ASCAP Can Cripple Small Venues

Instead, ASCAP takes those fees and uses a computer system to assign royalties to member artists on a scale based on the sampling of play lists from satellite, Internet and terrestrial radio. ASCAP members can also submit music-use reports of their own compositions, though the amount given out for such reports amounts to little more than $3 million a year, Candilora says. Basing how royalties are distributed on radio airplay is fine and dandy if you're, say, Fergie or Lee Greenwood. But what if you're Brent Best of Slobberbone and the Drams, who, outside of a brief romance with Lone Star 95.3 FM, has a presence on the airwaves best likened to a drop in the ocean?

Considering Denton artists near and dear to his heart are also getting short shrift, it's no wonder Baish doesn't want to comply. Unfortunately for him, he doesn't have much of a legal leg to stand on. In fact, it's a wonder anyone wants to open a club these days, given the hassles.

Sure, the ASCAP representative I talked to was polite and forthcoming. But I also got a slight whiff of the strong-arm tactics employed by the company, whose representatives are probably somewhat less cordial when chatting up your average club owner. "You know, it's not like this is [big] dollars," says Candilora, senior vice president of licensing for the organization. "And when they look at what the possible damages are under the copyright law, it's just stupid for them not to take a license and do it the right way.

"There are places who said to us, 'Look, we just do new material. We have them sign a form when they perform here that they're only gonna play their own material and that they're giving us the performance right.' And I said that's fine. But if one of the licensing reps hears them play 'The Gambler,' and it isn't Don Schlitz standing up there, that's infringement of copyright. And quite frankly, since you have gone through the effort of doing this, it clearly tells us that this isn't an ignorant performer. You know what the law is, and you've got a willful infringement." In other words, you might end up owing ASCAP up to $150,000, if you make it to court without surrendering.

"Do you know those folks there [at Rubber Gloves]?" says Candilora. "If you do, you'd be doing them a favor if you told them that we're down to our very last resort with them...it's going on five years. That's a long time to be ignoring the law. Like I said, it's a last resort that we sue people. I'd say the clock has ticked pretty well here."