Duke’s Note: Just read this post on Techdirt and it really pissed me off. I should know better…

It just gets under my skin knowing these organizations are going to continue getting away with this kind of crap as long as artists, consumers and broadcasters continue to empower them.

by Mike Masnick

We keep hearing from folks how the collections societies in the US for songwriters and composers, ASCAP, BMI and SESAC, are supposedly the “good guys” in that they actually give money to the actual musicians, and they aren’t like the RIAA at all. But the evidence continues to be lacking on that front. In fact, it increasingly looks like they’re doing a lot more harm to most musicians.

Earlier this year, we noted that their aggressiveness in getting just about any small venue to pay up fees was killing off open mic nights and other sorts of venues that allowed musicians to play live. Mike points us to the news that many venues are simply giving up on live music.

The problem? Well, ASCAP, BMI and SESAC are all demanding huge fees. Even the restaurants that don’t bring in cover bands are being told they need to pay up, just in case a musician happens to do a cover in the middle of a wholly original set. The licensing organizations don’t seem to care, they just want you to pay, just in case.

Read the whole story at Techdirt

Technorati Tags: ASCAP, BMI, Mike Masnick, SESAC, Techdirt

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This entry was posted on Thursday, November 19th, 2009 at 4:40 pm and is filed under Music Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.