Seems reasonable to me. So does this mean if I were to host a party at my house
i wouldn't be allowed to play CDs? This seems nonsensical to me... If they ever
did come after us or "audit" us, I bet we could get local news coverage of such
stupidity...
________________________________
From: AMuse
To: MCBR Leadership
Sent: Wed, October 13, 2010 9:49:53 AM
Subject: [Leadershipgroup] Proofread of an email please? :)
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.
========================
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
========================
