Comment Archives: stories: Music: Music
Re: “Churn and Burn at the Young Musicians Program”
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Re: “Onward, Victory!”
Awesome tour diary and band!! More of this please.
Re: “Churn and Burn at the Young Musicians Program”
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Re: “Where Craigslist Sucks, Will Fandalism Succeed?”
Fandalism makes me wish I played an instrument!
Re: “Where Craigslist Sucks, Will Fandalism Succeed?”
If anyone reading this wants an invite to Fandalism, you can use the invite code "peanut" (without the quotes)
Re: “ASCAP Targets Farmers' Markets and House Venues”
This is just extortion plain and simple. They lost all credibility when they claimed they didn't need any proof that copyrighted material was being played.
Re: “ASCAP Targets Farmers' Markets and House Venues”
As a artist, I have written my PRO, telling them I think they have no right to police the city streets or peoples homes trying to get their "cut". Venues and other businesses are one thing, but they are nearing upon people's civil rights. I'm also quite sure I will leave when my contract is up. Thank you for reporting this East Bay Express!
Re: “Fresh Start for Mornin' Old Sport”
Krol with one "l" oops, messed that up did ya? I feel almost obligated to respond to your obvious message to Zeb. Next time, not so public??? It's funny, I can't remember the last time I read a biography about all the band members who left the band. I guess that's the only reason I'm reading about you. Wonderful PR campaign. Let's make everyone forget who you are and remember who the one member of the group is who intelligently decided to leave the group. I have an idea, let's pretend we're poor, and can't afford even a meal, yet our strangely accommodating parents pay for everything, including our socks. Then, after drugged consideration, let's take out five months to record, and oh yeah, let's not oblige to the our recording company's demands, then, to the surprise of us all, let's degrade our already pitiful self image by smoking weed all day and playing Call of Duty (and Mario Party??????) while jerking off to images of Zebulon Krol. Sounds like a record deal??????????!!!!!!!!!
Oh wait, that's not how it works? I was totally convinced. Whoops.
Re: “ASCAP Targets Farmers' Markets and House Venues”
I think this a great example of local journalism, presenting a local issue that has broad impact and would otherwise be invisible to the public. (It is a perverse world where music cops are shaking down micro venues for local musicians in the name of protecting artistic property rights. Does the Beatles estate really need a nickle everytime some street musician plays 'Hey Jude'? Is this the way our society should support the music 'industry'?) Thanks to East Bay Express for covering stories like these.
Re: “ASCAP Targets Farmers' Markets and House Venues”
It may be an "unpaid service to the community" but it's part of the whole business package that constitutes a farmers' market, and if you're playing ASCAP/BMI material you need to pay the licensing fees. Which are fairly trivial. It's pretty strange that the Express is so hot to support artists but when it comes to getting them paid, it seems to be another story.
Re: “ASCAP Targets Farmers' Markets and House Venues”
ASCAP and BMI are extortion rings. I can understand copyright protection for copy and resale of recorded material where the copier is trying to profit from the work of others. But performance is a personal rendering and interpretation of an existing work. In visual copyright, as long as the source is recognized and work is stated as a copy, a personal rendition is legal. The main point of copyright protection is to protect a creator's ability to make a living from their own work. These BMI ASCAP thugs are nothing but gangsters.
Re: “ASCAP Targets Farmers' Markets and House Venues”
Jimmy may have been targeted because it appears that he is profiting from his events. Most house concert venues, including ours, only accept donations that go 100% to the artists, and just put on events for the love of the music. In addition, if house concert venues follow the following rules, and are members of Folk Alliance International ("FAI"), they are covered by the FAI agreement with ASCAP and will not be required to pay fees:
House Concert Rules and Regulations:
1. Performance is in a private home
2. Performance is by invitation only*
a. *the intent of the “invitation only” regulation is that a person cannot just come without some connection to the presenter or artist (i.e. a “wide circle of family and friends”) The details of that compliance might include but not be limited to 1) not publicly displaying your address 2) “by invitation only” or “call for invitation” on all information accessible to the public (i.e. website, flyers)
Re: “ASCAP Targets Farmers' Markets and House Venues”
House venues who host musicians and who are not running a for-profit venture can become members of Folk Alliance International. Once members, they can sign on to a PRO agreement in which ASCAP and BMI have agreed to exempt them from licensing fees. There are some requirements regarding the listing of the venue as a private performance, but house concert hosts should have no trouble meeting these requirements. And membership in Folk Alliance International, which costs $75/year currently, has other member benefits. Interested people should contact www.folkalliance.org.
Re: “ASCAP Targets Farmers' Markets and House Venues”
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Re: “ASCAP Targets Farmers' Markets and House Venues”
(We were told that legally, they could collect even if we had artists & bands sign things that said they were not playing ANY songs by their artists)
Re: “ASCAP Targets Farmers' Markets and House Venues”
When I was a volunteer at 924 Gilman in the early 90s, ASCAP came after us. We talked with them once and explained that we were a grassroots venue featuring comparatively small bands, and that what they were asking for (thousands of dollars, mostly retroactively) was insane. They lowered what they were asking for to "just" a few hundred dollars a year (which at that point we still wouldn't have been able to afford), and then we never answered their letters or phone calls again. They sent some really scary-sounding legal letters but nothing ever happened.
Re: “Download This T-Shirt”
I know we have people ask us all the time to print someone elses logo and we always refuse. Company's didn't use to mind but that was a very long time ago. I think there is still a lot of it that goes on in the Custom T-Shirts business.
Re: “Pay to Play”
Mokai, my friend, when an artist registers their recorded songs with BMI and ASCAP, those song plays are tracked off broadcasts and the artist is compensated whether they are an indie or a Gaga for those plays. Establishments with in-house jukeboxes are not tracked from song to song, so they pay a general licensing fee instead. Jukebox play is a small portion of public play, and those payments are dispersed among all the songwriters and not just the Justin Beiber and Michael Jacksons. Your music will never be valued as long as you give it away. If clubs, coffee shops and other venues think a few hundred dollars a year is too much to pay for music, they are free to pull the plug. The fact is people like to hear music when they're out, just as they like good food, beer, wine and other entertainment. Let's see a club owner tell their drink distributor to donate beer for free because, "it's good for promotion."
Re: “Download This T-Shirt”
This is hilarious. Thanks for the great article. I'm currently living in Bangkok and i see this shirt bootlegged all the time. Urban Outfitters was selling it for a while, too, up on Bancroft in Berkeley. Pretty sure a good chunk of people who wear it don't even realize it's their album cover. Ha!
Re: “Churn and Burn at the Young Musicians Program”
since arriving Daisy Newman has damaged YMP and abused numerous students and teachers. In 2003 my son was kicked out of the program in a hostile act without any proper investigation or factual basis to justify such a major action after his 8 years in the program and a few days before his final senior recital, it was heartbreaking and shocking. He was reinstated once I went up two levels of supervisors with a formal complaint, he received lessons but was allowed avoid other obligations that would place him near Ms Newman. Over the next year I was contacted by close to a dozen families with similar horrifying tales of abuses against their children, these were students who had dedicated themselves for years to their musicianship and the program requirements. I contacted the YMP board president and parent council. Parents organized a meeting with Newman's supervisor during which students explained how they were unfairly dismissed from the program and the emotional abuses they suffered. Many parents took their concerns to the YMP board president, vice-chancellor office and EAOP director. There is plenty of evidence to support dismissing Ms Newman, it is past time to repair the wonderful program YMP once was.