Some bands do require royalties... I am pretty sure the Beatles have or did have somthing like this in place.

I think it's just one of those things that's not really enforced. Unless you're a dick band.

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) is a non-profit performance rights organization that protects its members' musical copyrights by monitoring public performances of their music, whether via a broadcast or live performance, and compensating them accordingly. ASCAP collects licensing fees from users of music created by ASCAP members, then distributes them back to its members as royalties (BMI has a similar method for its members). In effect, the arrangement is the product of a compromise: when a song is played, the user does not have to pay the copyright holder directly, nor does the music creator have to bill a radio station for use of a song.

if a bar(or any other venue) wants to have an act play songs they have to pay a fee to ascap if it isn't an original work.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASCAP

Hmm. So, to put it in a context with which we're all plenty familar, PJ has to like clear their setlist with the venue each night? And so that if they're planning to play any covers, the fee will be processed? Obviously they do at least one cover almost every single show. Unless, maybe like in the case of Baba, especially with how often they do it, and the band's now well established relationship with Townsend and Daltrey, they let Ed sing the stuff for free to his heart's content whenever.

i think it's more like the venue pays a fee to ascap and bmi (the two largest of these organizations) and then it's all taken care of. it isn't really dealt with on a case to case basis, i don't believe.
then again, i really don't know enough about the subject, i just had remembered one of my teachers talking about it in high school.
as far as i know, it's just a flat rate fee pretty much. if a venue is only going to feature artists from ascap as opposed to bmi, then they'd only pay a fee to ascap in order for someone to play songs by the ascap artists. i think most places plan on being prepared ahead of time and end up paying the fee to any artist group.
again, i'm really not an expert on it at all

Broadcast Music, Incorporated (BMI) is a US performing rights organization. It collects license fees on behalf of its songwriters, composers, and music publishers and distributes them as royalties to those members whose works have been performed.

is this the proper forum to have this discussion? or are the mods being lazy again

Hmm, well obviously the Mods can do whatever, but I figured, it's related to concert going, so that's within Entertainment. Oh, or maybe the non-PJ music section. Oh well.

And thanks for the wiki link, punkdavid.

The most commonly known compulsory license is for nondramatic musical compositions.[6] This provision of the Copyright Act allows a person to make a new sound recording of a musical work, if that has been previously distributed to the public, by or under the authority of the copyright owner.[7] There is no requirement that the new recording be identical to the previous work, as the compulsory license includes the privilege of rearranging the work to conform it to the recording artist's interpretation. This does not allow the artist to change the basic melody or fundamental character of the work.[8]

In order to take advantage of this compulsory license the recording artist must provide notice and pay a royalty. The notice must be sent to the copyright owner, or if unable to determine the copyright owner, to the Copyright Office, within thirty days of making the recording, but before distributing physical copies. Failure to provide this notice would constitute copyright infringement.[9] In addition to the notice to the copyright owner, the recording artist must pay a royalty to the copyright owner. This royalty is set by three copyright royalty judges.[10]

Though the compulsory license allows one to make and distribute physical copies of a song for a set royalty, the owner of the copyright in the underlying musical composition can still control public performance of the work or transmission over the radio.[11] Often though, if the underlying musical work is well known, the work can be licensed for public performance through a performance rights organization such as ASCAP or BMI.