i have been in the music business since 1959 and am unfortunately a member of BMI -- at least until i can figure out how to withdraw from it. I sang with Pete Seeger, Dave Van Ronk, Elizabeth Cotton, Grant Rogers and others and have had a very successful career in music over the past half century. Most of my musician friends, about 500 of them, are currently out of work because venues have closed due to the insane greed of BMI and ASCAP and their extortion of small FREE OPEN MIC venues. I am advocating a folk-singers' rebellion against them, and fully expect to see them in court over this issue. I cannot sing my own songs in a health food store as a public service, and according to those money-hungry bastards, i can no longer sing public domain folksongs hundreds of years old. Well, i'm going to do it and i challenge them to take me down!!! i'll have hundreds of thousands of out-of-work musicians on my side, and all they'll have are their banks and legal teams and money, money, money!!! we'll see who wins this war! SING OUT! do not fear them!!!
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BMI & ASCAP folksingers' rebellion
i have been in the music business since 1959 and am unfortunately a member of BMI -- at least until i can figure out how to withdraw from it. I sang with Pete Seeger, Dave Van Ronk, Elizabeth Cotton, Grant Rogers and others and have had a very successful career in music over the past half century. Most of my musician friends, about 500 of them, are currently out of work because venues have closed due to the insane greed of BMI and ASCAP and their extortion of small FREE OPEN MIC venues. I am advocating a folk-singers' rebellion against them, and fully expect to see them in court over this issue. I cannot sing my own songs in a health food store as a public service, and according to those money-hungry bastards, i can no longer sing public domain folksongs hundreds of years old. Well, i'm going to do it and i challenge them to take me down!!! i'll have hundreds of thousands of out-of-work musicians on my side, and all they'll have are their banks and legal teams and money, money, money!!! we'll see who wins this war! SING OUT! do not fear them!!!