Aunc.3359 net.followup utzoo!decvax!duke!unc!smb Wed Apr 28 09:41:29 1982 Re: Re: Watch it!!! The case under discussion was brought against the GAP by ASCAP, an organization of composers, music publishers, etc. The primary purpose of ASCAP (and a few groups like it, such as BMI, I think) is to act as a clearinghouse for royalties on musical works. Briefly, it's recognized that it's impossible to compensate composers on a per-play basis; instead, clubs, etc., pay a royalty license fee (based on attendance and/or size, I think) to ASCAP each year for the privilege of playing copyrighted music. ASCAP claimed -- and the court agreed -- that the GAP fell into this category, and so would be required to buy a license. ----------------------------------------------------------------- gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen of http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/ This Usenet Oldnews Archive article may be copied and distributed freely, provided: 1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles. 2. The following notice remains appended to each copy: The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.