Extortion

That’s what the music industry loves.

They get you when you buy blank media.

They get you when you buy a CD (don’t share those songs with your friends because we’ll come after you and ruin your life).

And they get people who may or not be making any money from playing the songs.

From Florida comes the story of tavern owners being shaken down for having live music or even just the TV on.

Six months after raising the curtain on their gourmet coffee shop in the beachside Indian Harbour Place shopping center, Laurie and Jim Hall decided to offer live music on Friday and Saturday nights.

The performers, normally duos, mainly covered songs written and made famous by other musicians. There was no cover charge, no pay for the musicians, no limit to how long patrons could sit on a couch with their coffee, playing chess and enjoying the music.

No problem.

Then a few months later, music industry giant ASCAP started calling and sending letters saying East Coast Coffee & Tea was in violation of copyright laws. The fee to continue the music was $400 a year.

Why is it so hard for the "music industry" to understand that casual sharing of music and having live players in a coffee shop increases the likelihood that their products will be bought?

Word of mouth is one of the best ways to keep products alive and vibrant.

They like to say that they’re just following the rules but the glee with which they go after people tells me that they’re just in it for the money.

SESAC spokesman Shawn Williams said in e-mail responses to questions that it is his company’s responsibility to enforce copyright laws, many of which were enacted nearly a century ago.

"The copyright law requires each business that publicly performs music to obtain permission prior to performing any copyrighted music," Williams said, adding that the owners of East Coast Coffee need to decide whether music "is important to their operations and overall profitability. We have many license agreements with small establishments."

Williams defends the money collected.

"This provides the majority of income to songwriters," he said.

Is there any accountability? Who watches these companies to make sure the money is going where they say it is?

Andrus, the owner of Lou’s Blues, said he has had many run-ins with the copyright companies over the years.

"It started 15 years ago when I had a guy come out to our other place, Cantina dos Amigos, and play Mexican music on his guitar on the patio," Andrus said. "They came after me for money. Are they really sending royalty checks to the songwriter in Mexico?"

If that’s not bad enough, you should also be careful if you’ve got the TV running.

Andrus said a friend of his who owned a restaurant that did not feature music was contacted by a company looking to charge him because it owned the rights to a Hank Williams Jr. song, "Are You Ready for Some Football?" The song preceded every "Monday Night Football" telecast, which the restaurant carried on its televisions.

He said his friend simply chose to turn the volume down when the song came on.

Updated 7/11

Here’s another person who doesn’t like the way the enforcers are behaving. Fred von Lohman of the EFF.

Published by

Michael Harrison

Husband, Programmer, Irish dancer, tinkerer, astronomer, layabout (as much as possible)

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