Play it again ... and we'll sue - small Venues disappearing as copyright licensing fees get stiffer

Christian Science Monitor ^ | from the January 9, 2009 edition | Tim Holt

[weegee]

...These grass-roots music events... have come up against the demands of US copyright law, as enforced by a handful of companies who act as collection agents for songwriters and composers. The law states that no performer in a public venue can present someone else's copyrighted music without their permission and, usually, without compensating them. A number of agencies, chief among them... BMI and... ASCAP, charge music venues an annual copyright "license fee" ranging from $300 to nearly $10,000 for the privilege of presenting someone else's music.

Much of the music at those Ragged Edge open mics was written by the performers, but there was also cover music... ASCAP wanted a license fee of $900 a year from Ragged Edge owner Jake Schindel. He paid up and, to recoup that expense, started charging a cover fee, which caused attendance to dwindle..

Bruce Schrader... tried to keep his open mics going by having his performers sign waivers stating they were playing only their original songs. Nevertheless, he was faced with demands for $6,000 in license fees from the agencies and had to shut down the weekly event last year.

"Their argument... was that I couldn't possibly know whether the performers were singing any of the millions of copyrighted songs they represent, so I'd better get a license if I didn't want to get sued."

As soon as... owner ...agreed to pay ASCAP an $800 annual fee, two other agencies demanded license fees. So he just stopped offering live music...

...ASCAP's vice president for licensing, says the fees are set at a "very good rate," adding, "What gives anyone the right to use someone else's property, even though they're not making money on it? I can guarantee you the phone company's going to charge you whether you're making money or not."

[weegee]

The name weegee is not unique either.

[weegee]

I watched the Classic Albums documentary on the recording of the first Doors’ album.

They got bossa nova drums, a rip off of the Ray Charles’ What’d I Say keys, the bassline from Butterfield Blues Band’s version of some other song, and that unites to give us Break On Through To The Other Side.

As Ray Manzareck said, “we steal from everybody”.

And they covered Kurt Weil, Van Morrison’s Gloria, old Willie Dixon blues songs, Mystery Train, Route 66, etc.

It’s called “the great American song book”.

It’s GOOD to be able to put your own unique stamp on these songs AND to be able to bring something new out of it.

The Pink Floyd started out as a cover band too, playing Louie Louie at UFO and then going freeform into what would later become Interstellar Overdrive and then taking it back to Louie Louie.

Hendrix covered contemporary songs like Wild Thing, Gloria, Day Tripper, All Along The Watchtower, Hey Joe, as well as older songs.

I don’t think that Otis Redding was “paying tribute” to the Archies when he covered Sugar Sugar. Nor was he being ironic.

Separate the songs from the personalities that first recorded them.

Many people who “hit” with a song had no ties to the actual writing of the song. This notion of singer/songwriters is pretty short in the history of music. And even Bob Dylan would concede there are a number of artists who sang some of his songs better than he did.

[tsomer]

Did Otis Redding do “Sugar Sugar”?

I thought it was Wilson (Wicked) Picket.

Whoever it was finally did it right.

Two covers come to mind, both by Wilson Picket, and were improvements over the originals: Hey Jude(Beatles) and Hey Joe. I don’t know who wrote the original, and I don’t recall if it was before or after Hendrix did it.

About the Doors: was the guitarist Robbie Krieger? Anyway, he studied flamenco. I think that influenced their rhythms, which for that scene, were distinctive.

Have you seen this video?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tah0OnS3nBU
It’s hard to admit how much I like the Doors. Morrison still projects more charisma than you’re ever liable to see. And he was crazy, deliberately destroying himself. The band could barely keep him together.

What to make of this? The band itself seems pedestrian at times, just managing to hold on to the tempo. But,they were smart enough to recognize Morrison’s talent. I suppose they exploited him. But I wonder if Morrison could have lived as long as he did without them. I doubt he could have put his songs in any coherent form by himself. They built the frames around his pictures. Strange, fleeting chemistry.