Local Bar being sued by ASCAP - claims an agreement with Virtual DJ covers them

[Jeff Romard]

Actually, in the US, it isn't the DJ who gets the licenses to play music, it's the venues or the promotors. It's different in Canada and might be different in Australia, but DJs here don't take the flak.

It would be the venue here most times and unless the DJ owns it he's free

 

[steve149]

It would be the venue here most times and unless the DJ owns it he's free

I thought there was a fee you guys paid each year .. is that for acquiring music?

 

[Jeff Romard]

I thought there was a fee you guys paid each year .. is that for acquiring music?

Yes it's built in to my subscription. My understanding of it is it gives you the right to play that music in public

 

[steve149]

Yes it's built in to my subscription. My understanding of it is it gives you the right to play that music in public

That's basically what the ASCAP/SESAC/BMI fees do here.

 

[DJ TJ]

In Canada we don't need to pay any fees for private performance if we are not using copies of music. If we are only playing store bought cd's or mp3's or playing originally paid for tracks from a music subscription service (which has the fees built in) we are exempt from any additional fees. The fee that Jeff is referring to (commonly known here as a hard drive license) is only required if we are making an extra copy of those tracks, either for backup or performance. The venues still must pay the appropriate fees same as in the U.S

I don't think that license on it's own gives us the right to play the tracks publicly without some additional venue or public performance fee being paid.

 

[Jeff Romard]

I don't think that license on it's own gives us the right to play the tracks publicly without some additional venue or public performance fee being paid.

That's correct to the best of my knowledge. Any venue playing live or recorded music is supposed to have a SOCAN play licence but from my experience about 1 in 10 do and it's not the ones you would expect to have it

 

[DjDennis]

Steve who knows - they change details all the time and then they say well we have advised you to read all papers concerning a license or you get in deep shit... for not looking to keep up with the news

I get told to read up every 6x months in case something changes all the time....

 

[Ron]

Well here is the final outcome:

A Charleston County strip club won’t be playing playing "Gonna Make You Sweat" and "I Wanna New Drug" without paying for them anymore.

A copyright-infringement lawsuit against GoodFellas Cabaret at 2028 Pittsburgh Ave. was dismissed July 3 after a confidential settlement.

In February, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers sued 11 establishments around the nation, including GoodFellas, for playing music without paying licensing fees.

The complaint was seeking a court order to restrain GoodFellas from playing four songs named in the complaint and for damages of up to $30,000 for each infraction, as well as attorney fees.

GoodFellas is owned by JBCM Holdings LLC, whose principals are John Bailey and Clifford McGehee, according to the complaint.

JBCM's parent company, which was not named in the lawsuit, is Heavy Man LLC of Jacksonville, Fla. Scott Hendrix of Heavy Man said there was some confusion over who owned the rights to the songs in the complaint, and he was willing to make things right after that was cleared up.

The cost of a license varies based on the nature of the business. A typical bar or restaurant pays about $60 a month, depending on frequency and the size of the establishment.

GoodFellas, an adult venue with an occupancy of about 400, was being asked to pay about $300 a month, according to an ASCAP spokesman.

About 4,000 bars, clubs and restaurants in South Carolina pay the license fee.

 

[Proformance]

That's where the grey area is .. Is it a private club or a private event? If you have to be a "member" to get in, and not open to the general public, what is it?

There's no gray area.
A private club would be you and your friends in your backyard.

It's public the moment you require an application for admission and membership fee, because you are essentially marketing it to anyone who would apply. Even an "employee" or "alumni only" facility could not qualify as private because under the law the definition of what constitutes private is very clear. The relationship between members of an employye or alumni association is does not rise to that definition.

 

[Scott Hanna]

Well here is the final outcome:

But what if the Dj got the song from a music pool and not Spotify?

 

[steve149]

There's no gray area.
A private club would be you and your friends in your backyard.

It's public the moment you require an application for admission and membership fee, because you are essentially marketing it to anyone who would apply. Even an "employee" or "alumni only" facility could not qualify as private because under the law the definition of what constitutes private is very clear. The relationship between members of an employye or alumni association is does not rise to that definition.

Maybe not .. but businesses do it to skirt laws .. Man skirts laws, opens private membership strip club .. and apparently it was successful .. http://www.ksnblocal4.com/content/n...entlemens-Club-to-Grand-Island-374077541.html