Category Archives: Commentary

BMI Sold Out

An Editorial by Dawoud Kringle

Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI), one of the major performing rights organizations (PRO) in the United States, was founded in 1939 by the National Association of Broadcasters.

In the late 1930s, royalties to publishers and songwriters worked differently than they do today. Rather than paying for the songs that they played, broadcasters were required to hand over a certain percentage of their revenue to a PRO, regardless of how much music they played, or which artists. During the Great Depression, ASCAP (the dominant PRO at that time, founded in 1914, and still the second-largest in the US today) raised the percentage it required broadcasters to pay. The radio broadcasters rebelled, and set up their collection organization; BMI. The US Justice Department under the Roosevelt Administration ran an antitrust investigation of ASCAP, and BMI. Both organizations entered into “consent decrees” with the Justice Department, requiring them to allow radio stations to pay only for the music they played, and requiring both organizations to offer their entire catalogs to broadcasters.

With only a few alterations, those consent decrees have governed ASCAP and BMI’s operations ever since. BMI and ASCAP have since operated on a nonprofit basis, collecting and distributing licensing fees to its affiliated songwriters and publishers after paying its overhead/operation costs. These PROs do not own copyrights.

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Jesse Sykes

A Special Toast to My/Our Old Friend Jesse Sykes

Text by Bruce Gallanter (Downtown Music Gallery, November 16th, 2022)

“Marble Son” performed by Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter

Oh, marble son, why can’t I love you more?
I wish I’d found you beautiful before
When I was young, I’d have most anyone
But I only loved what was to come undone, come undone

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Editorial: Songtradr Takes Control of Bandcamp

Songtradr Takes Control of Bandcamp

An Editorial by Dawoud Kringle

In 2007, a new musician’s service called Bandcamp began. This was a revolutionary service that allowed musicians to release digital music. Since its founding, Bandcamp provided a place where musicians can cultivate loyal fan communities and receive 82% of every transaction (compare this to Spotify and other streaming services, which pay a fraction of a cent per stream).

Bandcamp was sold to Epic Games in March 2022. Many artists, music lovers, and industry groups were concerned that a uniquely artist-centric platform might change for the worse. Epic managed to keep Bandcamp operational.

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Carla Bley

RIP: MFM Salutes the Memory of Legendary Jazz Lady Carla Bley

Text by Daowud Kringle

Pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer Carla Bley’s death was confirmed by her longtime partner, collaborator, and MFM member, Steve Swallow.

Born Lovella May Borg in 1936 in Oakland, California, Bley was introduced to the piano at the age of three. She left school at 14 and began her musical journey playing piano in Bay Area jazz clubs. At 17, she moved to New York and worked for a short time at the iconic jazz club Birdland. She met pianist Paul Bley, who encouraged her to start composing. She toured with him under the name Karen Borg before changing her name in 1957 to Carla Borg. She married Bley and took his name the same year. They divorced in 1967, but she continued to use the surname in a professional capacity.

Bley would become known as a composer. Some of the musicians who’d recorded Bley’s compositions included George Russel, Jimmy Giuffre, and Paul Bley (whose album Barrage consisted entirely of her compositions).

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