I was involved with a folk club a few years ago that used to meet in a amateur dramatic theatre (which did not have an MCPS licence). Somehow MCPS found out and sent the theatre a bill for their estimated annual fee (their estimate was far more than we could afford). I wrote to MCPS explaining that we were a traditional folk club performing traditional unlicenced songs and I gave them a few examples. They wrote back to me claiming that some of the songs I had listed had been covered and although the author could not be traced we may be using the arrangement (they claimed that the Pogues and U2 had recorded songs with the names I had given). If it wasn't serious it is funny to think that they think an unaccompanied singer may be trying to sound like U2 !!

Now this really annoys me, that we have to give money to these bands so that we can perform traditional songs in public when they probably learnt the songs from people such as us in the first place. After a number of phone calls I eventually managed to negotiate the fee down to a level that we could afford to pay (we did consider moving the club but there was no other suitable venue). Unfortunately MCPS have the law on their side once they find you, so my advice is don't get caught and if you speak to MCPS don't mention that there is a public bar anywhere near where you are performing.

Ian