Re: [ARSCLIST] Ascap Goes After The Girl Scouts

["Watsky, Lance" <lwatsky@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I want to thank everyone that took the time to set the facts straight on this story. I didn't realize that the article was over 9 years old, as it was forwarded to me without any date.  

Lance Watsky
Preservation & Media Specialist
The Georgia Archives
5800 Jonesboro Road
Morrow, GA 30260
678-364-3764 (phone)
678-364-3860 (fax)
lwatsky@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.GeorgiaArchives.org




-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
[mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx]On Behalf Of John Ross
Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2005 7:58 PM
To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Ascap Goes After The Girl Scouts


As others have noted, this is old news. And it's an incomplete account of
the outcome. When this story was first distributed, it was, as you would
expect, a huge public relations disaster for ASCAP. Within a very short
time, ASCAP backed down on their demand for payment and accepted a token $1
per year for blanket use of their copyrights by the Girl Scouts. They also
ran full-page newspaper adverts declaring their love for scouts and scouting.

Here are some links to more details:
http://jamesvdelong.com/articles/ip/best-things.html
http://www.s-t.com/daily/08-96/08-28-96/c08ae115.htm
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1996/08/23/MN14140.DTL
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/terribletowel.htm

This fire was put out a long time ago. Please, please, don't continue to
circulate the myth that it's still a problem.

There are plenty of other reasons to dislike the licensing and royalty
practices of ASCAP and BMI, but this is not one of them.

John Ross
Northwest Folklife
Seattle

At  5/19/2005 03:01 PM, Damien Moody wrote:

