Discussion on the Boards: Jamming, PROs and You

Was just reading up on the IBMA listserv, an interesting issue popped up that I thought would be useful to think about:

SCENARIO:
You own a tiny restaurant/cafe/bar with a weekly not-for-profit bluegrass jams [in America]…

Do you have to pay the Performing Rights Organizations [ASCAP, BMI, SESAC] to hold the jam, even if it’s not for profit?

Technically, yes. If the venue itself is “for-profit” (i.e. they sell food) and has performances of copyrighted music in public, then they are subject to license fees to the songwriters’ respective PRO. These fees are collected in the form of blanket licenses payable to each PRO, thus granting the venue permission to perform any song that that PRO represents publicly.

Does it matter how large the venue is?

For live music and the public performance of CDs [or other playable media], no, it doesn’t matter how big the venue is or if the public performance is not-for-profit. The main distinction is whether the venue itself is “for profit”. Cafe sells food, thus [ideally] pays licensing fees.

And no, the “we always play Public Domain songs” racket isn’t gonna fly with ASCAP/BMI. Nice try, though.

If this tiny venue already has a “licensed” jukebox …does that cover the jam sessions?

According to one of the IBMA’s guides to licensing and public performance:

“Generally, live music is treated differently than radio and jukeboxes and a license, or licenses, from the PROs would be required to present live music, but in a small restaurant/cafe the annual fee is typically quite low–maybe in the $300 range. The theory of requiring these licenses is that when a restaurant/cafe uses live music to boost its food and drink sales, it is not unreasonable that the restaurant pay a licensing fee since it profiting from the live music.” — Dwight Worden, IBMA-L, 2/9/10

This doesn’t, however, question whether or not these blanket licenses for small venues and jams are beneficial in the first place. Does it kill the scene or does it appropriately (as possible) remunerate copyright holders?

Just the facts, here. Will followup as the facts as recalled by the IBMA surface.

For more info on (ASCAPs) small venue licensing.. check out this FAQ.

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