Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2007 06:20:26 -0700 (PDT)
From: loven happiness <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: NPNY: Another American Idol Tie In?
I saw a couple of American Idol concerts (yeah well, it was fun), and was
surprised to hear the top 10 perform the chorus of Prince's America a few
times, as an addendum to another song. I wonder if he knows they are using
his
song?
I doubt it is a copyright violation (not that I have an actual clue)
but given Prince's proclivity, don't you imagine he'd think so?
<Moderator: It's legal to perform cover as long as the license fees are paid
from what I understand....
Interesting side note that those Karaoke Joints have to pay licensing fees
for the music so I am guessing it's the same premise -Derek>
I can even further expand on this, if anyone cares. ASCAP and BMI (
I think is the other one) are two companies that track, oversee and
manage song usage fees for musical artists. Anytime you pay
admission or charge and use a song, in a concert or venue, you must
pay a fee to the person/entity that owns the rights to the song. So
the Karaoke bars most likely pays a flat fee (whether it is annual or
monthly I don't know) and in the case of a concert, television show
or commercial there's a fee scale that's determined by ASCAP/BMI. So
when you hear a song on TV during a television show, movie or
commercial the song owner has received monetary compensation for the
usage of the song, even if it's a few seconds. And yes, there's some
poor soul somewhere tracking songs (from television shows and
commercials) and how much of the song is played. The artists'/song
owners must pay a membership fee to join ASCAP or BMI. In the case
of songs that are public domain this does not apply. So this is not
toally OT on Prince. I'm pretty sure Prince owns the rights to a
majority of his music (if not all) and songs he's wrote for other
artists, I'm sure he grosses a nice amount from his songs being
used. For all you future artists out there, always maintain the
rights to your song, if you can.
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