How to pay royalties for a live performance of a recording

[mikeymike2000]

Hi music biz pros,

(yeah, that is kinda punny)

OK so let's say I make a recording of "Rhapsody in Blue" and then want to play that recording in a public setting. Do I just give Harry Fox $0.09 for every time the song plays or is there a different way to go about this? - It would not be 'for sale' but it would be 'broadcast', in a setting that may be considered 'public', as part of the overall production.

OR because people will buy tickets to this, with a limited number of seats, would it be considered a 'private event' that would be exempt from this question?

This is all hypothetical, of course. . .

PS The song in question I believe to be outside of the public domain until the year 2038, or so sez the Interweb.

[markjsmith]

The venue (as I understand it) pays the fee based on a general license study that ASCAP & BMI do every few years. There's no way to go about harassing every cover band for the fee for performing these songs so they go after the venues, mostly unsuccessfully I've been told. In other words I don't think George or Ira Gershwin are gonna get paid for every single performance (somehow I don't think they're too worried though).

I'd check with your PRO or the venue if you are really that concerned about it.

[Casey H]

Correction... I had misread your post. Thought you were only talking about public performance, not recordings.

Venues are supposed to take out licenses with the major PROs such as ASCAP and BMI so that the composers of the cover songs can get performance royalties. However, small venues don't always do this and even when they do, sometimes these performance do not get picked up in PRO surveys.

If you want to actually record a cover and produce CDs, you would need to pay mechanical royalties, often that is handled by The Harry Fox Agency. That is for MECHANICAL royalties when a work is reproduced in mechanical form such as phonorecord, CD, etc. If someone recorded a (cover) song and made 2000 copies, in general, they would pay the copyright owner (usu. a publisher) the statutory rate per CD which is currently .091 per copy... 2000 x 0.91...

Regarding what mazz said, sync fees would not apply to public performance or pure audio recordings. However, if you would cover a song and use it in a video application (i.e. the sound is synchronized in time relation to video), master use/sync fees would apply. You would have to contact the copyright owner. I don't think (but I'm not sure!) Harry Fox gets involved with master/sync, only mechanicals. I need to check that.

HTH
Casey

[mazz]

If your arrangement/recording of Rhapsody In Blue is meant to be in a production, the producers may need to get a sync license from the copyright owners. A Mechanical License is only if you are going to sell recordings of your arrangement/performance. In the case of a production, you would probably also issue a master license for the use of your master recording.

Then the venue would have (hopefully) paid a blanket license to the PROs so when the piece is performed, the writers and publishers would get the performance royalties as well.

Remember that a piece of music has many revenue streams attached to it:

Copyright of the piece of music: Mechanical, Sync license
Performance royalties: Writer and Publisher
Sales of recordings: Profits after mechanicals and production costs go to artist/record company
Master License: Sync license of the master recording of the piece of music. Might be a "cover" version.

HTH,

Mazz

PS: Check out this book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/082301 ... UTF8&psc=1

[Casey H]

Mikey
I had misread your original post and made corrections to my reply.

Yup, it's a good idea to read up with some music biz books such as the one mazz suggested and those by Donald Passman. And.... there is this good class at the Road Rally about music biz basics.

Casey

[mikeymike2000]

Wow, thanks guys!

Gotta say, even after almost 2 years I still learn something with every post!!

[Casey H]

I just checked the Harry Fox site. It says they do not get involved with master use rights. That's what I thought but I wanted to be sure. HFA only handles mechanicals.

Even those teaching are always learning.

Casey

[mikeymike2000]

That is why this board is so great!!

From many, one mind... to bounce off ideas and learn the ins and outs.

[CHuckmott]

FOr what it's worth, as performing musicians we hear from clubs that Ascap pops in from time to time charging clubs that have cover bands up to a blanket cost of something like $3000....never heard of a band paying the ASCAP fee. WOuld likely be the death knoll of the cover band. Is already the death knoll of some clubs who have live music... if a club is doing marginally o.k. by hiring live music, having to pay ASCAP may be (has been) the tipping point to discontinue live music.

[mikeymike2000]

When I was in a band we would only play clubs that paid the fee. I never handled the paperwork back then but I am pretty sure that the bar paid the fees and all the people we worked with were very careful of this. In fact, back when Austin Powers was all the rage we did a song and had to change the name to 'Awesome Powder' based on the recommendation of the bands attorney. Although I can't remember if that was a parody or what but it was a big deal at the time. (let the jokes and puns begin)

Anyway, my question was for a performance theater (but I did not make that clear, sorry) so I don't think they pay the fees. This has been a very enlightening post but I am now leaning towards the "dude, why not use your own music for this and avoid the hassle". - It was (and may still be) an underscore to my recorded MC intro for the production. When I posted this question it seemed like a good idea at the time. Now, not so much.

Not the first time a good idea at the time morphed into: keep it simple, stupid.