APPENDIX BMI
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If anybody axes you who it was dat wrote dis song,
Tell ‘em it was a black-skinned nigger wid a pair o’ blue duckin’s on.
If anybody axes you who it was dat copyrighted dis song,
Tell ‘em Alan Lomax and his goddamned father John.
Peter, Paul and Mary claim authorship, not merely the arrangement, of at
least ten traditional folk songs on their first three albums alone. In most
cases they have changed the titles, and in some cases they have rearranged
the lyrics. In all cases I have seen older versions of the same songs in
print. I, too, have taken liberties with traditional folk songs. On one of
my recordings, “Foote Loose,” there are four renditions in which I combined
lyrics from two or more versions of the same folk song. But I do not claim
authorship of these songs. I have copyrighted the arrangement and
performance only. Anyone who wants to sing these words has my blessing. I
have encountered restaurant and coffeehouse owners who will not allow
traditional music to be performed on their stages, for fear that some ASCAP
or BMI writer or publisher has copyrighted an arrangement of the song, or
even the song itself. These fears are not unfounded, and the oral tradition,
by which these songs have been transmitted from generation to generation, is
thereby stifled. I have carefully preserved over the years photocopies of
nearly every traditional song in my repertoire, in order to prove their
antiquity. Suddenly, BMI was forcing me to do just that.
Five days after losing my job at the restaurant I wrote a letter to Craig
Stamm, Director of General Licensing at BMI headquarters in Nashville. I
explained that all of my repertoire consists of original or traditional
material, and therefore no BMI license is required. Regarding his written
assertion that a BMI license is necessary to perform Irish music, I said:
“BMI did not ‘bring their music’ to the United States. Traditional music was
brought here from the old country by the settlers themselves. It is
overreaching to assert that ‘whatever music you perform to benefit your
business, its public performance requires a license.’ BMI does not own my
original compositions or my arrangements of traditional music. It is beyond
my comprehension how BMI could propose to deliver royalties to the authors,
or to the descendants of authors, of traditional music. The authors are
unknown. If you have objections, please name the songs that you believe are
not traditional, and I will show that they are.”
After two weeks I had received no response, so I talked to BMI personnel on
the telephone. I was told that the burden of proof is on the business owner
to examine a list of 4.5 million songs in the BMI catalog and to prove that
none of these songs have been performed. I was asked how I know that no
musician at the restaurant was performing “licensable BMI music.” I answered
that I am their only musician. I was asked how I know that the songs I sing
are not “licensable BMI music.” I answered that I wrote them myself. I was
told that if the songs are copyrighted, the rights are owned by ASCAP or BMI.
I answered that I copyrighted them myself, without assistance. I wrote again
to Craig Stamm. I recounted the telephone conversations, and I asked for “a
statement, in writing, that I am at liberty to perform my own songs,
copyrighted in my name, and traditional folk songs, in the public domain,
anywhere I want to, whether or not the venue has a license from BMI.” I
continued: “If I cannot get such a statement from BMI, then I will have to
seek such a statement from the courts.” I received no written response from
BMI. When I spoke to Craig Stamm directly on the telephone and asked again
for such a statement, he said: “We’re not going to give you that.”
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