What a bunch of bull.
Imagine a nightclub without a beat - no groove to hypnotize people to dance.
Or a restaurant with only the sound of clinking glasses and silverware - no music to add romance to a candlelit evening.
Patrons may take this music for granted, expecting to hear 50 Cent in the gym as they pump iron or a band covering “Sweet Caroline” as they swig a few drinks in a bustling bar.
But patrons may not know that business owners must pay to play. The music industry is starting to enforce its rights in court, suing bars to collect fees for performances by live musicians.
“For the little bit of music that I use, I thought it was ridiculous,” said Terry Connor, owner of the Pasta Loft Restaurant in Milford.
After being sued for not paying royalties for songs played at his restaurant, Connor wanted to pull the plug on all the TVs and stop playing music altogether.
But instead, Connor now pays $5,000 a year in royalties to three music-fee agencies, allowing him to play recorded or live music at his Italian restaurants in Milford and Hampstead.
Most businesses pay without complaint. Some pony up the money kicking and screaming. Others face the music in court.
The three major song-licensing agencies have listeners on the ground. Their undercover agents scout bars, gyms, restaurants, stadiums, any place that adds to the ambiance with a song, rap, jam or ditty. The major agencies are Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI), the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), and a less well known Nashville company, SESAC.
A BMI representative claims that a Concord bar and restaurant used too many songs freely. BMI is suing the Capitol Grille, charging that the restaurant owes royalties to songwriters for allowing local musicians to cover specific songs.
A spokesman for BMI says his agency doesn’t earn a profit, and that all revenue, less operating expenses, is paid to songwriters and copyright owners. An ASCAP spokesman echoed the same thought, citing as an example that the agency’s songwriters make about $22,000 for every million copies sold of a record.
So while Celine Dion fares quite well from record sales and tour profits, her chief songwriter, Diane Warren, makes considerably less, said Vincent Candilora, ASCAP’s senior vice president of licensing.
Not every songwriter, though, can hook up with a superstar artist, Candilora said. And all songwriters, even if they also perform music and earn millions, are entitled to the fruits of their labor, he said.
Paying royalties is a basic consideration of copyright law, Candilora said. But not every business owner wants to acknowledge that principle, he said.
“They tell me the music doesn’t enhance the feeling of the restaurant,” he said. “They think it’s a shakedown. It’s a scam.”
Five years after opening the downtown Milford location of the Pasta Loft in 1996, Terry Connor started receiving letter after letter from BMI telling him he needed to pay licensing fees. He refused, and ultimately settled the copyright-infringement suit brought against him last year for $13,000. With attorney’s fees, the clash cost him $20,000, he said.
The average eating and drinking establishment pays BMI about $600 a year, according to Jerry Bailey, director of media relations for BMI. Divide that by 365 and the daily cost is about $1.65, he said.
ASCAP’s fees differ by establishment, Candilora said. A venue that seats up to 100 and plays recorded music pays about $370 a year. Live music two nights a week costs a venue $370 a year, but if an establishment has a cover charge, it must pay ASCAP $900 annually, Candilora said.
Money for something
It doesn’t matter how the song is performed. No matter how an establishment presents its music - live band, radio, CD or tape - it must have the permission of the song’s owner to use it.
Live music performers, however, don’t work under the copyright law. Cover bands can play “Let It Be” all the way down “The Long and Winding Road,” and still not have to pay a dime to the estates of John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
The copyright agencies can’t keep tabs on every performer, Candilora said. Even though a cover band may get a piece of an establishment’s nightly take, it’s a fluid entity, unlike an established business whose ownership isn’t hard to find, he said. Artists move around too much, and bands change members frequently, he said.
While the majority of establishments in Nashua pay royalties, some don’t, according to BMI.
“We do have our eye on businesses in your area, but I won’t tell you which ones,” BMI’s Bailey said. “They have a right to privacy.”
Most businesses are already licensed, Bailey said.
“Those that are not licensed, we’re probably contacting them now,” he said.
On the other hand, ASCAP has had no serious problems this year with New Hampshire businesses, Candilora said.
Kurt Mathias, director of operations for Boston Billiard Club, said the club pays close to $50,000 to all three music-fee agencies every year to cover its six locations.
