Quote:
Originally Posted by Xenophon
Actually, that particular issue has been through the courts in the U.S., back when VCRs and video tapes were new. Having some friends over to your house to watch a movie does not constitute a public performance. Not even when you take up a collection to cover the cost of renting the (then) very expensive VCR and television with a composite-video-in jack (rather than the then-usual connect-up-to-the-antenna-and-tune-to-channel-3 approach).
But outside your home, or if you advertise to strangers, or if you do it to make a profit, or a bunch of other things I don't remember... then you are straying in the direction of a public performance. And public performances require licensing (and maybe payment, depending on license terms).
Similarly, singing "Happy Birthday" with your friends and family for friends/family does not constitute a public performance. Even if you are in a bar or restaurant at the time. On the other hand, if the restaurant's staff (waiters, musicians, whatever) sing that very same song, it becomes a public performance that you are paying for (with some fraction of your final bill).
In between cases have been in the courts much more recently. ASCAP and BMI recently granted a royalty-free license to (at least) the Boy Scouts of America and the Girl Scouts of America for round-the-campfire use of whatever songs they like. The issue was in court, and press gave ASCAP and BMI such a black eye that they decided it was better to grant the license than to look like jack-booted thugs. Not to mention the risk that they might lose, and set another fair-use precedent.
Xenophon
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Thanks for that well-stated explanation.
