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Agreement Addresses Music-Rights Issues for Local Governments

A newly negotiated agreement will make it simpler for local governments to legally obtain and play music at municipal buildings or events.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Local governments use music in a variety of ways. Some uses are obvious -- festivals, fireworks shows, concerts in the park, community centers, dances, aerobics classes and music while on hold.

A recent agreement will allow local governments to obtain permission to use such music legally.

Last year, the International Municipal Lawyers Association and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) reached agreement on the terms of a model performance license for local government -- the ASCAP License Agreement for Local Governments. The model agreement is also available to members of the National League of Cities and other U.S. cities and towns.

Songwriters and music publishers authorize collective licensing organizations such as ASCAP to license public performances of their works and protect their copyrights. An ASCAP license, for a modest annual fee, grants music users the right to perform any or all of the eight million copyrighted musical works in ASCAP's repertory as often as they like.

Until recently, making sure a local government had the permission needed to perform music was burdensome -- for both ASCAP and the local governments -- and required time-consuming reporting of events and attendees. Local governments often had multiple licenses administered by various departments, and there were often significant gaps in coverage that left the local government vulnerable to copyright infringement liability.

Damages for unauthorized performances can range from $750 to $30,000 per infringement; in addition, costs, attorneys' fees and injunctive relief may also be awarded.

For those local governments that agree to use the model agreement, the situation is simplified -- one comprehensive license with one annual fee and one annual report and occasional reports for high-grossing special events. The annual fee is based on population and no monitoring or tracking of use by individual departments or buildings is required.

The agreement has been made available to IMLA members and is now available to National League of Cities members. For those local governments that accept and return the license agreement by June 30, 2002, the ASCAP has agreed to waive any claims for copyright infringement, on behalf of its members, for unauthorized non-dramatic public performances of music in the ASCAP repertory for public performances that occurred prior to the effective date of the License Agreement.

However, if a local government has any outstanding account balances under existing or prior license agreements with the ASCAP for the period before the effective date of the new agreement, the balance must be brought current before it can enter the new license agreement.

The National League of Cities