The antics of ASCAP get sadder and sadder with each month. In just the last year alone, the group has claimed that embedding videos from YouTube requires a performance license despite the fact that YouTube already pays them. It’s also claimed that ringtones are a public performance as are the 30 second preview clips you hear on iTunes (yes, seriously, they want to be paid for those too). And, of course, every time we post about ASCAP we get people saying that we shouldn’t pick on them because they represent the actual songwriters, unlike the RIAA. But the truth is that ASCAP rarely has the best interests of songwriters in mind, especially smaller ones who often get hurt by the way ASCAP determines payouts.
And now it seems that even some of the big acts are getting quite pissed off at ASCAP. One of the key things that ASCAP has done for years, of course, is threaten venues for not paying a license to have music playing in the background. The end result actually harms many artists because venues stop playing music completely and shut down things like open mic nights, which are so critical for many up-and-coming musicians.
Every so often ASCAP goes to the point of suing, and in its latest lawsuit against Connolly’s Pub in midtown Manhattan (actually a pretty good place), it named Bruce Springsteen as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, suggesting Springsteen was ripped off. That resulted in headlines, like the one from The Daily News pointing out that Springsteen himself was suing the pub. Of course, it was actually ASCAP, but the whole mess has The Boss so pissed off that he put out a statement slamming ASCAP and saying he wants nothing to do with the lawsuit and ASCAP never should have filed it in the first place:
ASCAP was solely responsible for naming Bruce Springsteen as a plaintiff in
the lawsuit. Bruce Springsteen had no knowledge of this lawsuit, was not asked if he would participate as a named plaintiff, and would not have agreed to do so if he had been asked. Upon learning of this lawsuit this morning, Bruce Springsteen’s representatives demanded the immediate removal of his name from the lawsuit.
Yup, that ASCAP. All about helping the artists and creators, right? Except when they smear their name in lawsuits they want nothing to be a part of…
Permalink | Comments | Email This Story
