Copyright board to charge for music at weddings, parades

[Vaneyes]

Canadians will start paying for Mendelssohn at their weddings.
Going too far? Read the article, and discuss.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/20...d.html?cmp=rss

[Krummhorn]

Simple solution is to hire a musician or group to play Mendelssohn ... most, if not all, of his music is in the public domain.

However, imho, those who willfully use copyrighted media (Pre-recorded Cd's, Lp's, Cassette, Dvd, etc) should be held responsibly for paying the royalties to those musicians or orchestra, and the recording company who owns the copyright.

I fully realize that it's tough to enforce copyright laws ... but if caught, the penalties are very stiff in some cases. For me, it isn't worth the risk, so I don't do it.

Kh

[Jeremy Marchant]

Simple solution is to hire a musician or group to play Mendelssohn ... most, if not all, of his music is in the public domain.

And you'll also be providing much wanted work to living musicians.

Couldn't agree more with the rest of Krummhorn's post.

[Vaneyes]

But, we shouldn't be surprised that there is opposition to overcollecting.



Pay the piper - twice

http://www.montrealgazette.com/Busin...027/story.html

Canadian Music Copyright Killing the Golden Goose

http://www.care2.com/causes/canadian...den-goose.html

Excess Copyright: The Big Fat Canadian Wedding Tax - Socan + Re:Sound + AVLA - Pay Three Pipers and Double for Dancing

http://excesscopyright.blogspot.ca/2...tax-socan.html

[Philip]

That's completely ridiculous. Whenever i throw a party, i have to hire live bands now instead of playing CDs? Or else i'll be charged for copyrights infringement? Please. The whole wedding industry is already enough of a scam.

Sounds like another measure to get a steady cash flow into the fat pockets of the copyright industry, rather than the artists themselves.

[Vaneyes]

Re clumsiness of the Re: Sound proposal PR mentioned in atleast one of the opposing articles, I have to mildly disagree. I found their omission of funerals, celebrations of lives, and remembrance services, to be remarkably astute.

[Sid James]

Looking at the prices in the article you posted in your opening post, Vaneyes, they don't seem high to me. They are like a drop in the ocean for what a wedding costs these days. But I agree that we don't want this to extend to people playing music in their homes for private parties. But a wedding is a public occasion, so that's why royalties are appropriate.

[kv466]

Say what, Sid? Okay where's that dislike feature when you need it?!

[Sid James]

Say what, Sid? Okay where's that dislike feature when you need it?!

Well this is the part of the article in the OP I'm talking about -

...For weddings, receptions, conventions, assemblies and fashion shows, the fee is $9.25 per day if fewer than 100 people are present and goes up to $39.33 for crowds of more than 500 people. If there's dancing, the fees double.

...

I suppose it depends what music you use, eg. how many, in your wedding ceremony and possibly the reception after. But these prices do not look that high to me, compared to what I guess is things like dress purchase or hire, car hire, paying the celebrant, hiring a place for the reception, printing invitations, catering costs, etc. All those already cost a huge amount (put together), I'm asking, are royalties for some recordings played at the ceremony or reception, are they going to make a huge difference for the overall wedding budget? Just asking, that's what's on my mind.

[Vaneyes]

Sid, the OP article isn't much more than a press release for Re: Sound. Reading the subsequent three articles I linked gives a more complete picture with pertinent history.

These latest clumsy nickel-diming overcollecting tactics, almost as shabby as airline surcharges, need to be expunged.

[Lunasong]

One fee no matter how many tunes/tracks are played?
One fee or two for wedding and reception?

For the record, recorded music at weddings = tacky.

I wonder if there is a statute of limitations on paying if the recording is really old. like 80's

[Klavierspieler]

For weddings, receptions, conventions, assemblies and fashion shows, the fee is $9.25 per day if fewer than 100 people are present and goes up to $39.33 for crowds of more than 500 people. If there's dancing, the fees double.

[Krummhorn]

. . . For the record, recorded music at weddings = tacky.

As a professional musician myself, I wholeheartedly agree with you on that one .

I was at one such wedding years ago ... and a recording on a LP was being played ... at the precise hour for the wedding to start, the recorded music was briskly interrupted and one clearly heard the needle being scraped across the record grooves as the operator failed to properly lift the needle to clear the LP grooves. Then there was a pause (while another LP was mounted on the player) then the loud 'pop' as the needle was dropped onto the new LP on the turntable.

Of course, when the bridal procession had completed their journey to the church altar, that recording too was abruptly stopped right in the middle of the Wagner ... and of course, the needle again failed to clear the LP surface completely ... rrrrriiippppp! I never laughed so hard in my life.

I've had some very strange 'requests' for wedding processionals/recessionals over the years ... once, I was asked to play "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" for a recessional ... the groom was a professional baseball player ... shucks, for $275 I would even play "Yankee Doodle Dandee" if asked. I did just that once though ... in a church service ... it was on April Fools Day several years back - I played it in a very reverent manner ... only two people caught on to it.

Kh

[Turangalîla]

[QUOTE=Lunasong;312899]For the record, recorded music at weddings = tacky.QUOTE]

Yes! Someone agrees with me!

I recently played at a wedding—it was a beautiful wedding. I played some nice music for the prelude, then the bridesmaids and flower girls. And then the bride comes out, and I stop playing...a country song plays on the speakers. The whole wedding went splat. Not only did the beautiful bride walk down the aisle to a country song, but they had to fade the music out because the song was too long.

Some people just don't get it

[Moira]

I entirely agree that recorded music at a wedding is tacky, but I am seeing more and more of it. One almost expects to see artificial flowers as well.

The fact that people don't attend church anymore means that fewer people have an opportunity to learn to sing congregationally and many people don't have hymns at weddings. In fact when I conduct a wedding for non-church people I recommend that they DON'T have any hymns because the singing will be dismal. But it seems that many people are unable to make the leap from no congregational singing to using other live music imaginatively.

<Sigh>