Play Meter
Issue: 1985 July 15 - Vol 1 Num 13 - Page 8
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Operator Co111pliance is 81 .9%
Jukebox operators are not a lawless bunch.
They pay their taxes and license fees - even
when they know those taxes and/ or fees are unjust.
But to listen to Representative Robert W.
Kastenmeier (D-Wisconsin) , chairman of the
House Judiciary Subcommittee dealing with copy-
rights, you'd think operators are scofflaws, every
last one of them.
At the May 13 signing ceremony for the settle-
ment of the jukebox copyright controversy ,
Kastenmeier said, "The Copyright Royalty Tribunal
precipitously raised royalty rates more than five
times, and then maybe more. I disagreed with the
Tribunal's decision at that time, and I still do.
"My disagreement with the Tribunal's decision
was tempered, however, by the countervailing fact
of- extremely low compliance with the law-
between 25 and 50 percent- by jukebox operators."
In subsequent editorials, we'll deal with the
Shiite Muslim logic Kastenmeier expresses here
(that is , why he thinks it's all right to penalize the
good because of the imagined wrong committed by
an imagined bad) . And we'll examine how this and
similar systems of illogic permeate the thinking that
went into creating the compulsory jukebox copy-
right law.
But, for now, let's consider how Representa-
tive Kastenmeier got so badly misinformed as to
think only 25 to SO percent of the operators have
complied with the jukebox copyright law and why
the jukebox operators' own national association
didn't correct that wrong impression.
First, let's set the record straight. Operator
compliance with the jukebox law is 81.9 percent!
Not 25 percent, not 50 percent , nor anywhere
between 25 to 50 percent.
During the past four years, during which
period even Representative Kastenmeier admits
the jukebox royalty rates were raised precipitously,
and probably unjustly, operators still registered
their jukeboxes at an 81.9 percent rate. According
to Play Meter magazine's annual operator survey,
the average number of jukeboxes operated in the
United States during that four-year period was
146,2SO. Not 250,000 to 450,000, which is how many
there would have to be to satisfy Kasten meier's 25-
SO percent compliance estimate. And the average
registration of jukeboxes during that four-year
period was 119,867. That figures out to an 81 .9
percent compliance rate. By any assessment, that's
a tribute to the law-abiding nature of today's
jukebox operators, for it's doubtful if the federal
government has been able to achieve 81.9 percent
compliance in anything it has ever undertaken.
For Representative Kastenmeier to speak so
broadly in terms of only a 25-50 percent compliance
rate reveals he doesn't have his facts straight. After
all, 25-50 percent is a very wide range. Which is it?
Does he think one out of every four operators
obeys the law? Or does he believe one of every two
operators obeys the law? It's a big difference. So for
him to speak in such general terms demonstrates
his own sloppy thinking on the matter. In truth, he
doesn't know what operator compliance is; and, as
chairman of the House Judiciary Subcomittee, it's
his job to have that information. Is he this sloppy
with his other legislative considerations?
But, believing for a minute that he was merely
the victim of some misinformation, ask yourself why
the jukebox operators' national association didn't
correct this wrong impression? The AMOA is
charged with the lobbying responsibility of inform-
ing legislators on the merits of their side. Why didn't
they inform him of the facts , that operators do, in
fact , comply with the law.
Obviously , it's in the best interests of the per-
forming rights societies (ASCAP, SESAC , and
BMI) to maintain that there are millions of juke-
boxes being operated in the United States today
because that would allow them to make the claim
that operators aren't paying their dues . And, when
operators don't reach their arbitrary quotas, the
performing rights societies will be in a better
position to bargain for even higher jukebox copy-
right concessions.
Now, the fact is there simply are not as many
jukeboxes on location today as there were when
this whole issue was being debated in 1976 in
Congress. Video games, motion pictures, television,
music videos, live music, and operating costs have
all combined to make the operation of jukeboxes
less and less profitable. So it is pu!e stupidity to
maintain there are between 250,000 to 4SO,OOO juke-
boxes on location today, which ASCAP wants
*****************************************************
6
PlAY METER. July 15, 1965
Operator Co111pliance is 81 .9%
Jukebox operators are not a lawless bunch.
