garfield

I think most drum corps' future lies in learning how be self-sufficient with non-correlated incomes streams so that begging for dollars is cast to the ash heap of history.

"Stoned" It was a long fall from there.

Here’s a thing: every stadium where every drum corps show, forever, was held is recorded in the legacy files of DCI’s backroom storage. It would be a relatively simple matter to go back in time and total up the number of venues that did not pay performance fees. In my opinion, that would bring a death knell to the notion of a high school ever leasing it’s stadium to drum corps ever again. Say, average 150 shows per season since 1972? Big payday for licensers, and a back-breaker for DCI , IMO. It’s easy to say “they should have”, but was there ever any realistic expectation for venue operators in history to know that a performance fee was due?

Owned by the largest Private Equity firm in the world, responsible for growing companies like Hilton Worldwide, Merlin Entertainment, Republic Services, AlliedBarton and spitting them out as IPOs when they've met their valuation targets (TVLP). If SESAC can raise fees and penetrate their market via US composers, you can be sure they will.

And beaten like a dead 🐎 in countless threads.

And this about "collective licensing" (as opposed to the specifics these decrees seek)... "Consolidation of the music industry, allowed in part because of the decrees, makes them even more necessary to keep prices reasonable and “address the inherent anti-competitive harm of collective licensing,” it said." (emphasis mine)

I'm surely no lawyer and I'm not practicing law myself, but the article is written by and for those professionals and this paragraph is the one that bugs me, personally: "ASCAP and BMI collect music copyrights from composers and songwriters and collectively license public performance rights to broadcasters, concert halls, bars, restaurants and streaming services. They license performance rights to about 90 percent of music in the U.S.". (emphasis mine) While that may sound innocuous because it seems directed at venues that don't provide LIVE entertainment (except, oops, "concert halls"), when I asked a (non-licensing specialist) lawyer, this ruling is directed at the venue itself, not the performers. On just a cursory (and non-official) review of some of the fine print in their standard venue contract, I was not able to find anything that suggested that this "venue fee" (my term) would be superseded by any other performance or rights fees associated with that piece of music. Tresona could license to bands, but ASCAP licenses the venue as I see it. So, yea, in my non-legal cursory reading, it appears that the composers are determined to not only double-dip, but dip as many times as they can get paid from any entity that uses, displays, or performs their creations. Performance venues, among others, included. (Call your lawyer, seek professional advice, do not rely on anonymous postings on a drum corps site as legal guidance or direction. OK?)

I'm going to politely ask that the mods lock this thread at any evidence that it heads down a political path. Whatever is the instigation of this new action (money), it's impact, if any, on the activity is the point of my post. I see a venue-responsibility to pay licensing fees as a significant new cost to the activity even if arrangements can be made to collect it via the corps. School venues have strong lawyers who are very sensitive to who uses their facilities. A black eye for the activity a year ago, and now new costs and legal oversight to assure compliance with payment requirements... The activity doesn't need another reason for school admins to say "No" to over-excited band directors hoping to host a show. Thanks, BTW.

Unless you’re a lawyer representing ASCAP or BMI.

Every football stadium in the country is a public space, even if leased by DCI to produce a show. A school district required to pay performance fees will be demanded from the lessee, and would change the venue-leasing dynamic.

Get rid of this "It's Only About The Team" mentality, bring back and expand I&E, then make rock stars out of them. Brandon, CBS News in the stadium... Rock Star!

"The June 5 announcement by the DOJ’s antitrust division comes after the two groups—the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI)—urged the department to create new rules that would allow them to secure fairer terms from broadcasters and other public venues." https://news.bloomberglaw.com/mergers-and-antitrust/justice-department-to-review-music-rights-licensing-deal-renewal

And it was FREAKING BEAUTIFUL!!

Well played!

And the question is: How many times and in how many ways does this activity have to go to hell to gain relevance (or Crowns)?