Ok, you had some valid points, after double checking, I realize I was confusing the club license with the other licenses. Here is what the BMI website says:
"BMI also licenses non-broadcast general music users, such as nightclubs, discos, hotels, bars, restaurants and other venues. While it is virtually impossible to log and make a separate distribution for such performances, they are accounted for by BMI's basic premise that the material used in such venues reflects the songs currently being performed on commercial broadcasting stations. Therefore, royalties collected from general music users are distributed on the basis of performances on commercial radio and television stations." Therefore, if your music is played in "nightclubs, discos, hotels, bars, restaurants and other venues" but is NOT played on "commercial broadcast radio" you will NOT get any royalties even though you should be theoretically entitled to them. However, in regards to the webcasting, even $600 is a lot of money for me to put a DJ mix online on my own website. However, I'm talking about the LIABILITY for putting unlicensed mp3 mixes up, which could be very high, not the cost of being a small webcaster. I shouldn't have conflated the two - webcasts vs. mp3 mixes, sorry. What is soundexchange??? Thanks, David ---------- Original Message ------------- Subject: Re: (313) podcasting Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2005 17:01:01 -0500 From: erika <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: 313@hyperreal.org > If you webcast or post mixes on your own, however, you could be liable for > more money > than you will ever make in your entire life. false. there is a "small webcaster" clause. i run a 24x7 audio webcast with as many as 1000 unique listeners a day but pay under $600/year to license broadcast rights for songs represented by ascap, bmi, AND sesac (which have recipcicol rights with many foreign organizations such as gema).. this is DIFFERENT from the right to broadcast the sound recordings, which are covered by a separate licensing fee payable to the US copyright office via soundexchange. this one is heftier, about $1k a year (if i remember correctly) -- but not wholly unreasonable. > The worst thing is none of this money gets back to indie artists, it goes to > TOP 40 acts, > or those who provide some kind of TV or movie soundtracks. also false... if independent artists choose to play the game of the Man then they, too, will get paid eventually. not a lot. but stations like mine report tracks played, and in turn, the artists that i am reporting will get paid for airplay... if they are a part of the game -- that is, a member of ascap or bmi, and also registered with soundexchange. now, i am fully aware that their system is not good enough to account for everything i am doing, and i would be unsurprised to learn that some of the money i am paying in is somehow going to britney spears. but there's not much i can do about it, except play their game.. the game _is_ all geared towards middlemen and Big Business.. but sadly you sort of have to play it if you want to be a broadcaster, and be able to push independent music and a non-corporate aesthetic. > erika >> erika.net freeform internet radio >>> www.erika.net >
