Letter from Tresona

[Stu]

... Educational entities are typically not making a profit from the use of this music...

Nobody in the educational realm makes a profit from this music. Really? So in the plethora of scholastic competitive band situations across the United States each year … The Arrangers and Designers for the music are not paid? The music and marching instructional staff who teach this music are all volunteers? Booster organizations do not profit at all from putting on the contests where this music is performed? Adjudicators are not compensated for their evaluation skills when judging this music? Hmmm… interesting.

[Lead]

Nobody in the educational realm makes a profit from this music. Really? So in the plethora of scholastic competitive band situations across the United States each year … The Arrangers and Designers for the music are not paid? The music and marching instructional staff who teach this music are all volunteers? Booster organizations do not profit at all from putting on the contests where this music is performed? Adjudicators are not compensated for their evaluation skills when judging this music? Hmmm… interesting.

But guess who is paying $300... $500... $800... $1200... to march in their high school marching bands, winterguards, indoor lines, etc for a single season...

And quadruple that to march in a drum corps.

The kids, the Band Directors, etc... not profiting from this, in fact, basically are getting screwed by higher and higher rising costs of "doing band." Those Booster groups are all fundraising for their organizations to cut those costs as much as possible.

[Stu]

But guess who is paying $300... $500... $800... $1200... to march in their high school marching bands, winterguards, indoor lines, etc for a single season...

And quadruple that to march in a drum corps.

The kids, the Band Directors, etc... not profiting from this, in fact, basically are getting screwed by higher and higher rising costs of "doing band." Those Booster groups are all fundraising for their organizations to cut those costs as much as possible.

My point is that (many adults within the educational environment) all across the United States actually are making profits off of the music; not just those in the music industry. And because many adults in the educational environment do make money from this music, and money transactions do occur at scholastic band contests, permission to arrange, permission to perform, and permission to record fees should and must be paid to the rightful owners of said music. As to your point about ‘the kids’. Most of the cost for students to be a part of those highly competitive scholastic programs mainly comes from high travel expenses to major national contests. Moreover, nobody forces the children to participate in highly competitive scholastic bands which travel across many State lines to BOA, WGI, TOB, and USSBA type shows; and the very extensive travel costs for attending these multi-State contests each year have to be paid by someone.

[flammaster]

I want to know why are not the people who have gone through programs like these not helping out the programs they came from?

The town I come from has a few very famous people who have not given one thin dime to the local schools. (Joe Dimagio, Stan Van Gundy NBA coach, David Fry of Fry's electronics) etc.

[Lead]

My point is that (many adults within the educational environment) all across the United States actually are making profits off of the music; not just those in the music industry. And because many adults in the educational environment do make money from this music, and money transactions do occur at scholastic band contests, permission to arrange, permission to perform, and permission to record fees should and must be paid to the rightful owners of said music. As to your point about ‘the kids’. Most of the cost for students to be a part of those highly competitive scholastic programs mainly comes from high travel expenses to major national contests. Moreover, nobody forces the children to participate in highly competitive scholastic bands which travel across many State lines to BOA, WGI, TOB, and USSBA type shows; and the very extensive travel costs for attending these multi-State contests each year have to be paid by someone.

With regard to your point of "most of the total cost... comes from high travel expenses," I sincerely beg to differ. Some of the cost is as such, but as I mentioned earlier, my band's copyright/licensing fees swelled from 2% of the marching band budget to 10% since Tresona gained its prominence.

Secondly, as you correctly point out, YES, no one is forcing those kids to participate in highly competitive bands... unless you look at it from a different perspective, which is that kids want to be in marching band, and schools (typically) only have one marching band, and there is not an option for multiple levels of participation (obviously and for obvious reasons). So, if kids want to be in marching band, they are forced to participate at whatever level their school participates. I hope you're not advocating for kids to quit their band programs.

There's not many solutions other than finding ways to cut costs, and when a copyright 'provider' comes in, corners the market, and oversees a 300% price increase, it's clear why this thread has come to such prominence.

Hint: prices for everything are higher. Kids on the cheerleading squad at my school pay nearly $2000 per school year.

Finally, the 'story' of some guy in the midwest making 200k just writing a season's worth of marching band and indoor shows... that's 100% certainly true. I know some of them, and they're not shy about it.

Edited April 20, 2016 by Lead

[Kamarag]

Finally, the 'story' of some guy in the midwest making 200k just writing a season's worth of marching band and indoor shows... that's 100% certainly true. I know some of them, and they're not shy about it.

...and more power to 'em. If they're good, they should be able to make a comfortable living do that. Anyone who thinks otherwise doesn't understand how the world works.

Edited April 20, 2016 by Kamarag

[Stu]

With regard to your point of "most of the total cost... comes from high travel expenses," I sincerely beg to differ. Some of the cost is as such, but as I mentioned earlier, my band's copyright/licensing fees swelled from 2% of the marching band budget to 10% since Tresona gained its prominence.

Secondly, as you correctly point out, YES, no one is forcing those kids to participate in highly competitive bands... unless you look at it from a different perspective, which is that kids want to be in marching band, and schools (typically) only have one marching band, and there is not an option for multiple levels of participation (obviously and for obvious reasons). So, if kids want to be in marching band, they are forced to participate at whatever level their school participates. I hope you're not advocating for kids to quit their band programs.

There's not many solutions other than finding ways to cut costs, and when a copyright 'provider' comes in, corners the market, and oversees a 300% price increase, it's clear why this thread has come to such prominence.

Hint: prices for everything are higher. Kids on the cheerleading squad at my school pay nearly $2000 per school year.

