Ever since Mr. Lessig went on the Colbert Report, there has been a lot of talk recently regarding copyright. I agree with Lessig- things do need to change.
In the music industry, when an artist or band signs with a label, they no longer hold the copyright to the music - the label does. Most fans do not realize this but all you have to do is look at the back of any CD, cassette tape, or even vinyl record to see that is will say “copyright [record label]“.
When a record label goes after someone for copyright infringement, it’s not doing it on behalf of the artist like they say, they are doing it for themselves. It’s the only way they are making money these days. Anytime you hear of a settlement, that money never finds it’s way into the hands of the artist(unless the artist happens to have some clause in their contract that specifies some sort of shared copyright).
Well, you might say that’s what organizations like ASCAP and BMI are for. Um, no still help there either. You see, whenever you go into a place of business that has music playing- whether it’s a jukebox, radio or a live performance- they are most likely breaking the law. Not on purpose mind you, most don’t know you need a license to play music, but if you get caught it’s not pretty. Just ask the number of clubs and bars that have gone out of business because they couldn’t pay the fines.
While on the surface that system may seem to work, but let me show you how it doesn’t. I’ll ask one question; “How do you learn about new products and services?” If you’re like most people, you hear about it via commercials, word of mouth or in the case of music- a performance of some sort (and yes, radio is considered a performance).
Many places are forced to not have performances at all because these organizations say that if you want performances of any kind, whether it’s some indie band playing all originals or not, you need to have a license, simply because they can never know if a copyrighted song is played or not. So now in many markets, the indie scene has been hit simply because business owners can’t afford the licenses (which can be total as much as $5000/yr or more).
I’m all for the artist making money. I mean, if we want these guys to keep making music, we need to support them- just basic common sense. The question I want to know is… How does copyright law help the music artist?
Tags: ascap, bmi, copyright, indie, music, performances, radio, record labels
