Apparently, even if the band members use something as minor as a Led Zeppelin riff while they tune-up their instruments � that�s a violation.�

�I said the hell with it! We only have music on Friday nights. It�s not worth $3000. How is a neighborhood restaurant running on a razor-thin margin in this economy supposed to afford an extra $3000? So I cancelled the band. Net result? Our customers suffered, local music suffered. A complete lose-lose situation.�

Most countries have a music royalty collection agency. It monitors radio, TV and movies to make sure that musicians get paid when the music that they wrote is played. In Holland, the Dutch music royalty collection agency is called Buma/Stemra.

Back in 2006, Buma/Stemra approached a Dutch musician, Melchior Reitveldt, to write some music for an anti-piracy ad, with the strict proviso that this music would be played only and exclusively at a local film festival. Mr. Reitveldt wrote the music, it was played, he got paid and all was well.

But then, in 2007, he bought a Harry Potter DVD and to his surprise, there was his music in the anti-piracy ad at the beginning. His composition had been taken and used without his permission. In fact, it had been illegally used on dozens of movie DVDs, both in Holland and overseas. You probably have one at home right now.

So Mr. Reitveldt went to the Buma/Stemra music royalty collection agency to clear up this misunderstanding, and ran into a brick wall. Nothing happened for a long time, and then pathetically small refunds were offered, and then they weren't paid in full, and the delaying tactics went on and on.

Finally, in 2011, about half a decade after the original theft of his music, there was a kind of a breakthrough. One of the directors of Buma/Stemra music royalty collection agency, Mr Jochem Gerrits, spoke to him personally, offering to speed things up. Everything would proceed nicely, if the musician, Mr. Reitveldt, would simply sell the contested piece of music to him, Mr Gerrits. The payout would be one million Euros, and Mr Gerrits would keep one third for all his trouble and hard work, and the musician, Mr. Reitveldt, would keep two thirds.

It's a bit like having somebody steal your property, you report it to the police, and after a lot a dilly-dallying, a senior police officer approaches you offering to give two-thirds of your property back to you, if you give them one third.

Luckily, the musician recorded the conversation. The crooked director of the Buma/Stemra music royalty collection agency had to resign. In June 2012, the court ordered Buma/Stemra to repay the money.

Today, in the new world of the interweb, copyright is complicated. In the old days, if you bought a book, you could give or lend it to a friend. But it's different now. A woman in Duluth, Minnesota did the modern equivalent by sharing 24 songs that had a total retail value of $23.76. The Recording Industry Association of America sued, and the court awarded them $222,000.

In terms of the multiplication factor, that has to be a runaway, chart-busting solid gold smash hit �

Well at least most mp3 albums are priced right who remembers paying $18.99 for a CD. Now you can get an album for around 9.99 on Itunes.

If you're buying a CD in a mall, don't.




The Jedi Master