Pay attention

I work with a lot of you who like to play the grays.

You know who you are-- you're in a small or medium/small market who thinks they're way off the radar screen and your client wants to use "Legs" by ZZ Top as their music bed and you send me info asking me to incorporate it and I tell you it's copyright infringement and if you do it, you're going to get busted big time and you 'yes' me to death, then get strong armed by the client and go do it anyway. So--outside of that being one of the longest run-on sentences I've ever written (and I've written a few), here's a lesson.

Taylor Swift (yes, THAT Taylor Swift) and her legal team just busted an Idaho sports bar for playing her music wihtout paying royalites. Now, for what was probably just a stupid oversight, this small bar in IDAHO will pony up thousands between lawyers, licenses and royalties due. What does THAT have to do with YOU...?

Well, there is a very limited saense of humor in the entertainment capitals these days with regard to piracy and the unauthorized use of music and other copyrighted materials. So-- if the powers that be are willing to bust a small Idaho sports bar for playing music without paying royalties, you may not be as far off the radar screen as you think you are.

Simple advice--- if you THINK there's a copyright issue you're probably right. And don't fool yourself into believing you're too small, the flight is too short, or it just doesn't matter. It does---the entertainment biz is paying attention. Don't give them a reason to jack you when you can easily avoid it.