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Example 1

Recorded music is performed each day of the event by exhibitors on the trade show floor, during a seminar in a meeting room, and at an awards banquet; no live music is performed at the event.

performed on the main exhibition floor during the two days of the event; and on each of those same two days live music is also performed at three separate functions, all of which occur someplace other than on the main meeting floor and which have setups for 250 people, 850 people, and 50

1,650 (number of attendees) x 4.5 cents (recorded music fee) = $74.25

Example 2

Live music is performed on the main exhibition floor during two days of the event; no other live music and no recorded music is performed at the event. Calculate the license fee for the event as follows:

BMI: $195 (daily fee for live music performed on the main exhibition floor with 1,650 attendees) x 2 days = $390

ASCAP: $150 (daily fee for live music performed on the main exhibition floor with 1,650 attendees) x 2 days = $300

Example 3

Live music is performed on the main exhibition floor during two days of the event; on each of those same two days, live music is also performed at a dinner party for 350 people; no other live music and no recorded music is performed at the event. Calculate the license fee for the events as follows:

BMI: $195 (daily fee for live music performed on the main exhibition floor with 1,650 attendees) x 2 days $390 plus $45 (daily fee for live music performed at functions occurring someplace other than on the main exhibition floor-that is, the dinner parties-with 350 attendees) x 2 days = $90. BMI: The total license fee for this event is $480.

ASCAP: $150 (daily fee for live music performed on the main exhibition floor with 1,650 attendees) x 2 days = $300 plus $50 (daily fee for live music performed at functions occurring someplace other than on the main exhibition floor-that is, the dinner parties-with 350 attendees) x 2 days = $100. ASCAP: The total license fee for this event is $400.

Example 4

Recorded music is performed each day of the event by exhibitors on the trade show floor, during a seminar in a meeting room, and at an awards banquet, live music is

performed at the event. Calculate the license fee for the events as follows

BMI: 1,650 (number of attendees) x 4.5 cents = $74.25 plus $195 (daily fee for live music performed on the main exhibition floor with 1,650 attendees) x 2 days = $390 plus $140 (daily fee for live music occurring at functions someplace other than on the main exhibition floor with a total of 1,150 attendees) x 2 days = $280. BMI: The total license fee for this event is $744.25

ASCAP: 1,650 (number of attendees) x 45 cents = $74.25 plus $150 (daily fee for live music performed on the main exhibition floor with 1,650 attendees) x 2 days = $300, plus $125 (daily fee for live music occurring at functions someplace other than on the main exhibition floor with a total of 1,150 attendees) x 2 days = $250. ASCAP: The total license fee for this event is $624.25.

Getting Informed

Learn about the new music licensing rules and how they will affect you and your organization. Here is a synopsis of ASAE's seminars on the topic. •November 16: The 4th Annual Legal Symposium, Loews L'Enfant Plaza Hotel, Washington, D.C. A plenary session, "How Will the Music Royalty Issue Finally Be Resolved?" from 11:20 am to 12:30 pm. Speakers include moderator Jonathan T. Howe, senior partner, Howe & Hutton, Ltd., Chicago, James E. Anderson, partner, Loomis Owen Fellman & Howe, Washington, D.C: Sheldon L London, general counsel, National Association of Exposition Managers, Aurora, Ohio, Marvin Berenson, vice president and general counsel, BMI, New York City, and L. Barry Kniel, director of licensing, ASCAP, New York City. The Legal Symposium costs $175 for members; $200 for nonmembers.

•November 16: Issue Briefing, Loews L'Enfant Plaza Hotel, Quorum Room, Washington, D.C. An issue briefing will also be held from 2 pm to 4:30 pm. at the Loews L'Enfant Plaza Hotel. Howe, Anderson, Berenson, and Knittel are also scheduled to speak. The cost is $25 per person.

