Don't Pay SESAC Music Fees—Yet! - Society of European Stage Authors and Composers - Brief Article

Dance Magazine, July, 1999

A composer's right to a royalty for use of copyrighted music at a public performance has never been questioned by Dance Magazine. We have never advocated nor published information suggesting nonpayment for use of music copyrighted by ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC at a public performance, as the copyright law requires.

There's a new player on the scene to collect music licensing fees from dance schools--SESAC. As the smallest of copyright collection agencies, SESAC has always been in the background, behind the two giants ASCAP and BMI, who have been accused by many dance schools of harassment. But no more. SESAC has increased its repertory and decided to extend its reach and revenue through a purchased mailing list of dance studios. They mailed computer-generated letters and license agreements for schools to sign. Got yours?

What is SESAC?

We called SESAC in Nashville and asked what their acronym stands for and got a giddy reply: "It don't stand for nothin"." You can put your own interpretation on that, but we can tell you that it stands for the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers.

The SESAC Deal

The SESAC spin to get you to sign is that their license authorizes use of their music for an unlimited number of public performances, such as recitals, and covers classroom use for all your classes and instructors. (ASCAP and BMI require separate licenses for classroom use of their music and a fee for public performance usage.) That deal from SESAC appears to be giving dance schools a cut-rate, two-for-one bargain. But don't sign that agreement just yet.

Dance Magazine's legal counsel spoke with a SESAC representative in Nashville who acknowledged that he had no information on how the proposed fee would be calculated. In other words, he doesn't know the standard fee for a large or small studio. He also acknowledged that SESAC has way of knowing whether a studio used music covered by SESAC. His logic for sending a bill for a license was, "The list [of copyrighted music] changes daily. We assume that every studio will use some SESAC music during the course of the year and it is the studio's obligation to be covered in case they do." He also said: "Each studio should have a license from ASCAP and BMI for the same reason." These organizations are birds of a feather.

SESAC will send a series of seven letters to schools on their list, whether or not that school uses their music because SESAC "could not turn the computer off." You have a fight to ask that the name of your school be deleted from that list. Call SESAC, (615) 320-0055; fax (615) 321-6292, or http://www.sesac.com/Who.htm. SESAC's address is 55 Music Square East, Nashville, TN 37203. Call your local Better Business Bureau if you aren't deleted.

The SESAC spokesperson also added that no "representative" will go to a dance studio to harass a teacher for payment. In other words, "We won't bother you except in the mail. Just send the money."

Study SESAC's Offer

Don't run to sign an agreement with SESAC until you assess the facts. You're not getting a bargain. If you use SESAC music and decide to sign a written agreement with them, know that, as with ASCAP and BMI licenses, an agreement normally allows for a reasonable inspection of your premises and/or business records. If you have no such agreement, no one has a fight to barge into your dance school for spot inspections. However, they, as plaintiff, can institute legal proceedings allowing a court to decide whether you owe royalties (according to that court's interpretation of classroom use as a "public performance") and whether the teaching exemption applies. Do you want that?

Of course, dance professionals should be paid for use of their copyrighted choreography and most agree that the composer should also receive a royalty from ASCAP or BMI. But how are the number of times a work is played in a public place or at a performance counted? A difficult task. Copyright organizations claim that they check the number of plays through publication charts, computer database information, broadcast logs, and monitoring; composers must trust the organization's accuracy. After a group of composers brought suit against one of these organizations several years ago at a federal court in New York City, the judge decided there was no real way to accurately check the numbers and the composers had to agree that by consensus they were being given an accurate account.

Along with your bill, you probably got a brochure. The brochure contains several items that need interpretation. Dance schools are listed with trade shows, spas, gyms, skating finks, telephone customers, and other "places and events" that require licensing. There is no understanding here that teaching dance is educational and that music is not played straight through as entertainment. Until recently, according to the Standard Industrial Classification Manual issued by the Office of Management and Budget in Washington, D.C., the assumption was that dance schools were turn-of-the-century, public dime-a-dance halls and, therefore, a source of recreation. The wording now describes dance as "educational."