay BMI's licensing shakedown fee?
sig: sauer
Former Restautantosaur here. These BMI/ASCAP people are thugs. They cold call random businesses, threatening potential legal penalties if you don't buy a blanket license. They basically say, 'if you don't buy a license now, one of our inspectors might come out to your shop, and if we hear any of our music playing we're gonna sue your ass.' Then they go after random people like the guy in the article 'to set an example.' Thugs, it's all extortion.