>Even though the article may be a little old...
>
>Ever wonder where the Taliban has fled to? Hmm.... No music for our little
>boys and girls. Riiight. As if.
>
>Unless ASCAP leadership are truly a bunch of degenerate rats, I doubt
>they'd risk the negative publicity involved in suing girl scouts (after
>which they can walk around the courthouse yanking candy out of the hands
>of infants). So girls, sing right on...  And grown-ups, contact your local
>rep and tell them you want this nonsense the heck off our lawbooks (or
>modified to leave out non-profits and young females of our nation).
>
> >>> lwatsky@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 05/19/05 5:05 PM >>>
>
>Here is a strange example of copyright law being abused.
>
>Story says it all...
>
>http://www.s-t.com/daily/08-96/08-23-96/b02li056.htm
>
>The birds may sing, but campers can't unless they pay up
>By Lisa Bannon, The Wall Street Journal
>
>Something is missing at Diablo Day Camp in Lafayette, Calif., this year.
>At the 3 p.m. sing-along in a wooded canyon near Oakland, 214 Girl Scouts
>are learning the summer dance craze, the Macarena. Keeping time by slapping
>their hands across their arms and hips, they jiggle, hop and stomp. They
>spin, wiggle and shake. They bounce for two minutes.
>In silence.
>
>"Yesterday, I told them we could be sued if we played the music," explains
>Teesie King, camp co-director and a volunteer mom. "So they decided they'd
>learn it without the music."
>
>Watching the campers' mute contortions, Mrs. King shakes her head. "It
>seems so different," she allows, "when you do the Macarena in silence."
>Starting this summer, the American Society of Composers, Authors &
>Publishers has informed camps nationwide that they must pay license fees to
>use any of the four million copyrighted songs written or published by
>Ascap's 68,000 members. Those who sing or play but don't pay, Ascap warns,
>may be violating the law.
>
>Like restaurants, hotels, bars, stores and clubs, which already pay fees to
>use copyrighted music, camps -- including non-profit ones such as those run
>by the Girl Scouts -- are being told to ante up. The demand covers not only
>recorded music but also songs around the campfire.
>
>"They buy paper, twine and glue for their crafts -- they can pay for the
>music, too," says John Lo Frumento, Ascap's chief operating officer. If
>offenders keep singing without paying, he says, "we will sue them if
>necessary."
>
>No more "Edelweiss" free of charge. No more "This Land Is Your Land." An
>Ascap spokesman says "Kumbaya" isn't on its list, but "God Bless America"
>is.
>
>Diablo, an all-volunteer day camp that charges girls $44 a week to cover
>expenses, would owe Ascap $591 this year, based on the camp's size and how
>long it runs. Another composer group, Sesac Inc., which owns copyrights to
>such popular tunes as Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind," says it plans to
>ask camps for another set of royalties this fall.
>
>So far, Girl Scouts of the U.S.A., the national organization based in New
>York, isn't playing along with royalty demands. But the American Camping
>Association, in Martinsville, Ind., which includes many Scout camps, advises
>members to comply. Diablo's regional Girl Scout Council in Oakland is low on
>cash and decided its 20 area camps can't afford the extra expense. Rather
>than risk a lawsuit, the council told all the camps to scratch copyrighted
>songs from their programs even though only a few received warning letters.
>
>"At first I thought, 'You guys have got to be kidding,"' says Sharon Kosch,
>the council's director of program services. "They can't sing the songs? But
>it's pretty threatening. We were told the penalty can be $5,000 and six days
>in jail."
>
>So, the camp's directors have scrutinized its official "Elf Manual" and, in
>the section headed "Favorite Songs at Diablo Day Camp," have crossed out the
>most popular copyrighted tunes with black Magic Marker. The Scouts know
>about only a few of the banned songs because Ascap hasn't mailed out a
>complete list; it comprises four million songs and runs 70,000 pages. Ascap
>says it has, however, put a list on the Internet.
>
>After finishing off hot dogs and s'mores for lunch, the Elves -- senior
>Scouts charged with helping younger campers -- gather in a circle with
>directors to decide what they can sing.
>
>"Is 'Row Row Row Your Boat' copyrighted?" asks Holly Foster, a 14-year-old
>Elf with a turquoise happy face on her cheek. "Row Row Row Your Boat" may
>float, the directors decide, but "Puff the Magic Dragon" definitely is out.
>"How about 'Ring Around the Rosie'?" another Elf asks. The directors veto
>it.
>
>"We wanted to sing 'Underwear,' but it's set to the tune of 'Battle Hymn of
>the Republic,"' says Mrs. King, the co-director. "We're not sure if that's
>copyrighted; so, we don't sing it."
>
>"When in doubt, don't sing," advises Site Director Leslie Shanders.
>Even harder than figuring out which songs are which, directors say, is
>explaining it all to young Brownies. "They think copyright means the 'mean
>people,' " says Debby Cwalina, a 14-year-old Elf. Mr. Holly explains it to
>them this way: "The people who wrote it have a thing on it. A little 'c'
>with circles around it. There's an alarm on it. And if you sing it, BOOM!"
>That explanation doesn't always sink in. Alissa Fiset, age 8, crinkles her
>nose when asked why she can't sing "Puff the Magic Dragon." While squirting
>a friend with a water bottle, she says: "They did a rewrite on it. A copy
>thing. But why can't they just take the 'c' away?"
>
>Ascap, which is based in New York, defends the royalties. "Songwriters are
>small-business people who write songs to make a living," Mr. Lo Frumento
>says. "The royalties allow them to send their kids to Girl Scout camp, too."
>The federal copyright act allows composers and music publishers to demand
>royalty payments for any public performance of copyrighted material. The law
>defines a public performance as "where a substantial number of persons
>outside of a normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances is
>gathered." Although the law has been on the books since 1909, Ascap began
>notifying large music users, such as hotels, only a little over a decade ago
>and more recently has worked its way down to small users, such as rodeos and
>funeral homes. This year, it negotiated a reduced annual fee of $257 with
>camps enrolled in the American Camping Association. For camps, such as
>Diablo, that aren't association members, the fees are higher, ranging from
>$308 to $1,439 a year. Small camps that last two weeks or less get a special
>rate of $77.
>
>Penalties for noncompliance can be stiff. The law sets fines up to $25,000
>or a year in prison, or both, for major infringements. Ascap, which sends
>monitors around the country, has successfully sued restaurants, retailers
>and private clubs, Mr. Lo Frumento says. While the law hasn't been tested on
>camps, copyright attorneys say even little girls would lose.
>
>"If you make an exception for the Girl Scouts, you could set a practical
>precedent," says Russell Frackman, a Los Angeles copyright lawyer. "You give
>the impression that a particular use is not an infringement, and that can be
>used against you in the future."
>
>Ascap contends that its members have contributed heavily to the Scouts over
>the years. In 1940, Irving Berlin donated all future royalties from his "God
>Bless America" to the New York City Boy Scout and Girl Scout councils.
>Although the Scouts still get royalties from it, Mr. Lo Frumento concedes
>that, nevertheless, they can't sing it without paying the fee.
>So, it's back to black Magic Markers.
>
>After finishing the Macarena at the Diablo sing-along, one mother whispers
>that today is the sixth birthday of David Warneke, a camp volunteer's son.
>"We're not allowed to sing 'Happy Birthday,' " warns Debi Jansen, a
>co-director.
>
>Huddling with the Elves, the directors come up with a plan: Sing a modified
>"Happy Birthday" to the tune of "Ninety-Nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall."
>But Mrs. Jansen is worried. "I hope that's not copyrighted, too," she
>frets.
>
>
>Lance Watsky
>Preservation & Media Specialist
>The Georgia Archives
>5800 Jonesboro Road
>Morrow, GA 30260
>678-364-3764 (phone)
>678-364-3860 (fax)
>lwatsky@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>www.GeorgiaArchives.org