Is Busking Legal in USA

[Ventura]

By RTW: I believe you are referring to a Brick and Mortor business and NOT street performers getting bills/fines from copyright organizations - and the IRS notice sounds completely bogus, if not laughable . Civil matters are adjudicated in Civil Court

perhaps you underestimate how lucrative collecting fee's/royalties
is for these people, and just how creative the Harry Fox agency and others
have become over a century of chasing that dollar and the people who
try and avoid it

when an individual hits their radar and they decide to build a file
on them, it is so that they can extrapolate a years worth of fines
fees etc. when they bring them into court.. usually the individual
doesn't stand a chance.. laugh all you want, the IRS is happy to help,
after all, they get to extrapolate back YEARS

 

[mtj]

Xiane: "Could the person making the claim of unfair use point to just how much money was thrown into the hat for that one song, specifically? If it's no money, what is the injury?"

As I said receiving money is not required for it to be unfair use. Injury would more likely be that you deprived the copywrite holder of a sale. For example, why would someone pay the artist to hear their music when you provide it for free.

 

[Jim2010]

I used to be the director of a small international education organization based in the USA. Because we held conferences and seminars that included incidental music and the occasional live performance by attendees, we had a license with BMI (which collects royalties for composers and musicians). The cost of the license was very reasonable. It was based on the number of people attending the events. Most venues, colleges and universities, bars, clubs, and other places where music is heard had a similar license or should have had (if only for their own sake). Composers and musicians deserve to get paid and the cost of litigation can be very high if you get sued—even if you "win."

 

[Xiane]

I used to be the director of a small international education organization based in the USA. Because we held conferences and seminars that included incidental music and the occasional live performance by attendees, we had a license with BMI (which collects royalties for composers and musicians). The cost of the license was very reasonable. It was based on the number of people attending the events. Most venues, colleges and universities, bars, clubs, and other places where music is heard had a similar license or should have had (if only for their own sake). Composers and musicians deserve to get paid and the cost of litigation can be very high if you get sued—even if you "win."

Sure. They definitely do deserve to be paid. The question here is, does the guy with a beat up guitar on the corner playing "Hey Jude" need to buy a license from BMI or whomever, for the change that gets thrown in his hat? Should the various independent contractors who work for the licensing agencies and get paid on commission be allowed to shut this guy down?

The core of the problem for artists now, to my view anyway, is the difficulty of being paid in a world where digital copies are incredibly easy, rather than someone busking.

 

[RTW]

By Xiane: "I think there's now a blanket license the industry pays, and it's not that high."

Good insightful post, but this comment quote above is most interesting. If you have more info. ,or LINKS to this comment, please post or post the Winery Common Interest Group contact info.- If I read it correctly, Wineries that open up for tasting to the public made headway to perform music legally at a set low cost fee that could benefit the rest of us.

Regards,
RTW

 

[RTW]

BY VENTURA: when an individual hits their radar and they decide to build a file
on them, it is so that they can extrapolate a years worth of fines
fees etc. when they bring them into court.. usually the individual
doesn't stand a chance.. laugh all you want, the IRS is happy to help,
after all, they get to extrapolate back YEARS

BY RTW to Ventura post: RE: Busking, please post a link to the court case(s) you refer to ( ie. "when they bring them to court"), or post a legal cite of the court case(s) in USA where any individual Busker was #1) brought to court on copyright infringement, and #2) resulted in years' worth of fines / fees etc. for Busking copywritten material - I will give it a read. NOTE: in my original post on the Houston accordion player, he only challenged the city ordinance for street performing and copyright issues never mentioned in the dispute

Regards,
RTW

 

[Xiane]

By Xiane: "I think there's now a blanket license the industry pays, and it's not that high."

Good insightful post, but this comment quote above is most interesting. If you have more info. ,or LINKS to this comment, please post or post the Winery Common Interest Group contact info.- If I read it correctly, Wineries that open up for tasting to the public made headway to perform music legally at a set low cost fee that could benefit the rest of us.

