Curious that you should bring this up, OkieMock, in the back of my mind, I seem to recall that ASCAP and company are expanding their scope and attempting to collect new lisensing revenues--

Parish mentioned something about restauraunt owners who are just trying to get out of paying composers etc. What he did not mention is that ASCAP is trying to collect a lisensing fee from every restaurant and tavern that plays music either from the radio or from a CD,tape, or record player, on the thoery that it is entertainment--(which is virtually every restaurant and tavern, at least in the US)

The rub is that there would be no new services provided for this fee, we all would just be paying a fee for listening, by way of restaurants and taverns, to something we once were able to listen to for free.

In addition, these actions, combined with the Sonny Bono Copy right extension(shall we call it the SoB?) in effect subjects everyone who wants to sing songs such as kids around campfires, families who picnic in public areas, and groups of infirm and elderly in residential and rehabilitational facilities, to a fee for the "priviledge" of singing--

I don't have a problem with the idea of royalties, and I don't even have a problem with the idea that the rights to these royalties may be passed on to heirs--

What I do have a problem with is the fact that we are being asked to pay more money, for a longer time, for the same old songs--The effect is a little like the mortgage company coming back after you've payed off a thirty year mortgage, and claiming that, since you are still living in the house in year 31, you ought to still pay them money.

Royalty revenues for the music publishing industry have started to decline, and as with all good business people, they are looking for new ways to collect money on old properties--and that is what this is all about--