Play Meter
Issue: 1980 June 01 - Vol 6 Num 10 - Page 1
UPDATE EDITION
Volume 6, Number 10
June 1, 1980
Rate review hearings begin
Hearings have been given by the
Copyright Royalty Tribunal on 1980
jukebox royalty rate adjustments ,
and a recommendation from that
Washington , D. C . panel may take
much of the summer to be made
final.
Any adjustment of the present $8
per jukebox annual royalty fee would
stand for the next 10 years - unless a
cost-of-living
arrangement
is
included, as the performing rights
societies advocate.
"Right now , we're sort of in the
middle ," said an attorney for the
AMOA , which argued for keeping
the royalty rate at the original $8 per
machine per year .
Both the AMOA and the perform -
ing rights organizations ASCAP and
BMI have presented statistical
evidence as well as testimony to the
CRT for their cases .
ASCAP stands for a $70 per-
jukebox fee . A spokesman, who
declined to be identified , said this
amount was based on studies of the
present licensing fees for taverns and
night clubs, piped-in music ( "mech-
anicals") , and the amount of jukebox
operators' fees paid overseas to
performing nghts societies.
The $70 per box proposal is "the
low end of the range" shown by this
study , said the source connected to
ASCAP.
However , BMI suggests a $30 per
box fee to the CRT, with this rate
subject to changes in the consumer
price index over the coming decade .
The next fixed rate would be
determined in 1990 .
ASCAP also advocated the cost-
of-living added scale .
Nick Allen, attorney for AMOA ,
said the timing of the eventual rate
adjustment was "speculation" at mid-
April, when hearings were scheduled
to take at least one more week .
One witness scheduled to testify
for the jukebox operators' case said a
survey of operators by Peat , Mar-
wick , Mitchell and Company shows
"the true picture of the industry at
this point." The sampling of some
400 operators was presented to the
CRT as showing the phonograph in-
dustry hard-pressed, having fewer
collections over a period of years. A
continued $8 per-box rate, the
AMOA would contend, represents a
greater percentage of receipts going
to royalties under these conditions .
AMOA President Bob Nims in
New Orleans commented to PLAY
METER that the economic survey
was "more than adequate" by
sampling standards held by the Peat,
Marwick, Mitchell CPA consultants .
With more than 450 questionnaires
mailed in, response was made by 15
percent of those contacted , which is
considered a favorable rate of
response, and these came from 48 of
the United States , Nims said.
Continued on page 2
Stern Electronics is tilting at the college set with its new Ali pin . At the Play
Meter Show in New Orleans, Dr. Alton Ochsner, past president of the
American Heart Association, tried the game [ above] . Right-to-left are
Gary Stern, whose firm provides 20 of the games as prizes in campus
fundraising for AHA ; Phil Philpot, AHA youth chairman; and Gerry
Taylor of National Lampoon, co-sponsor of the campus funds drive.
Volume 6, Number 10
June 1, 1980
Rate review hearings begin
Hearings have been given by the
Copyright Royalty Tribunal on 1980
jukebox royalty rate adjustments ,
and a recommendation from that
Washington , D. C . panel may take
much of the summer to be made
final.
Any adjustment of the present $8
per jukebox annual royalty fee would
stand for the next 10 years - unless a
cost-of-living
arrangement
is
included, as the performing rights
societies advocate.
"Right now , we're sort of in the
middle ," said an attorney for the
AMOA , which argued for keeping
the royalty rate at the original $8 per
machine per year .
Both the AMOA and the perform -
ing rights organizations ASCAP and
BMI have presented statistical
evidence as well as testimony to the
CRT for their cases .
ASCAP stands for a $70 per-
jukebox fee . A spokesman, who
declined to be identified , said this
amount was based on studies of the
present licensing fees for taverns and
night clubs, piped-in music ( "mech-
anicals") , and the amount of jukebox
operators' fees paid overseas to
performing nghts societies.
The $70 per box proposal is "the
low end of the range" shown by this
study , said the source connected to
ASCAP.
However , BMI suggests a $30 per
box fee to the CRT, with this rate
subject to changes in the consumer
price index over the coming decade .
The next fixed rate would be
determined in 1990 .
ASCAP also advocated the cost-
of-living added scale .
Nick Allen, attorney for AMOA ,
said the timing of the eventual rate
adjustment was "speculation" at mid-
April, when hearings were scheduled
to take at least one more week .
One witness scheduled to testify
for the jukebox operators' case said a
survey of operators by Peat , Mar-
wick , Mitchell and Company shows
"the true picture of the industry at
this point." The sampling of some
400 operators was presented to the
CRT as showing the phonograph in-
dustry hard-pressed, having fewer
collections over a period of years. A
continued $8 per-box rate, the
AMOA would contend, represents a
greater percentage of receipts going
to royalties under these conditions .
AMOA President Bob Nims in
New Orleans commented to PLAY
METER that the economic survey
was "more than adequate" by
sampling standards held by the Peat,
Marwick, Mitchell CPA consultants .
With more than 450 questionnaires
mailed in, response was made by 15
percent of those contacted , which is
considered a favorable rate of
response, and these came from 48 of
the United States , Nims said.
Continued on page 2
Stern Electronics is tilting at the college set with its new Ali pin . At the Play
Meter Show in New Orleans, Dr. Alton Ochsner, past president of the
American Heart Association, tried the game [ above] . Right-to-left are
Gary Stern, whose firm provides 20 of the games as prizes in campus
fundraising for AHA ; Phil Philpot, AHA youth chairman; and Gerry
Taylor of National Lampoon, co-sponsor of the campus funds drive.
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).