![Joi Ito [logo]](/_site/img/joi-ito-logo-92x.png){kind=logo}
Another thief has been put to justice by the Law. Phew. (Sarcasm in case you didn't get that...)
Lucky he didn't sing Happy Birthday too, or he'd be in even bigger trouble.
Mainichi Daily NewsElderly harmonica player arrested for performing copyrighted songs at barA 73-year-old bar manager who illegally performed copyrighted tunes by the Beatles and other artists on the harmonica was arrested Thursday on suspicion of violating the Copyright Law, police said.
Arrested was Masami Toyoda, of Tokyo's Nerima-ku. He has reportedly admitted to the allegations against him.
Investigators accuse Toyoda of illegally performing 33 songs such as the Beatles' songs "Here, There and Everywhere" and "Yesterday," whose copyrights are managed by the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers. He allegedly performed the songs on the harmonica with a female pianist at the bar he operated between August and September this year.
Via CB
One has to wonder what exactly JASRAC hopes to gain from this. The negative publicity will surely balance out any royalties they might get. Between this and having videos by its member artists pulled from YouTube, thus robbing themselves of invaluable free advertising, it may be time that any clever fellows in the organization start to have doubts about its management.
This is a defiant, flippant question, but:
Did anyone record the set he played?
I figure that'd be a hot bootleg!
A couple years ago a divey bar in my old neighborhood in San Francisco had to stop doing their Sunday blues bands due to ASCAP law suits. There were rarely more than 20 people there on a good day
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/12/03/BUGL13CH5H26.DTL
"Something touched me deep inside the day ... the music ... died"
Please, someone in Japan smash your Beatles CDs and send their remains to the relevant copyright holders.
well, breaking stuff you already paid for doesn't really help. better prevent other people from doing the same mistake ...
Hmm. If I want to sing some Beatles song in public legally, what do I have to do? Is there a website I can go to and pay?
The reason I bring this up is that, instead of just leaving one side shaking fists and the other heads, maybe we can find an amicable middle ground by making it really convenient and affordable play and/or use copyrighted media. Maybe this is a good business opportunity as well.
If the venue pays a music publisher... in the US ASCAP or BMI, I think you're covered. Otherwise, the venue should pay a license fee to them.
If you want to do it somewhere weird, like online, it may end up being much more difficult since they don't cover that. You will have to approach the license holder directly and negotiate a license I think.
There should be an allowance for small time usage of copyrighted material in a form like this. It's not like an old guy playing some Beatles tunes will put anyone out of business, in this case Wacko Jacko himself seeing he owns most of the Beatles stock, meaning that Paul Mccarthy has to pay him :) maybe there is some justice?
Right. This kind of crackdown is just crazy, not only from the p.o.v. of old guys getting in trouble for playing Beatles' tunes on the harmonica, but in view of the huge opportunities music publishers and record companies are missing. In their crackdown, they might even be eliminating former sources of free advertising. Think of all the retro kitsch that continues to sell because people hear it in a bar and are reminded of it.
It's not like anyone was going to pay royalties on harmonics Beatles' tunes in a bar or is going to go out and buy an album because they can no longer hear such a performance. At least if JASCAP were going to make money in this, I'd understand. As it is, the litigation cost them more than they would have gotten in royalties.
This is how JASRAC maintains their insanely tight control over performing rights in Japan. I recently helped a young muscian to get 'discovered'. In the process she sang covers of original songs and posted them on her personal site. She received notification letters from JASRAC to remove the covered songs as they violated the performance copyright.
What remains in question. If it's her personal website, and she's not performing, per se, does JASRAC have the power to prevent anyone from 'covering' or singing popular music? If they follow the same rules across the board, then literally they could sue you for humming, singing or whistling a tune on the train!!
Go figure - but then, without JASRAC, the walled garden of the Japanese music machine wouldn't exist. Their heavy hand approach and limitations to entry by many indie and young artists simply stifle the music industry in Japan.
What kind of law is this?!
I can't believe an old man is arrested for covering music.
And to think that the Beatles were so popular in Japan, you guys should really throw away all your beatles albums and download mp3s in protest.
This is a defiant, flippant question, but:
Did anyone record the set he played?
I figure that'd be a hot bootleg!