Tip your songwriter

Lansing’s music scene sounds off on licensing fees

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According to the long-running MasterCard ads, an experience can be priceless. Of course, the actual price of that experience includes a $90 concert ticket, a $15 transaction fee, $20 for parking and a few PBR tallboys ranging anywhere from $3 to $8 a pop. But the opportunity to see the Rolling Stones perform one last time (or one more last time) or Of Montreal pull out a three-song stretch of David Bowie songs — that truly is hard to put a price on.

Or is it? According to organizations like the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers and Broadcast Music, Inc. , that figure isn’t at all difficult to determine. More important, according to American copyright law, the responsibility of paying that price falls not on the listener or performer, but squarely on the business that offers these experiences. From theaters and concert halls to local bars, restaurants, even gyms — if copyrighted music, played live or via recordings, is being played, that establishment is legally obligated to pay licensing fees. To clarify, even after you pay your ticket price, your door cover, or the total cost of your meal, the Wharton still pays to have copyrighted music performed, the Tin Can pays to plug their iPod into the speaker system and DeLuca’s pays to pipe in music while you eat.

“The onus falls on the venues to pay a yearly fee to stay compliant,” explained Nate Dorough, lead talent buyer and co-owner of Fusion Shows. “Promoters don´t have anything to do with it. It´s just part of the yearly expense of keeping a venue open for business.” Well sure, that’s easy for him to say. He doesn’t have to pay. Let’s check in with an actual venue.

“We don´t have a problem with it at all,” said Chris Knape, spokesman for East Lansing gastropub HopCat. “We do pay a lot at all of our locations because it’s the right thing to do. We believe musicians should be compensated for their art.”

Not everyone is happy with the licensing fees. As City Pulse reported Dec. 3, Uli’s Haus of Rock appears to be no more following a cryptic Facebook post stating it would “not be doing business anymore for at least 90 days through some legal issues.” The former South Lansing metal venue has been Kaczmarek stripped of all furniture and stage equipment. At the time of its closing, owner/operator Uli Kaczmarek said ASCAP licensing fees were involved, but he wouldn’t say any more. (The last time I spoke to him was Nov 18, when he said he was catching a plane to Los Angeles. His voice mail has since filled and he has not responded to multiple calls or texts.)

Whether Uli’s Haus of Rock’s licensing issues stemmed from ignorance of the law or good old rock‘n´roll defiance to the man is unclear, but what is clear is the closure would have been a long time coming.

“When we identify an establishment that isn’t in compliance, we start with emails and phone calls to inform them of the copyright law,” said ASCAP’s executive vice president of licensing, Vincent Candilora. “We try to first encourage them, explaining that their use of music is a good thing that brings in and holds customers. We give them reasons why it’s beneficial to them to continue to support the artists."

He said most new establishments, if they’re unaware, understand and pay. If they don’t, Candilora said ASCAP representatives continue to call, email and will send a local licensing manager to speak to the bar owner.

“It’s only a last resort, after at least two years that we may go to court,” Candilora said. “It doesn’t do us any good to put anyone out of business. We want them to use our music. But when it comes down to it, we don’t have a physical product. We can’t stop delivery of beer, for example. The damages then are not laid down by ASCAP; they’re statutory based on the law.”

Candilora said those damages can run anywhere from $750 to $150,000 per infringement — which means, per song. Comparatively, the annual fee for live performances runs $4.82 multiplied by the establishment’s maximum occupancy based on fire codes and $3.36 times the occupancy for recorded content, with a 33 percent discount if both live and recorded music are played. But where does the money go?

“Twelve percent goes to operating costs, (but) other than that, we are actually owned by our members who then receive payment,” Candilora said. Compare that to another nonprofit organization, say the American Psychiatric Foundation, whose estimated administration costs are 44 percent.

“The most interesting part of the ASCAP/ BMI part of the business is that it not only applies to when artists play cover songs, but it technically also pays royalties to artists who play their own registered songs,” Dorough said. “ASCAP pays Pearl Jam to play Pearl Jam songs.” But certainly Pearl Jam is bringing in enough from ticket sales to survive without these additional licensing fees. What benefits are there for local artists?

Eldon McGraw is a guitarist with local rock band Fade to Black, whose November show at Uli’s was canceled. McGraw is a registered member of BMI.

“After we play a live show, we register our set list with BMI, which includes the original Fade To Black songs and any cover song we played,” McGraw said. “This way we get paid our royalties for Fade To Black songs and the authors/publishers of the songs we cover also get their fair royalties from BMI.”

Although a percentage will go to that night’s performers, an additional percentage is paid to ASCAP’s top 200 grossing performers. The smaller acts, like Fade to Black, get something, but it seems to only help the rich get richer. It could be argued that ASCAP keeps the Pearl Jams, Bruce Springsteens and Justin Timberlakes happy so that it has big guns in the fight to support the rights of its lesser-known songwriters who aren’t able to play for sold-out amphitheaters.

“Music royalties are harder and harder to make a living from as an artist,” said Jon Hermann, producer, engineer, and founder of Epiphany Sound Productions. He’s also the bass player in several local bands. “Songs released under major corporate labels obviously collect a lot more royalties, but only a small fraction of those royalties actually goes to the songwriter/performer.”

The sudden closing of Uli’s Haus of Rock is certainly disappointing to many of Lansing’s rock fans. But next time you’re at a wedding and the band pulls out a cover of “Isn’t She Lovely,” amid your aunt’s clapdancing and your 6-year-old cousin’s busting of herky-jerky moves, just be aware that someone’s got to foot the bill.

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