Regards,
RTW

I'll check in on it. I was active a few years ago on the matter, and got less active when it appeared to be solved. I'm not sure if the license happened (it was proposed, and I think attempted) or the licensing industry just decided to leave tasting rooms in a small market alone.

There are no links, BTW, sorry. This was all based on discussions I was part of, but am no longer involved in doing. I'm not sure anything much was made public, and in looking further, it appears it all sort of died down without a clear resolution. I can speculate as to why, but it's just that, speculation.

 

[Ventura]

BY VENTURA: when an individual hits their radar and they decide to build a file
on them, it is so that they can extrapolate a years worth of fines
fees etc. when they bring them into court.. usually the individual
doesn't stand a chance.. laugh all you want, the IRS is happy to help,
after all, they get to extrapolate back YEARS

BY RTW to Ventura post: RE: Busking, please post a link to the court case(s) you refer to ( ie. "when they bring them to court"), or post a legal cite of the court case(s) in USA where any individual Busker was #1) brought to court on copyright infringement, and #2) resulted in years' worth of fines / fees etc. for Busking copywritten material - I will give it a read. NOTE: in my original post on the Houston accordion player, he only challenged the city ordinance for street performing and copyright issues never mentioned in the dispute

Regards,
RTW

kma

 

[RTW]

By Ventura replied: kma meaning:

kma meaning - Bing

Intelligent search from Bing makes it easier to quickly find what you’re looking for and rewards you.

www.bing.com

Take what you will from response,

Regards,
RTW

 

[Siegmund]

I am on the ASCAP side of the fence rather than the BMI side. The license fees are similarly reasonable, sliding scales for venue size and admission cost, so that legally licensing something like an open mic night is very cheap.

ASCAP tends to go after the venue, not the musician, for unlicensed performances. They encourage us (composers and arrangers who perform our own music) to submit our set lists to help us ensure we get our share of royalties - and to tell them which venues to check up on the license status of.

Busking is a bit awkward, in that the "venue" is a public and often ill-defined space. But I wouldn't be at all surprised if the cities that require licenses and assign locations do so because they got asked to pay license fees for the site.

 

[RTW]

By Siegmund: "Busking is a bit awkward, in that the "venue" is a public and often ill-defined space. But I wouldn't be at all surprised if the cities that require licenses and assign locations do so because they got asked to pay license fees for the site."

By RTW: First of all, a well said post by Siegnund However, nothing in the Houston Accordion case ever mentioned copyright infringement or fees paid by the city to that authorize specific venues to play ( at least from what I found in print). I wish an attorney that represents Buskers ( Not copyright organizations) would weigh in on this topic.. Everything I've Goggled on this topic turns out to be dominated by those that represent the copyright authorities interests and focus on instilling fear into Buskers in this gray area

P.S. I find it both interesting and refreshing that not a single member of this large group of accordion playing Buskers has posted an example of a personal confrontation with "copyright authorities " for Busking. Thus, it may be in the end a non-issue related to copyright infringement for Busking copywritten material on street corners and public parks etc, but local city/town ordinances will still apply and should be respected ( or contested legally) and not to be ignored

Regards,
RTW

 

[murathan]

After reading Xiane's comments, not much related but I thought a street corner is not designated for a public performance or a tent. Thats not the purpose of it. No one asked you to entertain people and you dont have a permission for it. If you get a permission and put a hat, you get into the place competition thisway, you dont declare that but you expect money for what you do, and go to most crowded places, not in front of your apartment. In a scenario of you dont put a hat, people dont give you money, that may make a public disturbance, no one can determine a good or bad music, it all depends on individuals. Copyright problem comes from buskers making some kind of money from using the copyrighted music. A person called "busker" probably involves money actually. Here in Turkey, there are designated places (probably in other countries too) from municipality, I know a place like that in the metro station. You get a free permit scheduled in certain hours. You dont expect money, I think municipality thinks that you mean "I want it to be legal to just play music here" for fun or to develop myself. If a person comes and gives you money, you can take that or not, it doesnt matter. I mean these copyright issues are rooted from the background and aim of the situation but it is easy to declare otherwise.