ASCAP

[Scarlet GoDancin]

We received a letter by ASCAP saying we need to pay $111 per event that music is played.

http://www.ascap.com

Before I contact our lawyer or them, does anyone else do this for their bouts!?

Thanks!
Scarlet GoDancin
NEO Rock 'n' Roller Girls
Akron, OH
www.NEORollerDerby.com

[Fresh Eddie Fresh]

If you play in a venue that already pays ASCAP fees, you might be fine. Cover bands do not pay fees, but the bars they play in do, which is why they never get charged. I am not sure how it works with DJs, would they have to pay a fee for playing music outside of a club?

The other option is to solicit music from bands who did not sign with ASCAP or BMI. If the music is unpublished, then there is nothing ASCAP can do about playing it publicly.

The sad thing is that I bet most of the bands that get played at bouts don't see any of that money, which is supposedly why the fees get paid.

[SW CNYRD]

Apparently that is untrue that if the venue pays the fees you are ok or so we were told by ASCAP. It seems that their new "thing" now is to go after roller derby leagues. We were told that we would have to pay a similar fee and that for next season we would have to pay in advance. For our last bout of the season we played no music (only had someone come sing the national anthem) and our announcer (who's a radio DJ) made sure everyone there knew we had no music due to ASCAP. I guess they were sending a rep to that bout, but I don't know if that happened or not. Good luck, I'm not sure what were doing yet although we have talked about either not playing music and/or getting advice from a lawyer.

[Fresh Eddie Fresh]

Originally Posted by SW CNYRD

Apparently that is untrue that if the venue pays the fees you are ok or so we were told by ASCAP. It seems that their new "thing" now is to go after roller derby leagues. We were told that we would have to pay a similar fee and that for next season we would have to pay in advance. For our last bout of the season we played no music (only had someone come sing the national anthem) and our announcer (who's a radio DJ) made sure everyone there knew we had no music due to ASCAP. I guess they were sending a rep to that bout, but I don't know if that happened or not. Good luck, I'm not sure what were doing yet although we have talked about either not playing music and/or getting advice from a lawyer.

That is super weird... I would be interested to see what the verdict was as far as the venue paying, wouldn't that be collecting double fees?

If you play unpublished music at your bout, there is absolutely nothing ASCAP or BMI can do. They do not own music as an art form, but they do "represent" the artists who have published their music through them.

Wasn't there a roller derby music project, to collect unpublished songs that could be played at bouts royalty-free?

[Hazel Smut Crunch]

I did a ton of homework on this one.

The terms of your venue's license determine whether or not you're covered. The league I'm with bouts at a city-owned facility whose contract clearly states that their license covers them for city-sponsored events only, no third-party events.

It bites, but we paid the $111 per bout so we could plug in an iPod during game play.

[dvw]

Originally Posted by Scarlet GoDancin

We received a letter by ASCAP saying we need to pay $111 per event that music is played.

They'd like you to think that. What they neglected to tell you is that the license fee they collect only covers ASCAP-affilliated artists. If you don't play any music for which ASCAP collects performance fees, you don't owe ASCAP a dime.

Of course, where ASCAP goes, BMI and SESAC will eventually follow, so you have that to look forward to.

Remember also, that these fees are negotiable. Talk to the person who contacted you and work it out. Your ultimate bargaining position is that you will refuse to play any ASCAP artists at your events.

Something that will help your case is to use a media player like Media Monkey or others which will provide a printed log of any songs played. Keep a printed copy of those logs in a file. Then when you get into talks with licensing organizations, you have documentation of exactly what you played and when. Some will also log the duration of the song, so if you're playing 20 seconds of a cut, you'll have a record of that and can use it in any negotiations.

The silly thing is that it almost certainly will cost them far more than $111 for them to send a guy out to your event to see if you're playing any of their stuff. Which they have likely already done once.

[Kennedy]

The venue we use is has a wicked tough union. The union made sure the league knew about the ASCAP fees. To play signed artists, we have to pay the ASCAP fees along with some other BS fees to the facility in order to play signed artists. To save money, the league plays music from local unsigned artists with their permission. The league saves money and local musicians get some play time. Honestly, most of the music played is good stuff.

[Poobah]

Tell those bands never to play covers. Put it in their contract, even. Maybe even put it in the contract that they'll be responsible for covering any fees you'd have to pay ASCAP/BMI/whatever if they play any covers. You'd never get the money out of them, but it lets 'em know you're serious about this.

I have a friend who got a bar busted by playing something like "Louie Louie" at an "open jam" night. OK, the bar owner got himself busted by being too stupid to have the licensing set up.

[Kennedy]

Good point Poobah. Seems as though ASCAP protects the artists AND the writers. You play a cover, then you gotta pay.


Also, the distribution of the ASCAP fees is based on the current top songs, not on what you actually play. You pay to play Blitzkrieg Bop and someone like Soulja Boy gets the money.