OT-what the heck is this? cover bands cannot play songs?

i guess bands have finally gone off the deep end.why in the world would they care if someone is trying to keep their names alive? and does anyone know what law this is? if i have a cover band i must pay for the songs i play?



Steve Lynn of Colorado's VailDaily.com reports:

Several famous musicians are suing a local business owner for copyright infringement for allowing cover bands to play their songs without permission.

Van Halen Music Company, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and Patricia Bonham are all named as plaintiffs in a lawsuit alleging that Vail business owner Steven Kovacik allowed public performances of their songs at 8150, the lawsuit says.

Kovacik, owner of 8150, said he would not comment on the lawsuit. The lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Colorado, names Kovacik and a company named Big Snow Ball LLC as defendants.

The plaintiffs alleged 10 counts of copyright infringement because the defendants allowed bands to play 10 copyrighted songs on Jan. 15 and 16 at 815, the lawsuit says. The plaintiffs are suing for as little as $750 per song and as much as $30,000 per song, plus attorneys' fees, according to court documents.

Read the entire article at VailDaily.com. hno: :monsters-

It's the American way

Yes you are supposed to pay to play copyrighted material.....i think this involves these bands that call themselves 'copy' bands...in that they play only'zeppelin' or kiss or van halen, etc.....these guys need to pay , but your avg wedding band doesnt pay it or even worry about it...in bigger cities this may be a lil different, with unions, watchdogs, etc watching over sometimes even little guys have to pay also....

Every time a song not in the public domain is performed, you need to pay royalties. When performed for educational purposes buying the sheet music is equivalent to buying the rights, IIRC, but yeah, you definitely have to pay royalties to the songwriter for making money by performing the song.

Technically, wedding bands and any type of cover band is violating copyright laws when they perform, AFAIK.

Retarded

On a related note, 8150 is one bad ass club. The whole dance floor is on tires(literally) and bounces like crazy when packed.

DON"T go to Vail without checking it out.

knicknut said:

Every time a song not in the public domain is performed, you need to pay royalties. When performed for educational purposes buying the sheet music is equivalent to buying the rights, IIRC, but yeah, you definitely have to pay royalties to the songwriter for making money by performing the song.

Technically, wedding bands and any type of cover band is violating copyright laws when they perform, AFAIK.

Click to expand...

Bars and restaurants must pay ASCAP fees based on # of tv's, DJ, bands, dance floors, jukeboxes, karoeke, etc. Anyway the bar is making $$ off of copywrited music is subject to a tax.