Music in your tap room?

[GlacierBrewing]

As in, old school LPs?

If the business purchased them for use at the business, would that be acceptable? What about having a "spin your own" night, where customers can bring in their records to play? I'm assuming the second case would not be kosher, but not sure on the first.

Thanks

Hi CalebL,
The issue is not who bought the albums or digital file or cassette tape or CD, the issue is if the music has been copyrighted and you have not secured a license to play the music in your public spaces, you are committing a copyright violation.
Prost!
Dave

[CalebL]

Thanks for the responses. I guess we will just have to pony up when the time comes!

[Jimmer]

A friend ran into this, and asked another friend, who is an intellectual property lawyer. I don't guarantee that I got it right, but here's the gist of what I remember:

—In New York State, where I live, you are allowed to play music in a workplace free of copyright payments. This means that if your office, just your office, hears the tunes, no payment is due.

—in an eating or drinking establishment, they can argue that the music is part of the entertainment that people pay for, so the rules are different. —The Nasty Ones are basically shakedown artists. They harass you and try to get payment. If you are a big fish, make a lot of money, put on a lot of concerts, they might get pretty aggressive. Otherwise, they will probably just keep pestering you by phone.

—The Nasties are agents for collecting for artists. If an artist connected with them plays his own music in your establishment, it's his right, and his gift to you. They can't come in and demand payment, he already forwent (?) it.

—The usual response to them is to say "we only play non-copyright" and their usual response is to say that someone will make a mistake. True that. However, to violate copyright, in an enforceable way, they will have to catch you at it and document it, then take you to court. Even with lawyers on staff, this is expensive. What are they going to do, watch every local band concert to write down all the songs? And you may be able to buy off the artist in the meantime. If not you will probably have plenty of chance to buy them off by subscribing.

—If you don't have a lot of concerts, keep a generally low profile, the lawyer said he knew people who stonewalled them for years by: being polite, not argumentative. being firm when saying no. meeting persistence with persistence.

—If you decide to pay, they will rock you. My friend with the joint had a band once a month for a couple hours. They had a formula: so many seats (which they assumed were always filled) with a minimum of three concerts a week (maybe for their profitability, they didn't have a lower number) times something low per song worked out to $600 a year. Only when she did the math it worked out to about $10 per song actually listened to. They you have to consider that there are three agencies out there, all with their hand out, and they all ask for the same amount, which meant they were trying to nick her for $30 a song. Let alone that she had folkies who actually did play originals and public domain! How much of that $$ do you think goes to the artist, and how much to the peons working the phone banks/internet searches, and how much makes The Nasties rich?

Outrageous? Sure is. I prefer to leave the brewpub biz to others and just tend my kettle ;?)

[Brewfist]

The following is from the ASCAP agreement, it pretty much lets you know you can't stream music from your television without paying.

Television and/or Radio (Line 5). This fee applies for the use of televisions and/or radios that are utilized for the reception of
broadcast, satellite or cable programming when no live music (Line 1) or recorded music (Line 2) is performed and paid for under
this license, and when such television and/or radio performances do not meet the exemption provided for in 17 U.S.C. Section
110(5).

Total for the year is $695. While I don't like shelling out money, I also respect recording artists being compensated for their work, just like me. I certainly hope this money actually makes it back to the bands who made the music.