I've been working with ASCAP since I gave my first solo recital 7 years
ago. IT's really quite easy to deal with them. Once you register with
them, they send you a blank form each month that you need to fill out and
send back listing performances you did that included any ASCAP-represented
music. The info they want about each performance is date, location, size
(in seats) of venue, and ticket price charged. They also give you tables
with the formula to use to calculate how much you owe them per concert -
the fees are based entirely on number of seats and price of ticket; the
number of ASCAP songs you perform is irrelevant - it can be 1 or 20, the
fee will be the same (I guess this is an indirect way for them to get you
to perform more ASCAP-represented music?) In months when you have no
performances, you are supposed to fill out a form anyway, telling them "no
performances". I must be honest to say I've been very lax about doing
this, but then they've also been rather inconsistent about mailing me
forms. Probably because they now have an online reporting system, EZ
ASCAP Concert Reporting, which they'd rather have their members use.
To become licensed, you can call them at: 1-800-505-4052
or email them at: concertreporting@a...
ASCAP provides a great deal of info on their site about their music
licensing policies. Go to:
http://www.ascap.com/licensing/about.html
There's a link to the EZ ASCAP page from there - but it won't do you much
good until you are actually licensed with them.
Please be aware that, in addition to ASCAP and BMI, if you perform a lot
of music from the UK you may also need to deal with the Performing Rights
Society. I don't know about other countries' music licensing requirements.
Also be aware that not all music is represented by these organisations. A
lot of modern music published by Oxford University Press, for example, is
represented by OUP, and you need to pay the performance royalties directly
to them. I've also had to contact publishers directly in some cases to
make arrangements for licensing; for example, when I performed "Bored"
from the film version of KISMET a few years back, I wrote directly to the
publisher which kindly gave me permission to perform the song fee-free
at a no-fee-charged concert.
Karen Mercedes
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
***************************************
The ones I love are incapable of ill will, and return love for hatred....
[They] who serve both friend and foe with equal love....Such as these
are dear to me. [Bhagavad Gita, Chap. 12]
Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate
you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that
ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven. [Matt. 5:44-48]
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