[US Blues]

For those of you all digital, HDtracks has the 88.2/24 (SACD) version of this, which is sounding quite nice on my headphone system. Thank you for the recommendation!

I've had the CD for many years and it too sounds phenomenal. The capture of the acoustic space in that recording should be a reference point for training recording engineers, mastering engineers, and music producers.

PS- This is in reference to "A Meeting By The River" featuring VM Bhatt and Ry Cooder on Water Lily Acoustics.

 

[r2muchstuff]

The business pays a licensing fee to SESAC, ASCAP and/or BMI to be legit. And, in my experience, they are quite aggressive about making sure their licensing fees are paid.

Fees are based on factors (square footage, cover charges, live or reproduced music, type of establishment, in some instances minutia like how many speakers etc).

Failure to have the licensing can subject a business to $750 - $30,000 in damages PER SONG played (with up to an additional $150k in penalties if the business “willfully or intentionally” played unlicensed content) depending on a lot of factors.

ASCAP and BMI in particular will send “spotters” into retail and restaurants/bars that have not paid for licensing to listen for songs from their catalogs. If they hear songs from their catalog (and the only way they won’t is if you’re only playing unsigned artists), they will send demand letters, noting the specific songs played.

This is usually more a way to force the issue of paying the fees, instead of seeking damages. But, if those letters are ignored, they get aggressive fast, and an unlicensed business will be sued. And, because ASCAP/BMI have informed the business that playing their music without paying the fees is illegal, the escalator for “knowingly and willfully” doing Schiit kicks in.

On the plus side, often, if a a business is using a “pro” streaming platform of some kind (Musak, Pandora for Business, etc), those licensing fees can be baked into the subscription plans. But the baked in fees usually only apply to music played on/through the subscription platform/hardware (read your TOS!).

So, technically, if you own a cafe that most of the time streamed background music from a Pandora box, but on Sunday hooked up a turntable to your system for a “vinyl listening night,” you probably are liable for more fees than what the Pandora license covers. And ASCAP/BMI/SESAC do look for these sorts of promotions which is a whole lot easier today, when a well built piece of software can do most of the detecting for them.

And
Koraoke night. Performers or DJs, if not licensed thenselves, may create issues for a place or event.

 

[Ableza]

And
Koraoke night. Performers or DJs, if not licensed thenselves, may create issues for a place or event.

Usually if you purchase a "Karaoke version" of a song it only comes with personal use rights. If you are hosting a public event or operating a Karaoke bar, you need to purchase the public performance rights for the music. This is usually done through the publisher of the karaoke version and they take care of paying the artist royalty companies. If you are having fun at a family reunion and laughing at grandma sing karaoke to "Livin' On A prayer," you are in the grey area of personal use and no one will try to come after you.

 

[Plautus001]

The business pays a licensing fee to SESAC, ASCAP and/or BMI to be legit. And, in my experience, they are quite aggressive about making sure their licensing fees are paid.

Fees are based on various factors and uses, including square footage, cover charges, live or reproduced music, type of establishment, in some instances minutia like how many speakers, etc.

Failure to have the licensing can subject a business to $750 - $30,000 in damages PER SONG played (with up to an additional $150k in penalties if the business “willfully or intentionally” played unlicensed content) depending on a lot of factors.

ASCAP and BMI in particular will send “spotters” into retail and restaurants/bars that have not paid for licensing to listen for songs from their catalogs. If they hear songs from their catalog (and the only way they won’t is if you’re only playing unsigned artists), they will send demand letters, noting the specific songs played.

This is usually more a way to force the issue of paying the fees, instead of seeking damages. But, if those letters are ignored, they get aggressive fast, and an unlicensed business will be sued. And, because ASCAP/BMI have informed the business that playing their music without paying the fees is illegal, the escalator for “knowingly and willfully” doing Schiit kicks in.

On the plus side, often, if a a business is using a “pro” streaming platform of some kind (Musak, Pandora for Business, etc), those licensing fees can be baked into the subscription plans. But the baked in fees usually only apply to music played on/through the subscription platform/hardware (read your TOS!).

So, technically, if you own a cafe that most of the time streamed background music from a Pandora box, but on Sunday hooked up a turntable to your system for a “vinyl listening night,” you probably are liable for more fees than what the Pandora license covers. And ASCAP/BMI/SESAC do look for these sorts of promotions which is a whole lot easier today, when a well built piece of software can do most of the detecting for them.

I had an inspector from SOCAN (the Canadian Version of music publication rights enforcement) visit our shop and inform me i owned fees for playing music... unfortunately for him while he was mid spiel, a commercial came on... I had to tell him that his "fees" were baked into radio...

 

[RCBinTN]

Never realized we were putting the fraternity in so much peril ... honestly, we just wanted to see the little sisters do the bump to Brick House.
And, no it wasn't us, occifer ... it's the Delta house next door.

 

[StimpyWan]

I had an inspector from SOCAN (the Canadian Version of music publication rights enforcement) visit our shop and inform me i owned fees for playing music... unfortunately for him while he was mid spiel, a commercial came on... I had to tell him that his "fees" were baked into radio...

The RIAA would periodically visit Nimbus CD, where I worked at the time. I was always assigned as a liason, during their inspections. I had to pull test press CD samples, of any music they questioned. We would occasionally get dinged for a non-English release, but not very often, as we auditioned every incoming master for content. Not a pleasant bunch to deal with.

One boot-leg we did find, was a completed master tape, of Steven Tyler at the piano, while he was writing Aerosmith songs. A full 2 disc set, of nothing but early demo's. I still wonder how someone had access to those recordings? It almost had to be an inside job...!

 

[bcowen]

It’s the answer to: can our BBQ beat NC’s ?

Ahhh....words of wisdom.

 

[Verde And Black]

no one will try to come after you.

True story. Basically, if the music is being used to facilitate a profit making, public facing enterprise, they want their pound of flesh.

 

[bcowen]

Hear, hear! I love NorCal, but the prices are nuts.

I was in Rocklin, and really enjoyed it there. Not overwhelmed with people, nice scenery, and the climate was maybe the best (year round) of all the places I've lived. Yes, it got hot in the summer, but dry heat is not nearly as oppressive as the humid heat we have in NC and GA. Had great neighbors, although interestingly none of those we hung out with were from CA...they were all immigrants like us. Really, the only thing I didn't like about it was the punishing taxation, which in turn drove up the prices of everything across the board beyond what you had to pay directly.

 

[jonathan c]

Ahhh....words of wisdom.

… … is there even BBQ in GA ?

 

[JamminVMI]

Only in Atlanta does Barney carry a Billy Club.

Barney and Billy are friends!

 

[eliottj]

… … is there even BBQ in GA ?

Here we go....

 

[bcowen]

… … is there even BBQ in GA ?

I think the term in GA is BBQ-like.

 

[Cliffh93]

I think the term in GA is BBQ-like.

You go to Georgia for the football, not the barbecue.

 

[jonathan c]

You go to Georgia for the football, not the barbecue.

…. I thought that it was just for the Masters ….