ASCAP/BMI help needed

Miguel e Smith · Post by **Miguel e Smith** » 27 Sep 2003 3:01 pm

These are full-time writers who literally live for writing. It's what they think about, talk about, breathe and drink. The passionalte ones you'll get some solid stuff from. The trick for any publisher is knowing who to sign and how to keep them motivated.

Were any of them good? Yes. I signed ne writer, the next day I pitched one of his songs and it was used on "The Dottie West Story" for network TV. Another song received a ton of attention but we couldn't get hung with it. Then one day a guitar player friend was playing me some stuff he'd played on with a new artist being produced by his friend Buddy Cannon. It ended up being the title cut of the project "Don't Go Near The Water" by Sammy Kershaw. The same two writers for "Don't Go.." went on to write some other great and/or successful songs.."Meet In The Middle" (Diamond Rio), "Shake The Sugar Tree" (Pam Tillis), "Refried Dreams" (Tim McGraw) and others.

But, the publishing business is very much like the stock market, absolutely all risk and no guarantees.[This message was edited by Miguel e Smith on 27 September 2003 at 04:03 PM.]

Louis Schubert · Post by **Louis Schubert** » 7 Oct 2003 7:18 pm

Golly! I've got an 11 year old redhead with a cute outfit and a cowboy hat who sings "What Ever Happened to the Yodeling Cowgirls" and whose mother wants to sell a few CDs at the local Harvest Festivals and my post has generated this amount of interest...! I'm astounded. I have informed my client (her mother) to sell the CDs and, if the BMI/ASCAP folks want to come to Blairsville, GA for the Sorghum Festival to harass this 11 year old for "Mechanical License"... I can only pity them for they need to get a life.

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 8 Oct 2003 6:24 am

Folks..

The legal issue is clear..
If you want to record a song that you did not write and don't have the rights to..and distibute it..which is sell, give it,throw it away etc...to be legal you must have a mechanical license. This is not the same license for airplay..two different scenario's.

Any standard deal with ASCAP and BMI between the writer and copyright owner has nothing to do with the mechanical license.Those agencies monitor for the most part airplay and reported airplay by the radio stations etc...The the radio station pays the fee..
Not me and you drivin' around in our Hummers..The radio station gets paid by the advertisers, then they use some of that money to pay for the Radio Station expenses..then the advertisers hope and expect us to buy their products..then they use some of that money to pay for advertising costs with the Radio station..again..

Louis asked what is required to record a few songs and make CD's or tapes available for sale or whatever.

This is not about tapping a water supply or airplay revenue..or paying to listen to a song on the radio..

The answer is simple..

Pay for the mechanical license and make the CD's

or

Make the CD's and foreget about the License.

The decision is one that only the person doing the selling can make..that being the family of the Little Redhead with the Cowboy Hat.

Would I buy a license if I were recording a song to make 10 cd's for my family at Christmas ? Maybe..maybe not..

IF I were going to sell them and hopefully sell the 300 mentioned above..

yes I would purchase the $40 license.

If money is going to change hands for the sale of CD/s, especially publicly.. then a new can of worms may just come back to haunt you someday..

The little Redhead with the Cowbay Hat has a a plan..and a good one.Part of the plan is paying the musicians and the studio cats..the $40 license compared to this stuff is minimal.If she spends a couple hundred bucks to record the song with intent to publicly sell, the license is the small piece of the pie.The Little Redhead with the Cowboy Hat should aquire the license and sell em everywhere she can..If she is good, and the song is good, and the recording is good..they will sell..

"Your Honor..I'm sorry..yes You are right I earned $3000 on that song I made the CD of".."I won't do it again..please don't put me in jail.I acccept the $10,000 fine"...

or

Your Honor I made 5 copies of a song and gave them to my Mom and Sisters and Aunts and Uncles for Christmas. I did not sell any or give any away whatsoever..The licensing issue didn't cross my mind ..I won't do it again and thank you for letting me off with just a warning"...." And your Honor, I would like to say how dissappointed I am in my Mom for turning me in"...

I like was what stated above.
Write your own songs, copyright them (this costs $30 plus a stamp) , record them, sell em, give em' away, burn em'..fill the landfill with them, whatever..play all the Instruments yourself and do all the recording at home..If you do actually sell some the profit margin is excellent..

$10 for the CD, minus $2 cost each..thats $8 profit each ! Hello MacDonlads , that'll be 2 Happy Meals please !

happy Wednesday [This message was edited by Tony Prior on 08 October 2003 at 07:37 AM.]