Open mic nights at bar lead to lawsuit from BMI over music, ask for $121,000

[GReedDiamond]

10. I have a music publishing company...

...which is affiliated with Broadcast Music Inc - BMI.

When I release new music, I enter each song title into the BMI registry, and BMI potentially pays royalties based on a variety of scenarios where it may be played - such as terrestrial radio and/or internet airplay, other artists' use of the work, as well as live music venues which allow artists to perform covers of others' works registered to the BMI database. Other Performance Rights Organizations, such as ASCAP and SESAC, provide the same types of services to their affiliated songwriters and publishing companies.

BMI and the others provide a necessary service for indie artists such as myself if we have any hope of bringing our work to a national or global market, and have some protections on our work, in the process.

While I certainly do not condone "shakedowns" or "racketeering" by PROs, I have performed live, mostly in California, doing mostly original music (we've been known to throw in a cover or two on occasion), in venues which include cover and tribute bands, since 1978. I've only rarely heard - maybe twice - of a club being harassed by BMI or any other PRO. However, a successful club/venue should be able to afford the legitimate fees associated with allowing the use of PRO registered works of music as a part of generating their revenue and, hopefully, some profit.

Also, do not confuse BMI/PROs with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), they have different agendas. Personally, I'm not a big fan of the way RIAA goes after individuals over "illegal downloading" aka file sharing, and the truth is, the Big Corporate Record Labels were about twenty years too late in seeing the direction in which music would be stored and distributed, as they clung to their traditional system of "hard copy" music distribution until it had to pried out of their almost dead hands.

That's my 2 cents.