Lawyer referral needed!
June 2, 2008 7:28 AM Subscribe
Recommendations needed for an attorney who could assist a small dance troupe with some questions related to the use of music by a choreographer for public performance. I'm in Maine, but the attorney could be anywhere. We would prefer a couple of hours of pro-bono time, but could pay a reasonable fee.
I'm on the Board of a very small, local dance company. We do pay an annual ASCAP license for music. One of our choreographers has been working on a wonderful show of dances which uses a single, complete classic rock album as its soundtrack. We have gotten permission from the record label (EMI) to use the recording (and their letter indicates that they actually consulted the artist before giving approval). However, the publisher replied to our request to use the music with a form email, and we've never heard another word from them. We then went back to EMI, who was able to give us a specific person to contact, but even with that info we've been unable to make contact with any real human at the publishing company. Multiple phone messages left, emails, postal mail - all gone unanswered since this form email.
At this point, we are hunting for an attorney who could assist us, either by reviewing our ASCAP license and the permissions we already have from EMI and giving us a formal opinion that we are within our rights to show this piece without the approval of the publisher, or who would somehow shake the publisher's tree and get them to respond, but we haven't been able to identify anyone locally (Portland, Maine) who knows enough about music licensing to be of assistance.
Typically, our ASCAP license would cover the use of individual songs, but our reading of the ASCAP fine print is that because we are using an album in its entirety as the background of a "dramatic work" that the terms of our ASCAP agreement may not cover that. We would also like to be able to promote the show as being set to [album name] as the soundtrack, rather than just saying "using the music of [band name]" and hoping everyone makes the connection between the title of the show and this band's most famous album.
FWIW, we're a very small dance company, all volunteer (no paid staff or dancers), and a registered 501(c)(3).
Any assistance, recommendation, or pointers to resources would be appreciated.
I'm on the Board of a very small, local dance company. We do pay an annual ASCAP license for music. One of our choreographers has been working on a wonderful show of dances which uses a single, complete classic rock album as its soundtrack. We have gotten permission from the record label (EMI) to use the recording (and their letter indicates that they actually consulted the artist before giving approval). However, the publisher replied to our request to use the music with a form email, and we've never heard another word from them. We then went back to EMI, who was able to give us a specific person to contact, but even with that info we've been unable to make contact with any real human at the publishing company. Multiple phone messages left, emails, postal mail - all gone unanswered since this form email.
At this point, we are hunting for an attorney who could assist us, either by reviewing our ASCAP license and the permissions we already have from EMI and giving us a formal opinion that we are within our rights to show this piece without the approval of the publisher, or who would somehow shake the publisher's tree and get them to respond, but we haven't been able to identify anyone locally (Portland, Maine) who knows enough about music licensing to be of assistance.
Typically, our ASCAP license would cover the use of individual songs, but our reading of the ASCAP fine print is that because we are using an album in its entirety as the background of a "dramatic work" that the terms of our ASCAP agreement may not cover that. We would also like to be able to promote the show as being set to [album name] as the soundtrack, rather than just saying "using the music of [band name]" and hoping everyone makes the connection between the title of the show and this band's most famous album.
FWIW, we're a very small dance company, all volunteer (no paid staff or dancers), and a registered 501(c)(3).
Any assistance, recommendation, or pointers to resources would be appreciated.
I'm on the Maine Libraries email list. A lawyer/librarian named Matt Pollack frequently posts there about copyright issues. I'll email his contact infomation to you.
posted by initapplette at 8:35 AM on June 2, 2008
posted by initapplette at 8:35 AM on June 2, 2008
Sorry if this is totally obvious, but have you asked your ASCAP rep?
posted by jacquilynne at 8:37 AM on June 2, 2008
posted by jacquilynne at 8:37 AM on June 2, 2008
Contact these people. Located in Chicago, but they will accept calls from anywhere. If they can't answer your question, they can probably guide you to a local source.
They are wonderful.
posted by nax at 12:45 PM on June 2, 2008
They are wonderful.
posted by nax at 12:45 PM on June 2, 2008
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posted by yhbc at 7:33 AM on June 2, 2008