I own a coffee shop and am forced to pay music royalty services like BMI and SESAC. However, most of the bands I play are not mainstream and never get their share. How is this legal?
You can check the answer of the people under the question at Quora “royalty free coffee shop music“
How do you know these bands don’t get ‘their share’?
If they’re released like most, BMI, ASCAP, etc keep track of their playing or use a formula.
This is the process if you want to play music in your coffee shop. If you don’t agree you could get your own musicians, record them and play their songs. You could also use one of the stock footage services like Pond5 for music.
These systems were set in place so bars, restaurants, etc can’t just play music without performers/writers getting paid.
You can always contact BMI and ask about this.
You are paying for the ability to play anything you darned well please. It’s a blanket license to the entire catalog. The alternative would be to seek out the rights holder and individually clear it for every single song you ever played. If someone caught you playing something that wasn’t cleared, they could sue you. Blanket licensing makes the whole thing a lot simpler.
Musicians and singers make a paltry amount on royalties. Most go to the writers /publishing company. And a recording artist has to pay the studio back for the recording costs, marketing, etc. they may get advances but if the records don’t make back the production budget, they may have to pay that advance back.
It’s one of the reasons singers and bands play so many live shows. They are making little to nothing in royalties from music sales, radio play, and streaming. Streaming least of all.
Look at what someone like Mariah Varey makes from streaming. Mariah Carey’s record-breaking day shows how little musicians make from Spotify