• March 6: ASAE Spring Convention & Exposition, Taj Mahal, Atlantic City. The session "Music Licensing Not Only Do We Need to Pay the Piper, We Now Need to Pay the Composer, from 10:15 am to 11:45 am, and again from 2:45 pm. to 4:15 pm. Howe and Albert J. Sunseri, CAE, vice president of education and member services, Healthcare Financial Management Association, Chicago, will serve as speakers.

For information or to register for these sessions, call ASAE at (202) 626-2757.

Clearing Up the Confusion

(Continued from page 3)

original, you may want to ask them to contribute a certain amount toward the licensing fee. And yes, the count is 6,000.

16. w will the licensing organizations know if you are playing copyrighted music at your meeting?

BMI and ASCAP have offices throughout the United States. The organizations can easily pick up a Chicago Tribune, for example, which lists daily the conventions and expositions in that city and anticipated attendance. BMI and ASCAP clip those items. The appropriate organization will call you if it hasn't heard from you. If one of the licensing groups calls you, it will inform you of your obligation to have a license to publicly perform copyrighted music. If you refuse to sign and then put on your event and perform music, you have a good chance of being taken to court. If there is substantial resistance among a number of organizations, the licensing organizations will likely bring some number of "high profile" lawsuits to keep all groups in line.

There is also the ethical issue. We have an ethical responsibility to comply with this law. When we have a meeting, we don't try to avoid any of the other laws, rules, and regulations. Avoiding this law is stealing, because copyrighted pieces of music belong to the composers, not

LO US.

17. Is some music-for example, that of the Barbershop Quartet Association-exempt from music licensing?

Yes. The Barbershop Quartet Association is in a unique situation because it has its own license that it has negotiated. This example should be a reminder to all associations: Anyone can negotiate an agreement with BMI and ASCAP. You're not bound by the current agreement, which was negotiated simply to create a uniformity and understanding in the meetings industry.

18. is synchronization of music covered under this agreement?

No. Synchronization rights permit you to record the music in timed relation with visual images on a soundtrack of a film or videotape. If you are making a video and want to incorporate copyrighted music with the action on the video, you must obtain a synchronization license from the copyright owner. This requires an entirely different agreement from those with BMI and ASCAP.

However, you also need a performance license when you play or show your video; that is in addition to the sync

license. The BMI and ASCAP licenses are the performance licenses. Therefore, you will end up paying twice, for two different rights owned by the copyright owner(s): once for the sync rights, which give you the right to synchronize the music into your video, and once again for the performance of what you synced in, unless you covered the performance in your sync license agreement with the composer.

19. How long have BMI and ASCAP been around? What is the possibility of a third or fourth entity coming along and asking for money?

ASCAP was formed in 1914; BMI was formed in 1939. Another much smaller American music licensing group called SESAC-the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers has a small repertory of music copyrighted in the United States. Many such licensing organizations exist in other countries around the world.

The only two groups that have expressed interest in the meetings industry have been BMI and ASCAP, which license 90-95 percent of the music currently in use. Both BMI and ASCAP have reciprocal arrangements with other licensing groups around the world, which permit BMI and ASCAP licensees to have access to these international repertories and pay royalties to BMI and ASCAP. Those organizations are then responsible for making the appropriate royalty payments to the international organizations.

If you have a "weird piece of music" that you are not sure is contained in either BMI or ASCAP's repertory, you can ask either organization if it is part of its repertory. However, since composers jump around from one licensing group to another, you cannot assume that because one song by an artist is in BMI's repertory, all are. The artist may have licensed some of his or her works with BMI and others with ASCAP. Some composers license neither society so you'd work directly with the composer or his or her agent.

Remember, too, these licenses are only for what are called "nondramatic" performances of the licensed works. If you want to put on a performance of all or a large part of a musical production, you must get that license from the author or composer, since such dramatic performances are not licensed by BMI or ASCAP.

