Re: [Harp-L] Plagiarism and cost of licensing for performance

[windsaver@xxxxxxx]

 A couple of things regarding the whole use of songs issue.

ASCAP, BMI and SESAC track performances of songs on radio, bars, TV shows, etc. and then distribute performance royalties based on unknown calculations.? Basically, hit songs will get the bulk of the money.? These groups do not actually have any rights to the songs themselves.? Song ownership rights are typically split between the songwriter(s) and a music publisher.

For mechanical licensing of songs (i.e. songs on CDs, records, etc.) the Harry Fox Agency is where one goes to do that.? This agency deals with mechanical royalties for songs and a few other things.? 

For getting the rights to use songs in films, TV shows, commercials, etc. one would need to track down the publisher of the song and negotiate a contract.? For example, the song "You Are My Sunshine" is owned/administered by peermusic, which is the music publisher.

When it comes to music, there really is no such thing as plagiarism per say (it is known as copyright infringement).? The main reason being that? artists typically do not attempt to pass off a song they did not write as one they did.? Sure, an artist may become known for a signature song, but they never pretend that they wrote it (e.g. Black Magic Woman is pure Santana, but he did not write it.? Those credits go to Peter Green from the early years of Fleetwood Mac.)? Thus, the only time you could probably argue the point would be if someone took writing credits for a song (or signature lick) that they clearly did not write (i.e. Ice Ice Baby and Queen).? If the writer of Ice Ice Baby simply requested a license to use the bass line from Queen, there would not have been an issue.? An artist will play a cover tune because they like the song or are paying homage to musicians they respect and not because they are trying to pass the song off as their own.

Another thing to keep in mind is that song copyrights are completely separate from recording copyrights.? For example, if you record a Beatles song, you would own the rights to your recording of the song, however, you have no rights to the song copyright which is why you need to pay.? In the event that you plan on selling CDs with the song, then you need to pay the mechanical fees through Harry Fox agency.



 


 

-----Original Message-----
From: Ken Deifik <kenneth.d@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tue, 3 Jul 2007 8:55 pm
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Plagiarism and cost of licensing for performance










>Looking at the website of one of the main US performing rights?

>organizations, ASCAP, the American Society of Composers and Publishers,?

>they don't make it easy to get an idea of the cost of licensing of a?

>single song.?
?

Neither BMI, ASCAP nor SESAC license single songs.  The model, established 
by ASCAP almost 100 years ago, was to license entire song catalogs for its 
members in one blanket license for public performance.?
?

The problem they were solving was precisely that of the astonishing 
headaches that would be involved if copyright holders had to license 
individual songs to individual venues such as broadcast entities, night 
clubs, restaurants and bars.?
?

The only instance I can recall where one of the performance rights 
organizations got involved in a single song was for use on the moon, which 
was not covered in the blanket license.  NASA supposedly paid a nice 
five-figure fee to play Steve Goodman's song City of New Orleans to the 
astronauts to wake them up whilst on the moon.  "Good mornin' America, how 
are you..."?
?

This may be an urban legend, but I was starting in the music business back 
when much cooler guys were going to the moon, and that story was a very big 
buzz.?
?

The reason you'd license a single song goes beyond public 
performance.  You'd license it to use it in a movie or a commercial.  The 
performance license that a TV station pays, for instance, ASCAP for the 
year covers only performance, not the right to synch copyrighted music into 
a TV show or commercial.  THAT'S where licensing comes in.?
?

When you want to license a single song you contact the copyright holder, 
normally the song's publisher.  They either negotiate the license 
themselves or have a licensing company do the job for them.  Licensing 
experts know the market value of a copyright in any particular situation.?
?

Licensing can be one of the most lucrative ways for a songwriter to get 
money off songs.  A guy I know who produces R&B compilations told me that 
he put a few hours into finding the long-vanished composer of a song he was 
putting in a compilation.  The songwriter was delighted to actually get 
some money for work he had done 50 years ago.  That royalty payment she 
eventually got was low four-figures, but it was found money.?
?

But then some advertising company heard the song on the compilation and 
licensed it for use in a national TV commercial and the composer got 
another $125 G's for her golden years.  She didn't negotiate that deal, of 
course.  The original publisher, who had never paid her a red cent, had 
been sold years ago to a company that understood its responsibilities, and 
they negotiated the deal.?
?

Every few years bars and restaurants scream with outrage about paying the 
ASCAP and other performance licenses.  Sometimes they even try to get an 
exemption.  But when the first lawsuit went to the Supreme Court, one of 
the justices made the point that bars and restaurants wouldn't play music 
in their establishments if it didn't help increase their revenues.  The guy 
who wrote the song that is part of the reason paying customers frequent a 
bar or restaurant deserves payment.  That's why ASCAP and the other 
organizations were founded in the first place.?
?

It's an old story.  "You won't get paid to make this record, but it'll help 
you get live gigs."  And then "I can't pay you for the gig you played 
tonight, but it'll help you sell records."  The songwriters put the breaks 
on that hustle and used their rights as leverage to Get Paid.?
?

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