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ASCAPDate: May 14, 2012 by Christine Allison  Views: 2468
We have been paying ASCAP fees for our concerts, but when I
attend other concerts, I never see it listed on programs. Are we
doing something we need not to do? Or are others just ignoring
that?
As a young non-profit, we need to save wherever we can. Replies (6): Threaded | Chronological
Allen H Simon on May 14, 2012 9:14am
I don't think it's mandatory to mention it in your concert program. Most well-established community organizations pay their performance license fees, and although a few smaller ones don't, it's the right thing to do.
Applauded by an audience of 1
John Howell on May 14, 2012 11:08am
I might also mention that the Association of Concert Bands has engotiated a blanket annual license for ACB members at a very reasonable fee. (I assume that this includes both ASCAP and BMI licenses, since those cover most music in the U.S.)
This is definietly something that ACDA should consider doing as a service to the choral profession. Perhaps no one has thought of it because so many of us are involved in educational music, which is exempt from performance royalties in so many situations. But neither community choruses nor church choirs who produce concerts are covered by the Fair Use exemption from those royalties.
All the best,
John
Applauded by an audience of 4
on May 14, 2012 2:34pm
Our chorus always pays our fees, but I have never seen it printed in our program anywhere.
on May 15, 2012 5:29am
We pay our fees, because it is the right thing to do, but we do so grungingly, because the folks at ASCAP are arrogant, unresponsive, unhelpful, and apparently ignorant about small concert-producers. E.g., in response to a query about how precisely to report a particular set of concerts in local churches, three different ASCAP employees responded with one-sentence brush-off emails about how church choirs were exempt. As my query explained in increasinglty didactic detail, we are a professional concert choir that charges admission to concerts held in churches that we rent for the evening. Apparently this (bizarre! unprecedented!) arrangement was beyond the imagination of anyone in the NYC office. They want our money but they really don't want to help us out. - Nathaniel G. Lew, Counterpoint (Montpelier VT)
on May 15, 2012 6:27am
Nathaniel's experience sounds very much like my group's dealings with ASCAP. We waste so much time because of the repeated letters we receive from ASCAP representatives who seem totally unaware of the many many communications we have had with other ASCAP representatives about the same topics.
I don't think performing groups or presenters can fix this. The pressure needs to come from composers and publishers who will suffer because ASCAP makes it so difficult to perform - and properly license and pay for performances of - music by living composers. -Larry Kent
Nathaniel Lew wrote:
We pay our fees, because it is the right thing to do, but we do so grungingly, because the folks at ASCAP are arrogant, unresponsive, unhelpful, and apparently ignorant about small concert-producers. E.g., in response to a query about how precisely to report a particular set of concerts in local churches, three different ASCAP employees ...<snip> They want our money but they really don't want to help us out. - Nathaniel G. Lew, Counterpoint (Montpelier VT)
Applauded by an audience of 1
on May 15, 2012 8:02am
I am on both sides of this issue as a composer and choral director. I too have had difficulty communicating with ASCAP from time to time, but in my experience they are the best licensing agency for composers, who, generally speaking, struggle to make any money at all, much less a living, and their concert music dipartment is very supportive. So please know that even if their administrators are frustrating to deal with, we composers appreciate your payments!
Applauded by an audience of 2
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