Re: [ARSCLIST] ASCAP follows RIAA down the road guaranteed not to make friends

[Tom Fine <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

You might be onto something. Hollywood music copied very heavily from late 19th/early 20th century 
Classical music, so a lot of this music is a direct fit for the movie-theater experience. The 
forward-looking movie theater chain (there may be no such an animal) would pay to record 
out-of-copyright music for its theaters, paying only a one-time performance fee (like "sample 
library" recordings) and then would play the music in its theaters, including an "if you like this, 
you might like this" slide when a tune changes. They could sell CD's for $5 in the lobby. I betcha 
they'd sell more CD's than they think and perhaps more than cover the performance fees quicker than 
they think.

My impression is that people don't knee-jerk turn up their nose to classical music, especially the 
more melody-based kind of music I'm talking about (yeah, a bunch of them turn up their nose to the 
non-rhythmic/melody-devoid stuff, but that's more and more out of favor anyway). I think the problem 
is that few people are exposed to this kind of music in their daily lives. It would be worth an 
experiment to program some well-performed and decent-sounding classical content in movie theaters 
and see the reaction. I know that loud commercials and the latest super-compressed "hit" just makes 
people talk louder to be heard over the racket, not pay attention or run out and buy the CD. There 
are numerous studies that show using "calm" music in the background at below-conversation volumes 
produces an overall mellowing effect on groups of people (who knows, it could even lead to better 
public manners, but I doubt that). And of course movie music composers have known for several 
generations now how to use classical structures to produce all manner of moods and atmospheres as an 
integral part of the motion-picture experience.

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "phillip holmes" <insuranceman@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2007 12:50 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] ASCAP follows RIAA down the road guaranteed not to make friends


> You know, this could mean the rebirth of classical music.  Instead of hearing Boston or Journey or 
> ??? for the umpteenth time, they can play Wagner.
> Phillip
>
> Tom Fine wrote:
> > This produces a vision of the Stephen Foster loop of music at every movie theater! And for a 
> > change of pace, the ragtime reel. And for something really different, the Sousa reel.
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Lennick" <dlennick@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 11:18 PM
> > Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] ASCAP follows RIAA down the road guaranteed not to make friends
> >
> >
> > > Frank Strauss wrote:
> > > > On 8/1/07, Steven Smith, King of the House, Inc. <kingofthehouse@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> > > > wrote:
> > > > > Again, 20 years ago, I worked with
> > > > > a large theater chain. They were told they had to pay ASCAP fees for the
> > > > > music before and after the show. The owner of the huge Washington chain,
> > > > > instead, managed to locate a bunch of music that was in the public domain.
> > > > > He put that in all theaters. It was not very current, but he got around
> > > > > paying out money for intermission music.
> > > > How much public domain music is there?
> > > In the US, any song published before 1924.
> > >
> > > dl