5 Things Record Labels Don’t Want You to Know What They Do
This is another list from Cracked.com. There’s a bit of hyperbole with a couple of these items (in my opinion), but then again, the author is dealing from the music industry from an American perspective–which is rather dirty when compared to Canada.
Still, some of the points may cause you to go “Hmm…”
5. Demanding Payment Virtually Any Time Music Is Played in Public
Obviously, if you want to use somebody’s music for commercial purposes, like in your movie or TV ad, you have to pay. So, you have to license it from a group like ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC, which makes sure record labels and artists collect the royalties they’re owed for this sort of thing. Makes sense, right? Well, hang on, because it’s about to get stupid.
It probably won’t surprise you to know that things like charging a crowd of people $2 each to listen to a band’s CD is illegal — you’re basically getting paid for a performance of somebody else’s music that you don’t own the rights to. But the definition of the word “performance” is mind-bogglingly vast when it comes to music royalties.
