Graham... I really like the concepts of direct accountability which seem to come from your system down under.
Seems it's entirely too easy to suggest such a system here would be overwhelmingly complex, impossible to employ, etc...."millions of musicians and songwriters..millions of songs"... yada-yada-yada.
I'm not so sure it's impossible, and I do see it as a worthwhile topic to ponder.
Here's a concept I've loosely put together, and ya'll are free (and desired) to find any and all problems with it:

1. Every publically performing artist who is paid to perform be required to register with a PRO conglomerate. That artist/group is asssigned an identification number.
2. Similarly, every song registered by any artist/writer carry an identification number, perhaps the first digit/letter of each number defining the PRO of registry.
3. Every venue hiring live music be affiliated with the PRO conglomerate also, and assigned an ID number.
4. At the end of any gig, the band/artist be held accountable and responsible to provide record to the venue owner of all cover songs performed, via a standardized form.
Note: For most bands/artists it would not be a huge effort to carry a checklist of the cover songs they play...including the identification number of those songs. For "cover-bands", it could be a larger task.

5. The venue owner would then be responsible to account for: the venue, the band, date of performance, songs covered. With standardized software, such an effort would require about 2 minutes for the average band/artist.

6. Rapid electronic tranfer of this information to a reporting body of the PRO conglomerate could provide exact and tracable accounting for whose cover songs are being played, who is playing them and where.

Such information would not only provide for accurate royalty accounting, but also some fabulous statistical information which cold be utilized in many ways, largely to the benefit of the songwriters whose songs are being performed. A successful songwriter would receive his/her proper recognition, monetarily and otherwise.

With such a system, a good songwriter could actually benefit by pitching his/her songs to even a local band..potentially to more than one band, creating a statistical trail which could put the songwriter "on the radar", so to speak.


Sure... it's all an idea.. no doubt full of holes. But it's on the table of thoughts here, and I hope it's stimulating to somebody . Fire away! [Linked Image]

-gary