Oh yeah. Mark your calendars. Sat Nov 26th, Cosmic Machine and friends return to Paddy's. Been a while since we had music playing at Paddy's. This is part of a series of shows being held at Paddy's, titled Help Paddy's Pay the Music Industry Fundraiser.
We were taken aback with the outpouring of support and that gave us the confidence to resume shows here. We will be placing a donation jar out. Whatever you can donate, that will be great. It will help us in continuing with supporting local musicians.
Please see the link for more information
Come out, support local musicians.
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Music flowing at Paddy's
We are both happy and sad to state that we will be resuming music at Paddy's again. Happy because the local youth finally have a place to come back to play their music. We mentioned a few months ago that we would discontinue any further shows at Paddy's, because of the asinine financial and threatening demands from the music industry.
And yes, we were true to our beliefs and we stuck to it. What we failed to grasp was the gravity of our decision. Venues for the youth simply dried up or shut their doors because of the fear of lawsuits and what have you from the music industry. Almost all the cafes and coffee houses in the local area simply stopped hosting musicians and open mics.
The straw that broke the camel's back,so to speak, was our decision to host an open mic last month. We strictly informed all the performers that their performances would have to be originals, no hint of cover etc. In essence, we asked them to be as creative as possible. Lo and behold, the morning of the show, we got calls and emails asking us to cease and desist unless we pay up. Our arguments and pleadings against it fell on deaf ears. Their stand was simple, we cannot be guaranteed that there will be no cover copyright songs performed, so you are in the dock for money.
It really, really hurt us but we were left with no recourse but to cancel the show. The disappointment that was felt by the hosts was minute compared to the anguish we suffered. Our philosophy is, was and will always be to support the neighbourhood. And here we were, cancelling an event.
Emails, letters, phone calls continued from the music industry. It became unbearable. Finally, we capitulated and said enough is enough. The industry is asking us to fork out an arm and leg to continue performances. With that as a backdrop, we contacted all the performers to have a fundraiser for us to pay the industry. The response was phenomenal and truthfully, we were extremely emotional at the outpouring of support.
So, with that said, we are now having a Paddy's Pay the Music Industry Fundraiser Open Mic night, with your own neighbourhood kids rallying around and performing and raising funds for us. Please, please help us in our fundraiser drive, so we can pay the industry and not stifle the talent of the youth.
We never made any money hosting the youth for their shows, we never charged the youth for hosting their shows, au contraire, we donated to their cause or bought their wares etc, but the industry does not see the benevolent side of humanity. In their words, one of the performers played a Paul McCartney song, and thus we are liable to pay him.
We are glad to put this issue behind us. We do not condone the industry seeking their just dues, but we do condone their apathy in understanding the culture of an establishment and not paint everything in a broad brush.
And yes, we were true to our beliefs and we stuck to it. What we failed to grasp was the gravity of our decision. Venues for the youth simply dried up or shut their doors because of the fear of lawsuits and what have you from the music industry. Almost all the cafes and coffee houses in the local area simply stopped hosting musicians and open mics.
The straw that broke the camel's back,so to speak, was our decision to host an open mic last month. We strictly informed all the performers that their performances would have to be originals, no hint of cover etc. In essence, we asked them to be as creative as possible. Lo and behold, the morning of the show, we got calls and emails asking us to cease and desist unless we pay up. Our arguments and pleadings against it fell on deaf ears. Their stand was simple, we cannot be guaranteed that there will be no cover copyright songs performed, so you are in the dock for money.
It really, really hurt us but we were left with no recourse but to cancel the show. The disappointment that was felt by the hosts was minute compared to the anguish we suffered. Our philosophy is, was and will always be to support the neighbourhood. And here we were, cancelling an event.
Emails, letters, phone calls continued from the music industry. It became unbearable. Finally, we capitulated and said enough is enough. The industry is asking us to fork out an arm and leg to continue performances. With that as a backdrop, we contacted all the performers to have a fundraiser for us to pay the industry. The response was phenomenal and truthfully, we were extremely emotional at the outpouring of support.
So, with that said, we are now having a Paddy's Pay the Music Industry Fundraiser Open Mic night, with your own neighbourhood kids rallying around and performing and raising funds for us. Please, please help us in our fundraiser drive, so we can pay the industry and not stifle the talent of the youth.
We never made any money hosting the youth for their shows, we never charged the youth for hosting their shows, au contraire, we donated to their cause or bought their wares etc, but the industry does not see the benevolent side of humanity. In their words, one of the performers played a Paul McCartney song, and thus we are liable to pay him.
We are glad to put this issue behind us. We do not condone the industry seeking their just dues, but we do condone their apathy in understanding the culture of an establishment and not paint everything in a broad brush.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
No more music at Paddy's
Ever since we opened 8 years ago, we prided ourselves in keeping our doors open for the community to perform music in our venue. We have seen our fair share of musical talent pass through our doors. Unfortunately, now this is all going to be a distant memory. We have been asked in not so many words by ASCAP (one of the licensing authorities) to stop performances or pay them licensing fees. Their main fear is that copyrighted songs may be performed and they are not being suitably reimbursed.
We cannot police and dictate what songs should be performed, else we would be at severe legal risk. Given the fact that we are already paying BMI, we cannot afford to pay ASCAP as well and any other entity that might arise. Hence we have taken the painful decision to stop all musical performances at Paddy's. It is a big loss to the community, but we hope everyone understands our plight.
To know further about it, there was a very article about the predicament in The Argus Sunday 20th March,
We cannot police and dictate what songs should be performed, else we would be at severe legal risk. Given the fact that we are already paying BMI, we cannot afford to pay ASCAP as well and any other entity that might arise. Hence we have taken the painful decision to stop all musical performances at Paddy's. It is a big loss to the community, but we hope everyone understands our plight.
To know further about it, there was a very article about the predicament in The Argus Sunday 20th March,
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