I would like to interject a comment here. Whatever their business
methods may be, the purpose of the licensing organizations is to collect
artist's fees for the use of their work. Without artists none of us
would be in business. This is a complicated and long running issue-we
definitely need to gather all of the information we can and reach a
consensus before we do anything.
Mimi 

-----Original Message-----
From: Tennessee Presenters, Board & Agents [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Bob Boyer
Sent: Wednesday, July 29, 2009 7:53 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Music Licensing

Tania -

I have no idea from our end. Ken Kapelinski at the Arena takes care of
the licensing for all of UTC and there may in fact be a UT system-wide
license. I know that our license covers all of our venues I just don't
know if it is UTC-only, or if it is part of a system-wide license that
covers all venues in Knoxville, Chattanooga, Memphis (if they have
one) and Martin.

I forwarded the pertinent emails to him to let him know it may be coming
to us. I'll be curious to see how the state of Tennessee responds.

And yes, I'd think some sort of communications from TNPR might be in
order. I think we need to figure out what we can accomplish (if
anything) and how to go about it before just picking up the phone and
asking for a meeting.

My initial thought is to send a letter from TNPR protesting the hike
with copies to the media and to our representatives asking for Congress
to hold some anti-trust hearings regarding the music industry and
licensing in general. The overall heavy-handed nature of their reaction
to digital media still has me boiling and I'm a copyright holder from my
former life.

As an organization, this may be the single most important issue we could
face on behalf of our members since our inception - we need to craft
some sort of response and be ready to follow it through even if it takes
on life as a crusade.

Bob




On Jul 29, 2009, at 5:37 PM, Moskalenko, Tania wrote:

> Christi,
>
> We haven't received anything from ASCAP yet.
> Our SESAC fees haven't changed.  It is BMI that has dramatically 
> increased.
>
> I'm glad to hear that TPAC has requested a meeting with BMI.  I'm 
> wondering if TN Presenters needs to do the same on behalf of all our 
> members.  Bob-Any thoughts on this?
>
> One problem with this is the timing.  There was no advance notice in 
> order for us to prepare for these increases before we set our budgets!
>
> Please keep us posted on what TPAC learns and also on what the 
> symphony is doing.