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: Legal Blog Watch

One Very Tough Job: Music Copyright Enforcement Agent

By Bruce Carton

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Via the Entertainment & Media Law Signal blog I came across a great article in last week's New York Times about what appears to be a very tough job: "licensing executive" at a performing rights organization such as Broadcast Music Incorporated. PROs license the music of the songwriters and music publishers they represent, and their licensing executives have the unenviable task of going out into a hostile world to try to collect royalties whenever that music is played in a public setting. Like the "pool permit" enforcers I discussed here last week, the Internet has made the licensing executive job a little easier. In the past, BMI had to staff "14 regional offices around the country, with field agents reading local newspapers and scouring the land on foot and by car, ever on the lookout for new bars and restaurants or old ones that aren?t paying for their music." Now, however, those offices are closed, and agents work via telephone from BMI's Nashville headquarters. In the 21st century, licensing agents can track online ads about live music or karaoke nights, and prowl online state registries of liquor licenses. Still, getting businesses to pay up is a daunting task. The article...

Full post as published by Legal Blog Watch on August 13, 2010 (boomark / email).