Local Uke Group Makes the Front Page

Skitzic

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Hello!

Our weekly jam made the front page of the Intelligencer today! Exciting stuff!

Link

Not thrilled about the Starbucks bit at the end. When they told us we can't play there anymore (the day the photographer came from the paper) we asked multiple times if there were complaints, and they kept saying 'no no, we just don't have the live music license.' When we talked to the district manager, he said the same thing...that there were no complaints, just that the location didn't have the proper license.

Starbucks lies.

But how cool is it we made the front page?!
 
Aloha Skitzic,
Wow weeeeee that was sooo cool......sorry to hear about the Starbucks decision...sounds like upper management's call..shoots...
 
Actually, that's not a lie. ASCAP and BMI are very aggressive about going after venues that don't pay license fees. Even though you're just "volunteering" or having a uke group meeting, ASCAP and BMI consider it a public performance. So, if your group does any copyrighted songs (and what group doesn't) the venue (i.e. Starbucks in this case) can be found liable for thousands of dollars in licensing fees and penalties.

Since ASCAP and BMI go after "deep pockets" the hardest (even if stores are locally owned, ASCAP/BMI will try to go after the franchise) Starbucks would be a pretty attractive target. So, I'm more surpised by the handful of Starbucks stores that allow things like uke clubs to meet there than I am by those who don't.

To avoid a potential lawsuit from ASCAP/BMI, a venue would basically have to close to the public during the performance by the uke group to throw the liability back on the group.

John
 
The deal with the Starbucks license isn't a lie - stores around the country have had to cut out all live music because corporate has been told that each location must have the appropriate license for any live performance - whether the performer is paid or unpaid. This means the potential for separate licenses from both ASCAP and BMI. In the past, a district got a single license, and used it from store to store. Now, each store needs their own. They aren't cheap - where I live, a single location, one time only license can run more than $250. Multiple licenses for live music can run into the thousands.

And that's what the lawyers are calling a get together - live performance. It's the same as the copyyright BS going on on YouTube.

So please, don't shoot the store manager or district manager - they have their orders from the bean counters sitting in the poorly lit rooms in Seattle.

-Kurt

(And remember, the copyright and live performance trolls look for the corporate entities first, rather than the independents, with a "deep pockets" mentality.)
 
I am sure someone from that area will pick up on the story and offer you space to play.
 
Awesome article! congrats.
 
Actually, that's not a lie. ASCAP and BMI are very aggressive about going after venues that don't pay license fees. Even though you're just "volunteering" or having a uke group meeting, ASCAP and BMI consider it a public performance. So, if your group does any copyrighted songs (and what group doesn't) the venue (i.e. Starbucks in this case) can be found liable for thousands of dollars in licensing fees and penalties.

Since ASCAP and BMI go after "deep pockets" the hardest (even if stores are locally owned, ASCAP/BMI will try to go after the franchise) Starbucks would be a pretty attractive target. So, I'm more surpised by the handful of Starbucks stores that allow things like uke clubs to meet there than I am by those who don't.

To avoid a potential lawsuit from ASCAP/BMI, a venue would basically have to close to the public during the performance by the uke group to throw the liability back on the group.

John

The deal with the Starbucks license isn't a lie - stores around the country have had to cut out all live music because corporate has been told that each location must have the appropriate license for any live performance - whether the performer is paid or unpaid. This means the potential for separate licenses from both ASCAP and BMI. In the past, a district got a single license, and used it from store to store. Now, each store needs their own. They aren't cheap - where I live, a single location, one time only license can run more than $250. Multiple licenses for live music can run into the thousands.

And that's what the lawyers are calling a get together - live performance. It's the same as the copyyright BS going on on YouTube.

So please, don't shoot the store manager or district manager - they have their orders from the bean counters sitting in the poorly lit rooms in Seattle.

-Kurt

(And remember, the copyright and live performance trolls look for the corporate entities first, rather than the independents, with a "deep pockets" mentality.)

guys the lie isn't about the liscence it is about no complaints. They were told it was only b/c of the liscence but in the article they discovered that the SB spokesman said there were complaints.
 
guys the lie isn't about the liscence it is about no complaints. They were told it was only b/c of the liscence but in the article they discovered that the SB spokesman said there were complaints.

What he said. I'm not (terribly) upset about getting the boot for no license. I'm upset that they lied (to us, or the paper...probably the paper) about the complaints. We asked repeatedly if there were complaints and they kept saying no no no. Now suddenly they tell the reporter there were complaints. That is what I find most irritating.

...oh, and I find it slightly irritating I got the green light from the very manager that gave us the boot nearly a year ago when we first started meeting there. She was happy for us to go...now she never remembers talking to me and thought we only started going there a few weeks ago.

Moral of the story...get it in writing folks.
 
Both of the above mentioned songbooks obtained the rights from the song owners to play in ukulele groups.

IANAL, but I don't think the issue is with the songs being played within the group. It's the fact that it's in a business, with other, non-group-member people sitting around, which essentially makes it a public performance.

JJ
 
Phew! I was getting worried and envisioning a bunch of RIAA suits storming into our uke club meeting.

As a suggestion, our uke club meets in a Fresh Choice restaurant ( a Western chain) but in their large back room, away from the main dining area. As long 15 members buy a meal there, we get to use the room at no charge.
 
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