I was remotely aware that there was a system in place to send "fees" to BMI and the like, but I was never involved in that part of the process. How do they distribute the monies fairly or keep track of what you guys play ? ( I'm naive to this stuff, not being a wiseguy ). My experience performing in a live setting is limited mostly to playing original material. My guitarist and partner at the time, Marty, handled money and business ( as well as his Strat ), very
well, I might add, considering he got us work even though we usually insisted on playing nothing but original music.I know it's been ages since I performed live,( more like 18 or 19 years ), save for a local party or two, but I still don't recall being asked to pay any royalties for the few occasions we did play a cover tune. ( Usually via a request from a pretty lady..lol ) Maybe Marty was asked to or the house handled it ( or ignored it ) ?
I'm guilty of being wrong and very naive on the business aspect of music. This is why I always try to defend the position of those of you who do make a business and living out of it. I know that is a totally separate and sometimes taxing skill, and one that I'm frankly not very good at.

None of this changes my stance on what Yamaha is trying to do here. Instead of showing a bit of appreciation for the multitude of free advertising and promotion provided by Nigel here and by Yahoo Groups and administrators, they choose to admonish us for sharing their materials, when they themselves play the charade of renaming copywritten songs to use on their boards. Then they advertise one thing ( upgradeable OS via Flash Rom ) and fail to deliver on it when it comes down to crunch time. Worst of all is what Don M described perfectly as the deafening silence on these issues both here and in private. I have contacted them several times on these and other issues and have always been as diplomatic as possible. I have never gotten a meaningful response from them

After all of that I am still in disagreement with you on telling us that we KNOW this is wrong Dave. In fact, to be honest, I take exception to it. I am in no position to tell everyone here what they know is right or wrong. Are you ?

I need to go make music for a while and give this stuff a rest. I find that I'm feeling increasingly aggravated and for me music is supposed to be about fun, enjoyment, and creativity. I'm going to sign off for a while and focus on those things a little more. I'm always around though if I can ever be a help to explain anything I will be happy to answer any email. I am bad at the music business, but I will share what I can and know a thing or two about playing keys, and about navigating these boards, midi, and the electronics involved.

"Korg" AJ




[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 02-01-2002).]