Hi all!

I contacted BMI this year to ask about a nonprofit license to play recorded music at our holiday party, as a backup plan in case Mal's band cannot play.  They sent me a quote for $211, which I told their license person was probably too expensive for us to pay.

This morning an 'executive' of licensing called me back to hard-pressure me into paying the fee, insinuating legal threats and auditing our party.  They also said that having live musicians still requires the license, even if they play music of their own composition or public domain music (which I a 99% sure is untrue).

Here is my reply to his follow-up email with a second quote, for $211, for our 4-hour party.

Please let me know if you think this is an out of line response, as I am very annoyed right now.  Otherwise I'd like to send it.

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Michael:  I appreciate your concern for our legal well-being.

You have offered us a license fee of $211 minimum as a "Music promoter" for a 4-hour Christmas party.  We are a nonprofit volunteer bird rescue, not a music promoter or bar/restaurant owner.  $211 is more than enough to save a parrot from euthanasia at a shelter.  Our board and volunteers cannot fathom spending that much simply to have recorded music at our party.

We will find a musician to play live music of their own composition (or public domain) at our party, or we will do without music entirely (and a drab party that will be!).  If you had some price that we could reasonably afford, such as $20 or $40, we would be happy to pay it.

Aside from the above facts, I am very disappointed that after I pointed out our concerns on the phone, you chose to lecture me on the finer points of copyright law.  On behalf of our rescue, I wanted to be proactive and keep us on the right side of the law, which is why I contacted you in the first place. At this point, I feel that I contacted BMI in good faith and was instead insulted and threatened.  If this is how you choose to do business with everyone, I can easily see why the music industry has a music piracy problem.

--Matt
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