Results tagged “ascap”

Well, they didn't knock him on the noggin like the Tony Awards, but they did play his song "Talk Dirty to Me" without permission. Cityfile reports on the latest in ASCAP/BMI lawsuits filed against New York clubs, saying "Earlier this week, BMI and a collection of labels and artists filed suit against Pianos on the Lower East Side" for playing that tune and others. The companies have been on a rampage, attacking Jay-Z's 40/40 club, Hiro, Cafe Wha? and others, but the site makes a good point: "securing the rights isn't all that expensive. A blanket license from ASCAP, for example, supposedly goes for as little as a dollar a day." Maybe a little more; when we talked to ASCAP VP Vincent Candilora, he told us "the average annual license fee for all bars, restaurants, nightclubs and similar establishments is less than $2.50 a day. With a maximum annual cost of $912.50." Well, the club certainly charges enough for their drinks to cover that cost, no?

Times they are a changin'. Cafe Wha?, the Macdougal Street club that put many legends (including Dylan, Springsteen, Hendrix, even Bill Cosby) on the map by giving them a start on their stage, is being sued for playing one of the musician's songs without a license. The Post is reporting that the venue is "named in a pair of copyright-infringement suits charging unlicensed performances of Billy Roberts' 'Hey Joe' and more than a dozen other hits." BMI and ASCAP (who busted Jay Z's 40/40 Club in 2007) are behind the suits, which could yield up to $30,000 per claim (of which there are 16 total). But should they turn a blind eye to the legendary club that's managed to keep its doors open in the now high-rent Greenwich Village?