Apple Logic Pro /LogicExpress Discussion

d (see comments below)
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: GAmoore@... 
  To: Logic_Cafe@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Thursday, April 05, 2007 6:13 PM
  Subject: Re: [Logic_Cafe] music publishing biz


  In a message dated 4/5/07 5:23:37 PM, sandvik@... writes:
  > The only benefit I see of starting your own private publishing company
  > is to make it an incorporation in order to avoid personal liability.
  > I'm not sure how often someone is sued for publishing rights, but for
  > small releases I think something like this is a very minimal risk.
  > 
  > So just register at ASCAP or BMI as a private person with no
  > publishing company, I don't know ASCAP but with BMI it's just fine.
  > 

  I think you are mixing up two different things. One thing is that you need to 
  have a business license to have a publishing company (according to Braheny's 
  book), in order to collect the publishing part of the royalties. I agree that one should always comply with the law but it is not my experience that either BMI or ASCAP will demand to see that your company has a legal existance.  It was the bank's that said we had to have a DBA (the business license which you get from the county) for them to cash our checks---on the DBA you state what kind of company it is--sole proprietorship, etc..  Another thing 
  is what kind of company - sole proprietorship, partnership, or LLC (limited 
  liability corporation). Thats the part about them being able to sue you or not. 
  Yes, I agree its fairly far fetched that someone would sue (although I think 
  there were some lawsuit's over Ozzy's "Suicide Solution" song, after a kid 
  committed suicide after listening to it repeatedly.) Unfortunately from hell, it is NOT far-fetched that someone would sue.  I am so sad to say that if you are making money -- or even if you are not but have assets oR THINK YOU HAVE ASSETS, someone will sue.  If you are making money, you NEED to have a corporation-- in this sue-happy world, you need protection.

  Can you get some confirmation about BMI not requiring a DBA ("doing business 
  as") company and still giving you 200% of the writer's commissions (100% for 
  writer and 100% for publishing company)?No, I can't but you will need it anyway to cash checks in California.  I can't imagine that either BMI or ASCAP would get into this because they send out checks all over the world.    I am writing to them now to see if 
  they can explain.

  By the way, there are a lot of good copyright tips from BMI on this page (but 
  they don't answer this question about the publishing company).
  http://www.bmi.com/career/entry/533748

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