Members mstreck Posted May 27, 2012 Members Share Posted May 27, 2012 Dewey Beach now requires bands to obtain a $109 business license to work there, just as any other business. Personally, I have no problem with this, but a lot of local musicians are up in arms about it... http://blogs.delawareonline.com/pulpculture/2012/05/25/putting-the-squeeze-on-bands-in-dewey/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chicken Monkey Posted May 27, 2012 Members Share Posted May 27, 2012 That's a bit different from the typical "Pay To Play" setup. This is more in the neighborhood of "Gub'mint Interference". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SeniorBlues Posted May 27, 2012 Members Share Posted May 27, 2012 How do the clubs feel about it? You obviously have to pass on your cost of doing business to them.Seems odd. You're not "doing business", unless you're playing for the door. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members twostone Posted May 27, 2012 Members Share Posted May 27, 2012 So you pay the 109$ but they don't book you LOL what are you a sucker or what. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jwlussow Posted May 27, 2012 Members Share Posted May 27, 2012 Does it cover multiple locations? Actually, I've heard worse. If the clubs are a good draw I'd pay it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mstreck Posted May 27, 2012 Author Members Share Posted May 27, 2012 Does it cover multiple locations? Actually, I've heard worse. If the clubs are a good draw I'd pay it. Yep. It's a one-time (annual) fee. You can see from the pics in the article what the draws are like there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Miko Man Posted May 27, 2012 Members Share Posted May 27, 2012 I would imagine that a business license applies throughout the municipal unit (town, city) and is good for a year or some other fixed duration. It should apply to whatever venues you work in that town for the year. Mark C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mstreck Posted May 27, 2012 Author Members Share Posted May 27, 2012 So you pay the 109$ but they don't book you LOL what are you a sucker or what. I don't know why anyone would pay it before they got booked. But if your band is able to get booked in Dewey, you're easily going to be able to afford it. There aren't any "chump-change" gigs in that town that I know of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dan88z Posted May 27, 2012 Members Share Posted May 27, 2012 Apparently some of the clubs are covering the fee for the bands. Where I think there is an argument is a 10 piece band pays the same as a solo performer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the_big_e Posted May 28, 2012 Members Share Posted May 28, 2012 I can see that if there is some government mandated oversight needed to protect people (that's us) from unscrupulous sorts (oh wait, that's us too) then it needs to be paid for and a business license is one way of helping to pay for it, but what are you getting for your money here? Is some local gov'mint agency gonna protect us all from bad music by paying this fee? Somehow I doubt it.These so called business 'licenses' piss me off. I have a vacation rental, I have to charge taxes on my rentals AND they make me pay fore the privilege of collecting THEIR taxes for them based, and what's worse. the more I make the more I have to pay them for that privilege. Sort of a tax on a tax. Gotta love gov'mints! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Miko Man Posted May 28, 2012 Members Share Posted May 28, 2012 Just guessing, but a town called "Dewey Beach" probably has a substantial tourist/non-resident population coming into town. Why should the locals fund the entire cost of local infrastucture that has to accomodate more folks than the resident population needs? Why not let the non-residents who enjoy local services help share in the costs via licenses, rather than just profiting at the local's expense? If we need to take this to the politcal forum, I apologize for contributing to the thread-jack. Mark C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stratotastic Posted May 28, 2012 Members Share Posted May 28, 2012 Why should the locals fund the entire cost of local infrastucture that has to accomodate more folks than the resident population needs?. Because the locals are the ones that benefit from all that money that the tourists spend at those businesses? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted May 28, 2012 Members Share Posted May 28, 2012 Up your fee by $200. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Miko Man Posted May 28, 2012 Members Share Posted May 28, 2012 Because the locals are the ones that benefit from all that money that the tourists spend at those businesses? I'll respectfully suggest that other for than the owners of the businesses (who may or may not be local residents), the "benefit" from tourist dollars may be de minimus. I'm thinking of long-time residents whose presence in town has little or nothing to do with the tourist trade. My perspective is based on what I've seen in Montana and orher places; I readily confess to no knowledge of the community in question. Mark C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bassred Posted May 28, 2012 Members Share Posted May 28, 2012 Couldn't help it.. I commented on the newspaper blog... This sort of thing makes me sick. Bands can't make any more money than they did 15 years ago, but we are still ;making too much money'... somehow.. what a crock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vermoulian Posted May 28, 2012 Members Share Posted May 28, 2012 News flash: Music is a business!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the_big_e Posted May 28, 2012 Members Share Posted May 28, 2012 News flash: Music is a business!!! Not the way I play! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members YeahDoIt Posted May 28, 2012 Members Share Posted May 28, 2012 Up your fee by $200. I like this idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ChiroVette Posted May 28, 2012 Members Share Posted May 28, 2012 Honestly, I have the feeling that this kind of thing is going to become more and more widespread. I think that this town/city, Dewey, is probably implementing this as a means of keeping track of bands that are playing professionally and, thus, earning any money. It seems like a this is a way for the local government to take bands that used to be "off the radar" and put them on it, not to mention it is another way to generate a small amount of money for the municipality. In a way, this is something that I am surprised more locations don't do already. Because from a pure treasury perspective, most bands operate completely off the radar of the tax man and all government agencies. While we musicians may not like it, this could be the first step in getting more musicians playing in small clubs to start paying taxes on the "cash" they earn. Though, I think that most of us are probably spending more in gas (to and from rehearsals and gigs), rehearsal space rentals if you don't have a house or garage to play in, equipment purchase and maintenance, etc. My guess is that what your municipality is doing, or some variation of it to keep tabs on local bands is going to be quite common in the coming years and will then cascade into eventual IRS and state tax collector involvement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members modulusman Posted May 28, 2012 Members Share Posted May 28, 2012 I like the part about dropping the db level to 60. That is having a normal conversation at 3 ft. http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/loudness.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tomm Williams Posted May 28, 2012 Members Share Posted May 28, 2012 Get together with every musician in your area, declare yourselves as one big F******* band and share the license. :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the_big_e Posted May 28, 2012 Members Share Posted May 28, 2012 So if you operate ANY sort of business in this area you might have to pay a 'business license' fee in the future or bad stuff (a fine in this case) might happen. Isn't that called a protection racket? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Miko Man Posted May 28, 2012 Members Share Posted May 28, 2012 So if you operate ANY sort of business in this area you might have to pay a 'business license' fee in the future or bad stuff (a fine in this case) might happen. Isn't that called a protection racket? It is the exercise of civil authority by the duly elected local legislative body in a representative democracy. If you don't want to pay the license fee, you can just decline gigs in that community. Mark C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members twostone Posted May 28, 2012 Members Share Posted May 28, 2012 It is the exercise of civil authority by the duly elected local legislative body in a representative democracy. If you don't want to pay the license fee, you can just decline gigs in that community. Mark C. that's all fine and dandy but you gotta ask, is the fee to help the community as whole? or just a few that happens to own beach front businesses and only benefits them while the rest of the community gets f**ked over and never see's a dime for improvements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Miko Man Posted May 28, 2012 Members Share Posted May 28, 2012 that's all fine and dandy but you gotta ask, is the fee to help the community as whole? or just a few that happens to own beach front businesses and only benefits them while the rest of the community gets f**ked over and never see's a dime for improvements. If the residents (at least the ones who vote) don't like the allocation of municipal revenue to the local budget, then they can address that at election time. Whether or not the revenue is wisely spent is an entirely different issue from whether the revenue is raised in a lawful manner. I was responding to The Big E's suggestion that a uniformly applied license fee was the equivalent of extortion. Mark C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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