“I sign those checks one time a year, and I almost have an out-of-body experience,” Mathias said, adding that Nashua’s check is $6,000 or $7,000 alone.
“I despise them,” Mathias said. “I don’t understand if you hire a band that is a licensed band that pays music, why the band doesn’t pay the royalty fee, but I have to pay it. To me, it’s just highway robbery.”
Boston Billiard started paying about five years ago, Mathias said.
“We probably put them off in Nashua for a year, then they got a hold of (our) Web sites,” he said. “They got to the point where they threatened and had legal departments call me on the phone. They said, ‘You’re either going to pay this or we’ll file suit.’ ”
“They were bulldogs,” the Pasta Loft’s Connor said of BMI. “I tried saying ‘let’s settle out for $5,000.’ I didn’t have the money. I had to scrape it up. I wasn’t to go to federal court. You can’t fight them. They’ve got the biggest attorneys fighting for them.”
But at least one licensing outfit, ASCAP, claims it doesn’t lean on business owners. ASCAP tries to work with businesses, and if the copyright law is violated, ASCAP will give them several chances before seeking legal action, Candilora said.
“If you use the music without paying for it, you’re not hurting BMI, you’re hurting the songwriter,” said Bailey, of BMI. “You’re essentially taking money out of their pocket if you’re using the song without permission.”
BMI keeps tabs on establishments by reviewing newspaper ads or Web sites, seeing who plays music, and then checking to see if they’re paying royalties. ASCAP uses the same process, with several representatives working out of their homes calling establishments and other agents working the field, Candilora said.
It pays to pay attention
Nationally, BMI sues several dozen businesses each year, Bailey said.
If a business owner is found guilty of copyright infringement in federal court, statutory damages paid to BMI range from $750 to $30,000 per song, Bailey said. The establishment can also be required to pay the copyright owners’ legal fees, he said.
A blanket music license from BMI starts at $283 a year, depending on the size of the business and the amount of music used. For instance, a small restaurant that plays only CDs or recorded music in the background or a coffee shop that occasionally hosts a solo musician would pay the $283, Bailey said.
While the average is about $600, it can go beyond $8,000 for larger nightclubs that frequently feature hot live music or charge cover admission, Bailey said.
“When music contributes more to the business, the business pays more for the use of music,” Bailey said.
When BMI finds a place that plays music but isn’t paying royalties, it sends letters on the basics of music licensing that are “educational, informational and very polite,” Bailey said. After six months to a year, “the letters become a little more stern,” he said.
“But some business owners don’t know that or they don’t care or whatever. They play the music first and they wait until someone contacts them,” Bailey added.
More than 90 percent of infringement suits are settled before they get to court, Bailey said. While BMI says it isn’t proud of the lawsuits it brings, the agency says lawsuits do bring more business owners into compliance with the law. Some of the establishments BMI has sued in New Hampshire include Sharpshooter’s Billiards and Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom.
An establishment that plays satellite radio can avoid copyright fees because the satellite company pays the royalties, Bailey said. But if the business also plays CDs, or hosts karaoke or live music, then it needs a copyright license, he said.
Lost money?
Despite audits of the songwriting agencies, Boston Billiard’s Mathias questions whether the songwriters ever see their royalties.
“I’m sure the songwriters never even see it,” he said. “I can’t imagine that Eric Clapton gets a check for $300.92 for royalties from the Boston Billiard Club because The Zoo plays four Eric Clapton songs a set.”
But according to BMI’s Bailey, after expenses, all revenue that BMI collects is paid to songwriters and music publishers. For fiscal year 2005, BMI paid about $623 million in royalties on revenues of about $728 million, the organization said.
“We would rather bring a biz owner into compliance by convincing them it is the right thing to do, and it is the right thing to do,” Bailey said. “Songwriters deserve to make a living, too.”
Bailey said most new business owners are unaware of their responsibility to the songwriters.
“Some will say they think it’s some kind of scam because they’ve never heard of us before,” he said. “Some think if they ignore us, we’ll just go away. If they’re unaware of us now, they won’t be unaware of us for very long, because we do eventually find them.”
