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Bodo
Nov-18-2005, 10:43 GMT
IP:
Austria

Read what I posted in the ARTICLES section.

Very strange - I can´t imagine Paul has nothing better to do than sueing 1 restaurant for playing ´Cecilia´ (or participating in that case..

I mean, wordwide there are thousands (eh millions) of restaurants and bar´s which don´t pay any royalities...

Ans
Nov-18-2005, 11:35 GMT
IP:
Netherlands

Maybe they didn´t play "Cecilia" very well...;-)

The owner of the restaurant could have known there would be trouble after so many warnings.

Mimi
Nov-18-2005, 11:40 GMT
IP:
Austria

I wouldn´t be so sure of the millions of restaurants.

In Austria every restaurant or supermarket that plays background music has to pay for it.

If it is live, normally the band is sending a list with the used songs to the organsition, that takes care for it.

And I understand it, when everone makes money with the music (the band, the owner of the restaurant and so on) why should the composer not have his share?

Alain
Nov-18-2005, 11:52 GMT
IP:
France

Also in France , it´s very strict...
And be carefull, Claudine controls ! :-)

Bodo
Nov-18-2005, 12:07 GMT
IP:
Austria

I know - in Austria or the ´Western World´.

But I´m sure they get no royalities from South America, Africa, most of Asia, Eastern Europe...

So they are sueing one restaurant in the US to get a few hundred $ more - but they loose millions in other countries. That´s fascinating for me :-)

Ans
Nov-18-2005, 12:24 GMT
IP:
Netherlands

And the money they get from all the places who are scared to be sued now.

Klausi
Nov-18-2005, 12:28 GMT
IP:
Germany

Illegal copies of CD`s, DVD`s, music in the internet etc. changed the business.

Now touring is a big business, but only for big stars, ten or twenty years ago touring was mainly for increasing album sales.

Song-airplay and play in public is an important income for the writers. Randy Newman would be a poor boy, if he hadn`t written so many songs for other people, even for Disney-films.

Garfunkel and many others made Jimmy Webb`s songs popular, but not Webb himself. He lives from this income.

What really is a pity, that in our days it is more difficult to get popular and grow, because it is less attractive to invest in new names for the music-industry than ever before.

They are prepared to have maybe five flops and one hit, but not, if the hit is not selling.

Bodo
Nov-18-2005, 15:39 GMT
IP:
Austria

The music suffers, baby
The music business thrives


This line may not be true anymore - at a certain point the music became so poor that the audience began to stop buying it. Thats not true for Paul´s music, but for nearly everything you hear on the radio or can watch on MTV.
It´s not worth buying an album from these musicians, because only 1 song is good on them.
That´s why people started to download the songs they like, instead of buying 1 bad album.


What I find odd is that Paul Simon is included in that case. This only brings bad publicity to his name. In Germany/Austria and other countries there is an institution named GEMA. Restaurants, bars a.s.o. have to pay the royalities to this institution - and THEY control the bar´s and restaurants. So it doesn´t matter if the songs is from Paul Simon, Michael Jackson or written by (example) Nathalie G. Everyone get´s his money. No musician has to sue the restaurant there - and maybe next week another bar in Texas and 2 weeks later a super-market in Iowa :-)
I just find it odd that Paul gives his name for that case. Seriously - the music industry has sued a lot of people in the last years, and it looked like as if they can´t get enough money (while they give us the illusion they are loosing money they earn more and more). So I think this wasn´t really a good step for Paul. Some organisation should sue the restaurant. (Hell no, they should not SUE someone and spend thousands of $ to some lawyers, they should give him a fine of a few hundred $ - that´s how this would be handled over here)

Denise
Nov-18-2005, 16:47 GMT
IP:
USA - United Staates America

It´s not Paul who is sueing but BMI where his catalog of songs is published. This company protects the rights of all song writers. Not just the famous ones.

Bodo
Nov-18-2005, 18:06 GMT
IP:
Austria

Hm
Sorry, but it is written- "the suit, filed by BMI(...)and other organisations (..)and artists like(...) Paul Simon."

So it doesn´t sound like BMI is sueing the grill in the name of all his artists.
Anyway - I hope you understand what I meant, I find he shouldn´t use his name for that. And I still can´t understand why they have to sue them - normaly you have to pay a fine of around 200 - 500 $ for that case... I can´t imagine that they don´t have a law for that case in the USA, while we here have that since I don´t know when... 1840? (joking..)

So it is easier for Paul Simon to get his royalities from European countries than from his own country? :-)

Klausi
Nov-21-2005, 07:50 GMT
IP:
Germany

I agree to Bodo. Simon pays to BMI and they should sue someone, who is found being playing music illegally (many will not be found, it is like when you are driving a car and are high - you will only be punished if you miss Stop-signs or make other stupid faults).

By the way Simon is very interested in only playing and using songs he owns or are free. (The main melody of American Tune, El Condor Pasa, Scarborough fair etc.)

I think he bought "Whispering bells" before singing in public.

In 1975 he wanted to buy the rights for a song called "Rivers of Babylon" from Chris Blackwell, music-manager. It was a small local hit for the Jamaican group "The Melodians", he liked it and wanted to record it. But somehow he was too late.

Later a german group "Boney M.", more a vehicle for a music producer called Frank Farian than a real group had a big Hit with that song in Europe around 1977/78. Bad version, disco-sound.

Nevertheless Simon sang it in 1980 (One-trick pony-tour) with The Jessy Dixon singers.

Ans
Nov-21-2005, 11:28 GMT
IP:
Netherlands

Maybe BMI used Paul´s name (with his permission) to give the sueing more weight, it could help other musicians who are not so famous as PS to become the royalties for their songs.... just a thought.

LOL, poor Artie....

I didn´t know that Paul wanted to buy the rights for the song "Rivers of Babylon".

I would Love to hear the version Paul did on the "One Trick Pony Tour". Do you have it, Klausi? If so it would be great if you could upload it at the excessive fans.

Klausi
Nov-22-2005, 06:24 GMT
IP:
Germany

Sorry Ans, I am not skilled enough to upload something.

Heard the Nov. 1 1980 Frankfurt-concert again, it is in bad quality.

In the last quarter, Simon and the J.D.-Singers sang a medley, about 7 minutes long, with "Cecilia", "Rivers of Babylon" and "Amazing Grace", all in Reggae-Sound.

At least "Amazing Grace" was a little bit too amazing for this song.

And he would certainly have recorded "Rivers of Babylon" in a more subtle and complex way.

Ans
Nov-22-2005, 11:23 GMT
IP:
Netherlands

That´s okay Klausi, I also think the song would have become much better with Paul´s skills.

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