Music Industry Shaking Down Coffee Shops 541
realjd writes with news out of Florida that music licensing companies are now hitting small bars and coffee shops that offer live music, even if only occasionally and even if the musicians don't get paid. One coffee-shop owner told musicians they can only perform their own songs from now on. "A restaurant owner who doesn't even offer live music was approached for payment for having the TV on while the Monday Night Football theme played. And if the owners pay up to one licensing company, all of the others start harassing them, calling four times a day, demanding payment too. It sounds like they don't even check whether any copyright violations occurred, they're just sending bills to any business that may or may not have live music."
Humming? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Derivative Works? (Score:5, Funny)
Just curious
I am copyrighting the term "anonymous coward." (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Artists Truly Devastated (Score:5, Funny)
Make that "in the kneecaps" and I'll buy it.
Re:Good (Score:4, Funny)
I don't know. Ask the Mexicans.
Re:Humming? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Artists Truly Devastated (Score:1, Funny)
Re:This in't just about cover songs (Score:1, Funny)
You must be new here.
RIAA Shakedowns (Score:2, Funny)
Comment removed (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Artists Truly Devastated (Score:5, Funny)
Right. And history will correctly judge The Beatles not as brilliant songwriters but as the cold-blooded criminals that they were.
Re: off topic reply to this story (Score:4, Funny)
the interstate. Residents of Mass. would cross the border to buy liquor
cheap in N.H. (bootlegging ?). Well Mass. get pissed off at loosing
state sales taxes on booze so they had the Mass. state troopers stationed
in unmarked cars in front of the N.H. liquor stores to radio license tag
numbers back to troopers on the Mass. side of the border. The Mass. cops
would then arrest those who crossed the border with the booze.
The N.H. state police got even. They arrested the Mass. troopers for loitering.