theme/amusment park licence?

[robos99]

It's not a scam, it's just the way ASACAP/BMI work. They are legit, even if their tactics are shady and misleading and possibly illegal. Brett had the right idea. As much as I'd hate to give in to these guys, they're very hard to fight. You can try blowing them off, but eventually it might come to a court battle. For what they want you to pay, it's easier just to pay the fee and then you have the right to play any music they license, not just the royalty free stuff you've obtained. The venue I worked at decided not to fight them and just pay the fees. We even stopped our "rave" nights since the DJ royalties were much higher. And the real kicker, they charged us as a food and drink establishment and not a concert venue, because as they said, we don't have permanent seats so that's the category they claim we fall into. Sure we could have fought it, but you're looking at a lengthy legal battle with a company who has some very high priced lawyers.

Funny, you wouldn't think a non-profit who is supposed to be helping musicians get the royalties they're due would become known for such ruthless tactics. In the end they do pay out to the musicians though, but they sure do leave plenty of money to pay their lawyers.

[MovieRelics]

The problem is everyone here is assuming this person is with ASCAP or BMI which we don't know. All that we do know is that she claimed to be from the Federal Gov which makes her not a ASCAP rep as they are a private entity. She just had the paperwork for ASCAP on here and talking about WIPP needing a theme park license. That's what makes the whole thing smell like a scam.

Wipp, did you ever find out any more about her or did she contact you again yet?

[wipp]

i havnt heard anymore from them but im assuming this was one of their bullying tactics. im still unclear on something tho. lets say i put the radio on by the ticket booth. is someone going to write down every song that was played and then they pay each band royalties? i have a hard time believing that.i think its more like pay us to be quiet. i did get virgil to call her and let her know we have permission to use midnight syndacate but i feel they were out of their boundries with this alone because i doubt virgil is with ascap

[robos99]

If you're playing the radio and you're paying royalties to ASCAP, they decide how to divide the money up to their artists. I'm not entirely sure how they decide who gets what. They might use airplay statistics to get a sampling of it. But they aren't going to ask you to report exactly what songs have been played. You will be required to pay them to play the radio though. It's simply something you can't get around. IF this person really is from ASCAP/BMI/ect then you should just pay the fee, since it frees yourself from a new headache and it allows you to now play licensed music in your haunt, not just the royalty-free stuff. If it really was ASCAP/BMI then you'll likely hear from them again.