Letters to the Editor 06/10/2009

To the Editor:

Thanks to The Nugget and (reporter) Jeff Spry for reporting on BMI and other performance rights organizations (PROs) vis-à-vis their licensing music for local venues ("The music police are patrolling Sisters, The Nugget, June 3, page 1).

The article contained a few misconceptions.

BMI is not a "[performers] rights organization" as the article stated. BMI is a "[performance] rights organization." That is, its raison d'etre is not to protect the rights of performers but the public-performance rights for copyrighted songs which songwriters, composers and publishers own.

If a venue presents music in order to enhance its appeal and boost traffic and revenue, then the owners of the copyrights for that music should be compensated for the use of their intellectual property for that purpose. Private playback of music doesn't require licensing.

The anonymous local musician quoted in the article evidently has not had widespread distribution (that is, through mainstream national or international channels) of their songs. If they did, they most certainly would have received royalties from their PRO. I have many friends and associates who make their sole living from such paychecks.

While BMI's actions toward Depot Café seem to be overreaching a bit, I gleaned from Mr. Wavrin's comments in the article that local musicians did at some point play other people's copyrighted songs. I believe Mr. Wavrin simply wasn't initially aware that the rights to publicly perform cover songs are protected by law and must be licensed.

Everyone wants music to be free, but here is the reality: songwriting on a professional, nationally competitive level is extremely costly and time-consuming. It must be compensated for if the art form is to survive on anything but a hobbyist basis.

Coincidentally, I just got word this week that one of my songs will be recorded by an artist on a Nashville-based record label. That song took me several hundred hours and roughly $1,500 to write, arrange, produce (the demo) and promote.

My only significant income from this record will be from my pro-rata share of BMI licensing revenue when it is performed publicly - hopefully on the radio or TV, in a film, or in the thousands of venues across the country like the Depot Café.

Public-performance licensing is absolutely critical to the survival of professional songwriters like myself and to the continued availability of professionally crafted songs for the public to enjoy.

Michael Cooper

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To the Editor:

Re "Bringing Texas-style BBQ to Sisters," (The Nugget, June 3, page 6):

The last paragraph of the above-mentioned article appeared in the issue of The Nugget contains some significant inaccuracies.

"Slicker credits the Sisters Business Attraction and Retention Team (SBART) and the Sisters City Council and Planning Commission with getting Slick's Que Co. up and running quickly. The location was originally zoned for a mini-mart, and the city council stuck to its promise of business development by expediting zone changes, with SBART acting as a link. The whole process was completed in under a month, proving that Sisters can be a friendly place for new business."

There was no zone change required; the use is permitted outright within the downtown core. The application, a conditional use permit review, was submitted to the planning commission and approved. The city council was not involved in the process, and whatever part SBART played is not documented. Credit for the quick end-to-end process goes entirely to the staff of the Sisters planning department.

Ed Protas

Sisters Planning Commission