I think this is wrong. Plain and simple...it's wrong.
Or a restaurant with only the sound of clinking glasses and silverware - no music to add romance to a candlelit evening.
Patrons may take this music for granted, expecting to hear 50 Cent in the gym as they pump iron or a band covering “Sweet Caroline” as they swig a few drinks in a bustling bar.
But patrons may not know that business owners must pay to play. The music industry is starting to enforce its rights in court, suing bars to collect fees for performances by live musicians.
“For the little bit of music that I use, I thought it was ridiculous,” said Terry Connor, owner of the Pasta Loft Restaurant in Milford.
After being sued for not paying royalties for songs played at his restaurant, Connor wanted to pull the plug on all the TVs and stop playing music altogether.
But instead, Connor now pays $5,000 a year in royalties to three music-fee agencies, allowing him to play recorded or live music at his Italian restaurants in Milford and Hampstead.
Most businesses pay without complaint. Some pony up the money kicking and screaming. Others face the music in court.
The three major song-licensing agencies have listeners on the ground. Their undercover agents scout bars, gyms, restaurants, stadiums, any place that adds to the ambiance with a song, rap, jam or ditty. The major agencies are Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI), the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), and a less well known Nashville company, SESAC.
A BMI representative claims that a Concord bar and restaurant used too many songs freely. BMI is suing the Capitol Grille, charging that the restaurant owes royalties to songwriters for allowing local musicians to cover specific songs.
A spokesman for BMI says his agency doesn’t earn a profit, and that all revenue, less operating expenses, is paid to songwriters and copyright owners. An ASCAP spokesman echoed the same thought, citing as an example that the agency’s songwriters make about $22,000 for every million copies sold of a record.
So while Celine Dion fares quite well from record sales and tour profits, her chief songwriter, Diane Warren, makes considerably less, said Vincent Candilora, ASCAP’s senior vice president of licensing.
Not every songwriter, though, can hook up with a superstar artist, Candilora said. And all songwriters, even if they also perform music and earn millions, are entitled to the fruits of their labor, he said.
Paying royalties is a basic consideration of copyright law, Candilora said. But not every business owner wants to acknowledge that principle, he said.
“They tell me the music doesn’t enhance the feeling of the restaurant,” he said. “They think it’s a shakedown. It’s a scam.”
Five years after opening the downtown Milford location of the Pasta Loft in 1996, Terry Connor started receiving letter after letter from BMI telling him he needed to pay licensing fees. He refused, and ultimately settled the copyright-infringement suit brought against him last year for $13,000. With attorney’s fees, the clash cost him $20,000, he said.
The average eating and drinking establishment pays BMI about $600 a year, according to Jerry Bailey, director of media relations for BMI. Divide that by 365 and the daily cost is about $1.65, he said.
ASCAP’s fees differ by establishment, Candilora said. A venue that seats up to 100 and plays recorded music pays about $370 a year. Live music two nights a week costs a venue $370 a year, but if an establishment has a cover charge, it must pay ASCAP $900 annually, Candilora said.
Money for something
It doesn’t matter how the song is performed. No matter how an establishment presents its music - live band, radio, CD or tape - it must have the permission of the song’s owner to use it.
Live music performers, however, don’t work under the copyright law. Cover bands can play “Let It Be” all the way down “The Long and Winding Road,” and still not have to pay a dime to the estates of John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
The copyright agencies can’t keep tabs on every performer, Candilora said. Even though a cover band may get a piece of an establishment’s nightly take, it’s a fluid entity, unlike an established business whose ownership isn’t hard to find, he said. Artists move around too much, and bands change members frequently, he said.
While the majority of establishments in Nashua pay royalties, some don’t, according to BMI.
“We do have our eye on businesses in your area, but I won’t tell you which ones,” BMI’s Bailey said. “They have a right to privacy.”
Most businesses are already licensed, Bailey said.
“Those that are not licensed, we’re probably contacting them now,” he said.
On the other hand, ASCAP has had no serious problems this year with New Hampshire businesses, Candilora said.
Kurt Mathias, director of operations for Boston Billiard Club, said the club pays close to $50,000 to all three music-fee agencies every year to cover its six locations.
