DanP
328 posts
Apr 14, 2017
6:17 PM
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Every time I read the busking rules for a festival, one of the rules is only original compositions must be performed. That is the rule for every festival that I've looked into. Is this a clause to keep the festival from getting sued? Can some buskers chime in and explain this to me? Thanks
Last Edited by DanP on Apr 18, 2017 3:09 PM
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nacoran
9432 posts
Apr 14, 2017
9:09 PM
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They probably don't have a license. I don't know about festivals in particular, but I know local venues have to pay a ASCAP licence to do live music if any covers are going to be played (plus a local, unrelated fee if it's going to be amplified). Since most festivals charge to get in I'm betting they are in the same boat as venues.
They might be willing to let you cover stuff in the public domain, although that would probably require you getting a song list together and cross checking to everything to make sure it's all legit and submitting it to the festival in advance or something like that. (I know the county was trying to get song lists for all local shows, but I think they dropped that.)
I'd think a festival would have a hard time promoting music that didn't have some covers in there. I'd think most of the time the audience would be there for the festival and unfamiliar with any busker's back catalog.
Looking online... hmm, I found a sheet for ASCAP festival fees... Maybe I'm missing something, but the fees don't look too crazy. A festival with a capacity of 25k would only have to pay $150 a day from what I'm looking at.
https://www.ascap.com/~/media/files/pdf/licensing/classes/festival.pdf
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Nate
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