20. Does this licensing apply to meetings outside the United States?

No, that's a whole new can of worms. Once you get outside the United States, you are dealing with different performing rights societies that have their own music (Continued on page 7)

Pay to Play

(Continued from page 1)

than 10,000 people. For 1990, ASCAP's maximum per

Separate fees are required for recorded and live music. Fees for recorded music (whether the music is played in the exhibit hall, a seminar, or both) are based on the number of people registered for the conference plus half the exhibit personnel. An association only pays one fee per conference for recorded music, whether recorded music is played at 1 or 10 functions.

Fees for live music played in an exhibit hall are based on the number of people registered for the conference plus half the exhibit personnel; fees for live music played outside the exhibit hall (e.g., at a dinner dance) are based on the number of people registered to attend each particular function. In other words, fees for live music are charged for each particular function at which the music is used (see "How to Calculate the Fees," page 5).

BMI's music licensing agreement runs from Oct. 1. 1990, to Dec. 31, 1993; ASCAP's music licensing agreement runs from Jan. 1, 1991, to Dec. 31, 1994. Once an association signs an agreement with BMI and/or ASCAP, it is the association's responsibility to inform BMI and/or ASCAP when its meeting(s) will be held.

Under BMI's agreement, associations will be charged 4 cents per person per event for recorded music (phonographs, tapes, broadcasts, and so forth) through the remainder of 1990. BMI's live music fees for 1990 range from $20 per day for music played to groups of 150 or fewer to $500 per day for music played for 10,000 or more people. For 1990, BMI's maximum per-event fee is $4,000. BMI's fees for recorded and live music increase in 1991, 1992, and 1993.

Under ASCAP's agreement, associations will be charged 4.5 cents per person per event for recorded music in both 1991 and 1992. ASCAP's live music fees for the same time period range from $25 per day for music played to groups of 250 or fewer to $500 per day for music played for more

ASCAP fees for both recorded and live music increase in 1993 and each calendar year thereafter. The contract states that "the license fees shall be the license fees for 1992, adjusted in accordance with any increase in the national Consumer Price Index between October 1989 and the October preceding the calendar year in question.” Adjustments to license fees would then be rounded as follows: to the nearest 1/2 cent for mechanical (recorded) music, to the nearest $5 for live music, to the nearest $10 for the minimum fee payable, and to the nearest $50 for the maximum fee payable.

Neither organization requires an association to document the specific songs played during its meeting. Because most copyrighted music is licensed either by BMI or ASCAP (neither organization licenses the same song). Henry Schaffer, an auomey at Howe & Hutton, Ltd., Chicago, suggests an association sign an agreement with both organizations to ensure that it has the right to use the music being played at its meetings. If an association chooses to sign both agreements, it is required to pay fees to both BMI and ASCAP. If an association chooses not to sign an agreement with both organizations, it risks violating the United States Copyright Law.

Both agreements license copyrighted music for meetings held in the United States and its territories; for meetings held outside the United States, associations should contact the hotels or convention centers where their meeting is being held to find out the performing society in that country that licenses music.

According to Jonathan T. Howe, the task force's representative and a senior partner in Howe & Hutton, Ltd, Chicago, both BMI and ASCAP plan to conduct educational seminars for meeting planners (see also “Getting Informed," page 5). For information, call ASAE at (202) 626-2798.

Task force members in addition to ASAE include the Convention Liaison Council, Washington, D.C.; Professional Convention Management Association, Birmingham, Alabama; Meeting Planners International, Dallas; and the Religious Conference Management Association, Indianapolis.

Contracts to be Mailed

Both BMI (Broadcast Music Incorporated) and ASCAP (the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) are sending copies of their music licensing agreements to all ASAE members this month.

Association Report is published by the American Society of Association Executives, 1575 Eye St, N.W., Washington, DC 20005-1168; (202) 626-2723; Patricia A. Mascari, editor, Joseph S. Cavarretta, newsletters editor. ©November 1990.

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