They pay their taxes and license fees - even
when they know those taxes and/ or fees are unjust.
But to listen to Representative Robert W.
Kastenmeier (D-Wisconsin) , chairman of the
House Judiciary Subcommittee dealing with copy-
rights, you'd think operators are scofflaws, every
last one of them.
At the May 13 signing ceremony for the settle-
ment of the jukebox copyright controversy ,
Kastenmeier said, "The Copyright Royalty Tribunal
precipitously raised royalty rates more than five
times, and then maybe more. I disagreed with the
Tribunal's decision at that time, and I still do.
"My disagreement with the Tribunal's decision
was tempered, however, by the countervailing fact
of- extremely low compliance with the law-
between 25 and 50 percent- by jukebox operators."
In subsequent editorials, we'll deal with the
Shiite Muslim logic Kastenmeier expresses here
(that is , why he thinks it's all right to penalize the
good because of the imagined wrong committed by
an imagined bad) . And we'll examine how this and
similar systems of illogic permeate the thinking that
went into creating the compulsory jukebox copy-
right law.
But, for now, let's consider how Representa-
tive Kastenmeier got so badly misinformed as to
think only 25 to SO percent of the operators have
complied with the jukebox copyright law and why
the jukebox operators' own national association
didn't correct that wrong impression.
First, let's set the record straight. Operator
compliance with the jukebox law is 81.9 percent!
Not 25 percent, not 50 percent , nor anywhere
between 25 to 50 percent.
During the past four years, during which
period even Representative Kastenmeier admits
the jukebox royalty rates were raised precipitously,
and probably unjustly, operators still registered
their jukeboxes at an 81.9 percent rate. According
to Play Meter magazine's annual operator survey,
the average number of jukeboxes operated in the
United States during that four-year period was
146,2SO. Not 250,000 to 450,000, which is how many
there would have to be to satisfy Kasten meier's 25-
SO percent compliance estimate. And the average
registration of jukeboxes during that four-year
period was 119,867. That figures out to an 81 .9
percent compliance rate. By any assessment, that's
a tribute to the law-abiding nature of today's
jukebox operators, for it's doubtful if the federal
government has been able to achieve 81.9 percent
compliance in anything it has ever undertaken.
For Representative Kastenmeier to speak so
broadly in terms of only a 25-50 percent compliance
rate reveals he doesn't have his facts straight. After
all, 25-50 percent is a very wide range. Which is it?
Does he think one out of every four operators
obeys the law? Or does he believe one of every two
operators obeys the law? It's a big difference. So for
him to speak in such general terms demonstrates
his own sloppy thinking on the matter. In truth, he
doesn't know what operator compliance is; and, as
chairman of the House Judiciary Subcomittee, it's
his job to have that information. Is he this sloppy
with his other legislative considerations?
But, believing for a minute that he was merely
the victim of some misinformation, ask yourself why
the jukebox operators' national association didn't
correct this wrong impression? The AMOA is
charged with the lobbying responsibility of inform-
ing legislators on the merits of their side. Why didn't
they inform him of the facts , that operators do, in
fact , comply with the law.
Obviously , it's in the best interests of the per-
forming rights societies (ASCAP, SESAC , and
BMI) to maintain that there are millions of juke-
boxes being operated in the United States today
because that would allow them to make the claim
that operators aren't paying their dues . And, when
operators don't reach their arbitrary quotas, the
performing rights societies will be in a better
position to bargain for even higher jukebox copy-
right concessions.
Now, the fact is there simply are not as many
jukeboxes on location today as there were when
this whole issue was being debated in 1976 in
Congress. Video games, motion pictures, television,
music videos, live music, and operating costs have
all combined to make the operation of jukeboxes
less and less profitable. So it is pu!e stupidity to
maintain there are between 250,000 to 4SO,OOO juke-
boxes on location today, which ASCAP wants
*****************************************************
6
PlAY METER. July 15, 1965
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