Oh, the (glitter-covered, body-painted) humanity! The American Society for Composers, Authors, and Publishers — ASCAP — demanding cash from Burning Man?
When [a] composer's tune is played, ASCAP collects a fee from the venue performing it and delivers it, minus administrative costs, to the composer. For venues wishing to play copyrighted music for their visitors, ASCAP typically offers a package deal where, for an annual fee, subscribers can play as much of their members' music as they wish. The fee is scaled according to the number of people who will be present at the venue and, therefore, will be exposed to the music. "It's very reasonable," says Wilcox. "You'd probably spend more per month on heating and electricity than for one of our licenses."
Burning Man, however, has never obtained a performance license, says Wilcox. Music is one of the staples of the week-long event, with mostly electronic music playing around the clock. 25,000 people are estimated to have attended Burning Man last year alone. That size concerns Wilcox. "Sometimes we'll let smaller venues like nightclubs slide on past royalties, provided they obtain a current license. But this is just too big to ignore."
According to Wilcox, Burning Man organizers had rebuffed previous ASCAP attempts to secure a royalty agreement, claiming that the organization itself does not provide the music. All music is brought in by the visitors. Further, Burning Man is expressly non-commerical — the use of money of any kind during the event is forbidden. However, says Wilcox, that doesn't matter. "Whether the venue itself makes any money or not, the artist's music was still used in a large venue, and he or she deserves to be paid for it. Our job is to make sure that happens."
Link to Kuro5hin article (which is 100% fake) (Thanks, Secret Agent M!)
