Raving Is Not A Crime
...s or girl scouts were just singing them or dancing to them for fun. And how do they expect people to explain to these kids why they can’t do this? As stated in the ASCAP article by Lisa Bannon, one camp counselor tried to explain the copyright situation to an eight year old little girl by telling her that a copyright is like an alarm and if you sing something that has an alarm on it, it will blow up. One child, in response, asked why they don’t just take the “copy thing” away. Kids can’t grasp these kinds of concepts and I don’t see how these people can expect them to. I was both a camp counselor and a Girl Scout leader throughout my high school years and I could never imagine even trying to think of a way to tell these little girls and boys that we could no longer sing and dance to our favorite songs together. Not even “Ring Around the Rosie.” I would also sooner put myself at risk for breaking the law then deny one of those children a “Happy Birthday” song. The violations of these laws as proposed by ASCAP have extremely high consequences as well. As stated in the ASCAP article, the fines can be up to $25,000 or a year in prison, or even possibly both. Some murderers and rapists don’t even receive that much of a penalty. And, referring back to the ASCAP article, how can any business person feel good about themselves after telling the American Camping Association that if they don’t stop their children from singing and dancing to certain songs that they could possibly be thrown in jail for six days and be fined $5,000? Do they actually enjoy ruining a child’s day? Another thought that has come to my mind is the situation of a student taking voice lessons. I have taken classical voice lessons for the past four years. I have sung probably over one hundred songs in that time period. Is my instructor subject to licensing fees pertaining to the music that her students are learning from? According to the law, if she doesn’t pay, her recitals are in violation of the law. In an editorial, John K. Francis, Lieutenant Colonel for the U.S. Army, wrote about one of his most memorable occasions a few days following his 14th birthday. He spoke about a day at Boy Scouts when the news had just been spread that World War II had ended. Later on in the day, they celebrated by singing many patriotic songs around the campfire. He was astonished when he realized that according to the statute of limitations, that would be considered a “performance” and him and anyone else involved could have been sued or even jailed because they were not relatives of each other. I also remember as a child being with a large group of friends outside of my home singing popular music from the ei...