News from The Roanoke Times -Name that tune - if the price is right

Well, I guess since Payola is no longer allowed, and what with the national tragedy of illegal downloading (did I mention that fully half the albums I had as a teen were tapes copied off of friends?), the poor starving musical liscenising companies have finally found a way to get truly funded.

This is nonsense. This stinks of RICO, and a host of other unsound business pratices. I was in many a band, and played many a live show - and not once did we even consider that we owed someone else for our performance of a cover song. Because that cover song was not why people came in. It was not what made us money. (Plus half the time the cover song was barely recognizeable.) We never released it as a single, never featured it on any of the cd's we recorded. It was usually just a one off, something that we played in the studio to break up the seriousness.

I've worked in restaurants. I have seen the BMI sticker on the door of the place, but it only meant that we had access to a larger collection of music. It was a service, not unlike the Dish Network offers today. It just gave us access to a large catalog of pre-programmed music. And Ive worked in places where the only music was off the radio in the dining area. Just regular broadcast radio.

So now your telling me that we were supposed to PAY for all of that? A) I did not get the memo, and B) Try it. Im sure the Supreme Court would have fun with it.

Especially for songs that are historically public. Like "White Christmas." Yes, we all know someone owns the rights to it, but that doesn't stop every single place from playing it, or something like it, or even personally singing it.

A children's choir should now pay BMI for the right to sing it at the town christmas tree lighting?

There needs to be some sort of change in the understanding of media property, copyrights, and licensing - there is for proft, and for public good. The for profit could include: music played in movie theatres before the movie starts, music which is being included to sell a product. The public good is fairly obvious - music for public presentation, wether it be the kids at the christmas tree or "Wind Beneath My Wings" sung by someone at a firefighter appreciation and memorial service. Last week we had the "No Music in Podcasting" issue, this week its "No music in restaurants without a fee." Next week could be a Radio fee on every radio in the nation to pay for the license to play any song at any volume which could be heard by others - thereby consituting a public performance.

Remember kids, don't play songs for your friends - only criminals do that.

I will never walk down the street whistling the whistling part from Billy Joel's "The Stranger" ever again, and I personally apologise to Mr. Joel and his legal team for each instance of doing so.