Finally, the 'story' of some guy in the midwest making 200k just writing a season's worth of marching band and indoor shows... that's 100% certainly true. I know some of them, and they're not shy about it.

Use stock Hal Leonard Charts (there is no real ‘educational' value for the students with using high priced custom arrangements, also no need to deal with Tresona or any copyright issues at all). Just have the school directors who are paid by the school district teach the music and drill as opposed to boosters paying a multitude of semi-pro or professional techs (no other monetary compensations to worry about and no 1099’s to worry about). Just go to contests close to home which use local educators as adjudicators and shows that do not secure professionals to record the performances (low transportation costs, no other music rights fees to contend with, nor any other compensations to be concerned with). The focus is then on just the ‘education’ provided by the qualified directors of the school district as opposed to the temptation of national BOA and WGI contest status. However…

If the competitive, not academic, but competitive desire of the director is to have custom arrangements done by the best writers so that each show is unique, along with the desire to secure the highest qualified independent staff to tech minutia within the show, and the desire is to have their band program rise to a national competitive status via traveling to BOA and WGI venues, well realize that is also the world of music business professionals which comes with paying the high monetary prices.

Directors certainly can choose paragraph one and still highly educate their students in the art of music performance. But if directors want their students to experience paragraph two they must also be willing to fork out the capital for said experiences; that level is a part of the music business industry not just an academic educational event.

[Stu]

...and more power to 'em. If they're good, they should be able to make a comfortable living do that. Anyone who thinks otherwise doesn't understand how the world works.

What????? A music arranger who paid their own way to get a music degree at say Berklee College of Music, who also paid top dollar multiple years to be in a top five DCI Corps as well as a top three WGI World unit, and has written well respected music for competitive BOA, DCI, and WGI ensembles should get a healthy wage for their expertise? I am shocked!!!!

[Jeff Ream]

I got this in my inbox today due to my use of their services. No doubt this is an attempt to do some major PR control. I'm not sure what specifically made them want to send this out though. Maybe issues related to DCI, WGI, and MFA?

"Dear ####

I would like to take this opportunity to re-introduce Tresóna: who we are, what we do, and why we do it.

Tresóna was started, and is currently staffed, by musicians, educators and music fans. We have created a simple and cost-effective licensing platform and are committed to protecting the rights of songwriters to make sure that they are rightfully compensated for their work.

Thousands of hard-working songwriters and publishers are dependent on the royalties collected from the licensing of their music to survive. A vast majority of these publishers are small family businesses with one or two employees; they are not multi-national corporations. They are no different than the arrangers, choreographers, set designers, costume creators and thousands of others whose livelihood is dependent on a vibrant music industry.

Music is the key ingredient and the foundation of all performance ensembles. Without songs, there would be no marching bands, show choirs, a cappella groups or any other musical performance group. The licensing of custom arrangements, which is required by the U.S. Copyright Act, is often one of the smallest line items in the budget of many ensemble programs.

Most performance ensembles obtain the necessary licenses; however, there are some ensembles and organizations which refuse to do so. The abuse of the system by these groups for illicit financial gain has been shocking. There are large enterprises with ensembles that travel all over the country performing at both nonprofit and for-profit events. They pay enormous sums of money for choreographers, arrangers, contest entry, lighting, costumes, props and a host of other outside services. Despite having budgets of more than $500,000/year and generating surpluses of over $150,000/year, these organizations refuse to get the licenses they need and compensate songwriters for their songs.

Rather than pay the relatively small licensing fee and promote proper licensing behavior, some ensembles have opted instead to retain high-priced lawyers and consultants to avoid obtaining the necessary licenses. When the dedication of this small group of ensembles deprives songwriters of their ability to make a living, Tresóna and the rights holders we represent are forced to defend these rights in court.

When this happens, it is disappointing and begs the question: How can the community as a whole promote participation in the arts and suggest to students that a career in music is viable if it doesnt support the foundation of the entire music ecosystem - the songs and the songwriters?

Tresóna is proud of the work we do and deeply value the excellent working relationships we have developed with thousands of arrangers, directors, music educators, parents and performers around the country. We are committed to partnering with, and listening to, the ensemble community so that we may grow these relationships, as well as nurture new ones.

We thank you for your support and look forward to our continued relationship in the years to come.

Best,

Larry Mills

EVP, Tresóna"

.....

End of letter

I absolutely understand the need for composers/arrangers/creators to be compensated. I also understand that there are groups (both scholastic and independent) that have extremely bloated design budgets. But in my opinion, this copyright situation is getting a bit out of hand, at least in regards to video performances. We are losing an opportunity to share with our younger generations the great performances organizations like DCI, WGI, and MFA have to offer.

Our kids (and educators) are missing the ability to see their peers across the country achieve things that they didn't know were possible. I can't even purchase older BOA and WGI DVDs for our library anymore.

What are your thoughts about what Tresona is saying?

PR. they've been getting hammered from multiple directions, and I wouldnt be surprised if they had people checking this place out.

IMO, the issue as it has come to me from many sources is people are on board with doing the right thing....but Tresona is being a dick about how they conduct business

[Jeff Ream]

Returning for an additional thought.

There are copyright laws in place. Right now, DCI and countless others are following those laws. If Tresona's potential customers are following the letter of the law, and Tresona is disappointed about the lack of agreements and money flowing their way (and to the downtrodden publishers, of course), then they might want to review their business model and pricing structure. This letter would seem to indicate that they might have overestimated the potential demand for their services.

key words...right now.....and no, not everyone is following the rules.