“I sign those checks one time a year, and I almost have an out-of-body experience,” Mathias said, adding that Nashua’s check is $6,000 or $7,000 alone.
“I despise them,” Mathias said. “I don’t understand if you hire a band that is a licensed band that pays music, why the band doesn’t pay the royalty fee, but I have to pay it. To me, it’s just highway robbery.”
Boston Billiard started paying about five years ago, Mathias said.
“We probably put them off in Nashua for a year, then they got a hold of (our) Web sites,” he said. “They got to the point where they threatened and had legal departments call me on the phone. They said, ‘You’re either going to pay this or we’ll file suit.’ ”
“They were bulldogs,” the Pasta Loft’s Connor said of BMI. “I tried saying ‘let’s settle out for $5,000.’ I didn’t have the money. I had to scrape it up. I wasn’t to go to federal court. You can’t fight them. They’ve got the biggest attorneys fighting for them.”
But at least one licensing outfit, ASCAP, claims it doesn’t lean on business owners. ASCAP tries to work with businesses, and if the copyright law is violated, ASCAP will give them several chances before seeking legal action, Candilora said.
“If you use the music without paying for it, you’re not hurting BMI, you’re hurting the songwriter,” said Bailey, of BMI. “You’re essentially taking money out of their pocket if you’re using the song without permission.”
BMI keeps tabs on establishments by reviewing newspaper ads or Web sites, seeing who plays music, and then checking to see if they’re paying royalties. ASCAP uses the same process, with several representatives working out of their homes calling establishments and other agents working the field, Candilora said.
It pays to pay attention
Nationally, BMI sues several dozen businesses each year, Bailey said.
If a business owner is found guilty of copyright infringement in federal court, statutory damages paid to BMI range from $750 to $30,000 per song, Bailey said. The establishment can also be required to pay the copyright owners’ legal fees, he said.
A blanket music license from BMI starts at $283 a year, depending on the size of the business and the amount of music used. For instance, a small restaurant that plays only CDs or recorded music in the background or a coffee shop that occasionally hosts a solo musician would pay the $283, Bailey said.
While the average is about $600, it can go beyond $8,000 for larger nightclubs that frequently feature hot live music or charge cover admission, Bailey said.
“When music contributes more to the business, the business pays more for the use of music,” Bailey said.
When BMI finds a place that plays music but isn’t paying royalties, it sends letters on the basics of music licensing that are “educational, informational and very polite,” Bailey said. After six months to a year, “the letters become a little more stern,” he said.
“But some business owners don’t know that or they don’t care or whatever. They play the music first and they wait until someone contacts them,” Bailey added.
More than 90 percent of infringement suits are settled before they get to court, Bailey said. While BMI says it isn’t proud of the lawsuits it brings, the agency says lawsuits do bring more business owners into compliance with the law. Some of the establishments BMI has sued in New Hampshire include Sharpshooter’s Billiards and Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom.
An establishment that plays satellite radio can avoid copyright fees because the satellite company pays the royalties, Bailey said. But if the business also plays CDs, or hosts karaoke or live music, then it needs a copyright license, he said.
Lost money?
Despite audits of the songwriting agencies, Boston Billiard’s Mathias questions whether the songwriters ever see their royalties.
“I’m sure the songwriters never even see it,” he said. “I can’t imagine that Eric Clapton gets a check for $300.92 for royalties from the Boston Billiard Club because The Zoo plays four Eric Clapton songs a set.”
But according to BMI’s Bailey, after expenses, all revenue that BMI collects is paid to songwriters and music publishers. For fiscal year 2005, BMI paid about $623 million in royalties on revenues of about $728 million, the organization said.
“We would rather bring a biz owner into compliance by convincing them it is the right thing to do, and it is the right thing to do,” Bailey said. “Songwriters deserve to make a living, too.”
Bailey said most new business owners are unaware of their responsibility to the songwriters.
“Some will say they think it’s some kind of scam because they’ve never heard of us before,” he said. “Some think if they ignore us, we’ll just go away. If they’re unaware of us now, they won’t be unaware of us for very long, because we do eventually find them.”
I think this is wrong. Plain and simple...it's wrong.