ASCAP demands $1000 from a small non-profit art gallery in Baltimore. Actually, it wasn't really a concert; it was more of a performance-art piece by Lee Connah involving "old recycled objects" and the playing of vintage vinyl records. ASCAP demands big money from a mostly world music non-ASCAP club. But the club gets caught playing a Madonna record one night and ... pays up. And as usual, all the money that ASCAP takes in it gives to artists that show ...

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"Songfile" can be used by musicians who plan to make and distribute 2,500 copies or less of their recordings to obtain the necessary licenses for cover versions of songs. Licenses can be obtained for CDs, cassettes, LPs, or permanent digital downloads (DPDs). Customers can create an account with the Songfile service, search HFA’s catalog of almost 1.9 million songs, and complete their mechanical licensing transaction in minutes. Royalties are calculated at the statutory mechanical rate (currently 9.1¢ per copy for ...

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CD sales have collapsed. Live shows, touring and merchandise income are robust. Prices for concerts are way up. Elton John charged a record $690 for top seats in Las Vegas. Gerd Leonhard, a music business consultant, predicts that by 2010, recorded music sales will make up only 30 per cent of a successful label's revenues. The rest will be generated by artists' extra-musical brand extensions. Like those $20 T-shirts. "Record sales as we know them are in long-term decline," says ...

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"Everyone always focuses on the grand slam, but that's not a sustainable way to build an industry," Klein said. "There's a focus on licensing a tiny percentage of the catalog in a very complex way with prices in the stratosphere that have no basis in reality to a small number of people ... We want to simplify the process." I thought Pump looked pretty good. Good enough for Getty to buy them. The big music players are desperately trying to ...

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The world's independent music sector, which has produced such artists as the Arctic Monkeys, has grouped together to launch an agency to secure licensing deals with emerging media such as MySpace and YouTube. This in regards to those special licensing deals eg. with MySpace and YouTube. ASCAP/BMI doesn't apply to them, film/TV style sync rights don't apply to them — its a new form of media, and the major labels have struck up direct deals these large companies (trying to ...

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