2 Replies to “How copyright and (attempted) royalties are destroying music”

  1. It might interest you and your readers to know that GIA encourages composers to join ASCAP. I got the pitch about three, four years ago. I've declined to join, so my royalties received are based on sales from the company only.

    Not that any of my few songs are getting played in strip clubs, casinos, or restaurants.

  2. One problem: nothing in the NYT article showed that copyright was destroying music, or even a given business providing music. ( Yes, it's another cost, so it is a negative influence on the bottom line.) I'll admit that I'm prejudiced, in that I'm a BMI member. I've also been on the paying end, as president of a small composers' self-help group, and I'd have to say that BMI has the tenacity of a pit-bull, and a pricing structure less friendly to small-time concert promoters than ASCAP's. I'm also aware that classical composers are getting more out of PROs than the classical world is putting in. Is that fair? Maybe not. But I like the checks.

    Todd: neither BMI nor ASCAP collects royalties on music in liturgy (which is to my mind as it should be). If one of your liturgical pieces were played in concert, you could then collect on it (even if sponsored by a church, with free admission). GIA is not acting altruistically, as it would also get a publisher's royalty. But mechanicals are chump change in comparison to performance royalties. My last BMI check was in the low 4-figures…but I had a symphony performance in there.

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