It's spreading but not as fast as SARS!

[MarkB]

The news item below I got from the session.org and was reposted from the Ottawa Journal newspaper in Ottawa, Ontario Canada today.

The British government is looking into licensing session musicians and extracting royalties or fees to play. That story was last year.

Now SOCAN in Canada wants to do the same thing. Read below.

SOCAN wants licence fees from Ottawa ITM Session
This article appears in today's local paper. Comments anyone?

PAPER The Ottawa Citizen
DATE Thursday, April 10, 2003
SECTION Business
HEADLINE Celtic culture's new cost: An Irish musician who sings
traditional Celtic tunes for free and the owner of a pub where he
sings them are outraged by a demand for royalties. Vito Pilieci
reports.
BYLINE Vito Pilieci
SOURCE The Ottawa Citizen
SUB HEAD Be Careful Where You Whistle
The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada is demanding a group of Ottawa Celtic performers pay hundreds of dollars in royalties to hold their weekly jam sessions. "This is ridiculous," said Keven Dooley, arguing that he is simply trying to "express his culture. "I am not a professional musician." The society defends its position, saying it is responsible for collecting royalties on behalf of performing artists. Every Thursday for almost a year, Mr. Dooley and his son, Ciaran, have been strolling into Daniel O'Connell's Irish Pub on Wellington Street with their flutes, bodhrans and harps to meet friends and play the night away. The two join local musicians, some older than 80, who gather at the pub to play "true Irish" music. Many of the songs have been performed for centuries. On some nights there are as many as 12 people on stage, and none of the performers is paid. Any gratuities are donated to the Rideau Canal Celtic Cross Committee, an organization that wants to erect a memorial to Irishmen who died during the construction of the Rideau Canal.
But the letter from SOCAN, demanding that Mr. Dooley pay for performing live music at the bar, could put an abrupt end to their
weekly gathering. "They sent the letter to me at the establishment," Mr. Dooley said. "I picked it up off the owner's desk. It assumes I'm the owner of the pub, which I'm not, and it says I have to pay fees going back two years. The pub hasn't been there for two years; it has only been there for one." The letter demands Mr. Dooley pay three per cent of all money paid to all performers at the pub, with a minimum fee of $80. "It irritates me more than anything," said Enrico Balestra, co-owner of the pub. "It's a small percentage, but it's a big deal. "It's our first year in business and we are lucky enough to be over zero."
Mr. Balestra said he will not cancel the weekly sessions. Instead, he questioned why SOCAN would try to silence something that helps young musicians to get their start. "If they are going to take that away from us, then it's a pretty weak culture we live in," he said. "You're destroying everything." Mr. Dooley's group regularly welcomes aspiring Celtic musicians and offers them performance tips.
SOCAN spokeswoman Diane Samec said the Toronto agency regularly monitors functions, newspapers and other information sources to identify establishments that should be licensed by SOCAN. Ms. Samec said that if a jam session consists of copyrighted works, the venue would require a licence. "It is the world's repertoire of music that we license," she said. "If there is music being performed in a public venue, it is possible that they are required to have a licence for a particular tariff." SOCAN said Mr. Dooley has not contacted it to plead his case. The agency said it is possible it has made a mistake by sending the letter to Mr. Dooley, since it should have gone to the pub's owner. If no one contacts the agency, Ms. Samec said a representative from SOCAN will be sent to the pub to sort out licensing details.


Posted on April 10th 2003 by ian clark

If this keeps growing we sessions players will have to go underground and become like the speakeasies in the 1920's.

MarkB

[thurlowe]

*choke! sputter!*

Hello, SOCAN? This material is 95% public domain? Hello? Hello?



Cara

[Nanohedron]

Whoever thought that up?? What a waste of taxpayers' revenues.

[Tyghress]

Anyone consider that the original article may have been posted on April 1st?

[E = Fb]

Now y'all know why I left Canada. British disease.

[Nanohedron]

Aw, c'mon, Tyghress! Yer spoiling my righteous indignation.

[Nanohedron]

Umm... Tyghress, that was dated the 10th....am I missing something here?

N


...Edited to correct lameness

[The Weekenders]

ASCAP pulled this crap way back in the 80s around here. An elderly couple who had a little B&B used to have concerts on Sundays and put a ceramic vase at the door for donations. My flute and guitar duo played there and they got an angry letter from an ASCAP attorney, threatening to sue them for not paying royalties. We did indeed play one set of pieces that were still within copyrights. The 16 or so people there enjoyed it along with the dead European guys music we played.

So ASCAP won, and they stopped having concerts. Lawyer letters scare people.

That same year, the health club that I exercised had somebody come in and noticed that a local radio station (complete with COMMERCIALS for local and national advertisers) was on the club speakers. Threatened them too. So, no music after that. In this case, Muzak type companies stood to gain by having available rental services.

I am expecting at least a few defenses for ASCAP and the good they do to protect musicians, but this was sort of an invasive period that they were going through.

Royalites for TRAD. Yikes. Just leave off the Altan tunes, etc. Of course, by not playing the new reels and jigs, it makes it harder for them to become a part of the larger TRAD repertoire in the long run.

Further proof of the dissonance between money and music.

[Flyingcursor]

Just think what that could do to renfaires!!!!

[Bloomfield]

*pukes

[Nanohedron]

I've heard tales of pub owners in St. Paul being confronted by ASCAP and BMI gorillas and throwing them out, with no further action...for the time being. This sort of crap is hard to enforce, fortunately, but you can bet these penny-kissing vulgarians will try again. St. Paul publicans are apparently more fractious than those of Minneapolis...but then, they're more likely to be of Irish descent.

[Switchfoot]

honestly, the only things that come to mind at the moment I shouldnt say cuz theres minors about
But on a lighter note then that... I'd love to see one of those copyright lawyers pop into a pub and tell the boys to pay royalties on their trad... Anyone have a village smithy handy?

[The Weekenders]

Hey Switchfoot, come over to Benicia this Monday night (April 14) and hear me violate copyright laws at OLeary's Irish Pub on First Street from 7-9.

Hey, is it possible to tar and Guiness somebody? I wonder...But it would be a waste of ale....

[serpent]

Just think what that could do to renfaires!!!!

Damn! Everything we play was written somewhere around the 15th through 17th Centuries!

.... posthumous lawsuits, anyone?

Greed conquers common sense, yet again!

serpent

[Switchfoot]

you can tar and guiness someone:
Step 1: Cover person in question with tar, lots of tar, to the point that they cannot move
Step 2: Place guiness just out of their tar covered reach
Step 3: Sit back and play a suitable tune on the whistle
Step 4: If you get a little dry in the mouth, Drink the guiness

There, I've now "tar and guinessed" someone, without wasting a perfectly good drink