How Do They Know We're Playing Music in Our Store?

Dear Rich: We're going to be opening a pipe and tobacco store and want to play recorded music in it. The landlord for the building says that we will have to pay a fee to ASCAP. My question is if we don't sign up with ASCAP how would they ever find out about our shop? For over 70 years, performing organizations such as a BMI and ASCAP have employed people (unaffectionately referred to as "spies") to locate and report back on establishments that play recorded music. If one of these representatives frequents your tobacco shop, you'll soon get a letter from the respective organization. In other cases, a disgruntled employee or customer may report the establishment to a performing rights organization. Of course there are exceptions -- for example no license is required if your establishment is less than 2,000 square feet -- and we've provided an article with tips on avoiding ASCAP and BMI fees.

How Do BMI and ASCAP Co-Writers Register Songs?

dividing the songwriting pie

Dear Rich: I am part of a musical duo. We've made a CD (that has't been pressed yet), which features songs written by both me and my bandmate/duo-mate. I'm affiliated with ASCAP. I've got a publishing company also affiliated with ASCAP. My bandmate/duomate is affiliated with BMI, but rather than starting up a publishing company, he just claims 200% of songwriting credits in order to receive full royalties. Here's my question: How do we credit his songs? Should he claim 200% songwriting ownership under BMI, or should I claim them under my publishing company? Is there any benefit to have a particular album/CD/recording under one publishing company (mine)? According to a BMI rep, your partner registers the song as a writer (with BMI), and you register the song with ASCAP (as a writer/publisher). In other words, the same song can be registered at both societies (something we weren't aware of). Writer/publisher information should be cross-indexed on each registration -- that is, when filling out the ASCAP registration form, you would enter your partner's BMI affiliation under "Writer." And vice-versa when your partner completes the registration. If your goal is to split the revenue evenly, you should either:

• have your partner create a BMI publisher. We're aware that's' pricey -- $150 -- but that will allow each person to receive an equal split of both publisher and writer revenue from their respective PRO, or 
• make your ASCAP music publisher entity the band's publisher and give your partner half of the income you receive from your ASCAP publisher checks.

Crowdsourcing welcome ... We're interested in verifying this answer with our readers. Has anyone actually registered the same song at both PROs? You can also follow up with your respective PRO as follows: ASCAP Member Services (1-800-952-7227); BMI Member services (newyork@bmi.com (212-220-3000); Los Angeles losangeles@bmi.com (310-659-9109)).

Can We Report Neighbor for Blasting Copyrighted Christmas Music?

Dear Rich: Every year, my neighbor blasts Christmas music (and some non-Christmas music) with a synchronized Christmas light show. As you can imagine he goes overboard and drives most of the neighbors crazy. We've asked him to turn it down (or off), complained to the authorities, and none of it does much good. We're thinking of suing him as a nuisance. One of the neighbors wondered if we could report him for playing copyrighted music without permission. Is that possible? To whom do we report it? That's the Christmas spirit! We can totally relate. We once visited a Dear Rich Staff member in the hospital at Christmas time and somebody down the hall was blasting 'Silent Night' on a toy piano (talk about an oxymoronic choice of material). What is a 'humbug,' anyway?
Right, you had a question. The neighborhood blasting of copyrighted music would likely qualify as a public performance (sidebar on right) under U.S. copyright law. In other words, it falls into the same category as playing music at a ballgame or at a bar, and requires permission. If it is done without permission, it would be considered an unauthorized use of the music -- that is, an infringement. The gatekeepers for almost all of these public performance rights are two organizations, BMI and ASCAP. They grant permissions on behalf of thousands of songwriters. They also enforce rights and sue organizations and individuals who publicly perform music without permission. You could report your neighbor to the appropriate organization although you would need to identify the copyrighted songs from the performing rights organization's repertoire -- for example, BMI has over 7,000 registered songs with the word "Christmas" in the title. The organization could then choose to enforce rights. That's where you might run into a problem. Following the strange flap over the Girl Scouts/Macarena debacle, performing rights societies might be gun-shy about going after a homeowner playing Christmas music in his cul-de-sac. We think you and your neighbors would be better served by handling this in the traditional American way -- small claims court.