new coffee shop in Minneapolis

[DougC]

There may be a new place to jam in Minneapolis. Someone needs to organize the schedule and people involved, but I spoke to the owner the other day and he likes the idea.
The place is called Humble Cup
and the owner's name is David Anderson phone: 612-208-0434

http://humblecupus.com/

[pops1]

We have had two of our jams shut down byBMI & ASCAP wanting copyright fees and another two places we played where the owners couldn't afford to pay. In all cases no money was exchanged between the players. They have begun to copyright arrangements of old time tunes. When I went to the BMI sight there were at least 7 pages of copyrighted versions of Mississippi Sawyer, I didn't look to see how many past 7 pages, but every old time tune I looked up was the same, only one I found was ok was Old Kentucky Whiskey but that was a couple of years ago. Good luck and you may want to mention to the owner if you haven't already that he may end up paying to keep the jam going.

[DougC]

We have had two of our jams shut down byBMI & ASCAP wanting copyright fees and another two places we played where the owners couldn't afford to pay. In all cases no money was exchanged between the players. They have begun to copyright arrangements of old time tunes. When I went to the BMI sight there were at least 7 pages of copyrighted versions of Mississippi Sawyer, I didn't look to see how many past 7 pages, but every old time tune I looked up was the same, only one I found was ok was Old Kentucky Whiskey but that was a couple of years ago. Good luck and you may want to mention to the owner if you haven't already that he may end up paying to keep the jam going.

I am aware of this issue and it seems that BMI / ASCAP police come thru every few years and scare everyone. I know of a few places that don't have music anymore and I know of a few places that have never been bothered by them. I consider jam sessions educational community events. But don't get me started on that rant.
Thanks.

[Teak]

I am aware of this issue and it seems that BMI / ASCAP police come thru every few years and scare everyone. I know of a few places that don't have music anymore and I know of a few places that have never been bothered by them. I consider jam sessions educational community events. But don't get me started on that rant.
Thanks.

Do you know the legal fine points on this issue? I know that venues end up paying the copyright police an annual fee, but what if a venue posts a statement that they will not pay the fee because they encourage artists playing there not to use copyrighted material? That would leave it up to the artists to deal with the copyright police. I am not talking about play-for-pay artists who probably should be ponying up the copyright fee, but rather jam artists who are playing for free and fun.

[pops1]

The copyright police have lawyers on salary and they can take you to court, they pay the lawyers whether they are in court or in house so no big deal to them. I will cost you if they choose to go that way. If you have a radio, or T V on in a business you have to pay even tho the radio stations already pay.

[terzinator]

Not wanting to derail a thread whose intent was to announce a new coffee shop, but we've had jams shut down, too. We used to have a regular jam at Dunn Bros Coffee in Eden Prairie, and it was a great weekly event. Wasn't really an open jam, but occasionally we'd have someone we didn't know bring their instrument and join us.

Anyhoo, they announced that they didn't want to host jams (or music of any kind) anymore, because they feared the royalty organizations would come down on them. (Apparently ASCAP/BMI et al will search the web for live music at venues that aren't paying the license fees, and they'll pay them a visit.)

Now, I can see that if it was a "performance," then there's some meat on the argument. But if it's a jam? I suppose the artists want what they think is due them, and I'm sure Bob Dylan and Old Crow Medicine Show would love to know how many people are playing Wagon Wheel. Although, at a jam, most of the time the versions I hear are unrecognizable!

But, back on track, nice to see a coffee shop open to jamming. I'll have to check it out! (Hopefully ASCAP or BMI doesn't see this thread!)