My own thoughts:

1) Copyrights should last either until the writer dies or 20 years if he/she dies sooner than 20 years after he/she writes it

2) Public performances in a not-for profit place should be fair use

3) Playing in a profit place like a bar/lounge should only be paid if an ASCAP or BMI agent notes every song that is being played and sends the list in so the songwriter gets royalties. Right now, how do they know what songs I sang in the Embassy Suites last night? The hotel paid their license, but ASCAP/BMI has no idea what we played. So who is going to get the money? It was a 50 year high school reunion. Did Neil Sedaka, Howard Greenfield, Otis Blackwell, Ritchie Adams, Malou Rene, Mack Gordon, Harry Warren, Hank Ballard, Bunny Wailer, Smokey Robinson, Barry Mann, Phil Spector, Cynthia Weill, Bernard Edwards, Nile Rodgers, Luis Demetrio, Pablo Beltran Ruiz and all the others get paid?

90db, if I played one of your songs, would you have gotten even one penny?

I played one of mine and didn't get royalties from it.

You can't ask the band for a playlist as we have none. We watch the crowd, call the next song sometimes only a few seconds before the first one ends, and then go right into the next song so as not to lose the dance floor. There is no time to jot them down, so it should be the responsibility of an agent of the performing rights society.

4) The publisher should not be allowed to make more money on the song than the songwriter. Who's song is it anyway?

Those are a few of the things I'd bring up to the table if someone invited me to a brainstorm session on how to change the copyright laws.

Notes

Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
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