PRO Agreement

FAI PRO (PERFORMING RIGHTS ORGANICATIONS) HOUSE CONCERT AGREEMENT
Folk Alliance International is pleased to announce the first phase of our newest member service – The U.S. PRO House Concert Presenter Agreement. FAI has reached an agreement with ASCAP and BMI to ensure that Folk Alliance member House Concert Presenters are not subject to any PRO fees. There is NO additional fee or change in membership status to qualify for this member service, but you must be a current member to quality for this program.

To qualify for FAI House Concert member service, a House Concert presenter must:

Be a member in good standing in Folk Alliance International
Complete, sign & return a form agreeing to abide by the established rules for official house concerts *see rules below (form available September 1, 2009)
Post the numbered and dated “official FAI House Concert” logo on their House Concert website.That’s it. Forms and logo will be updated each time your membership is renewed. No FAI member is required to participate in this program. Participation is voluntary.

By signing up for this program, you will assure that as long as you are presenting music in compliance with House Concert established rules; you will not be subject to PRO payments for your House Concerts. By displaying the official FAI House Concert logo, the PRO’s will know you are official. At that point, if they have questions, they will contact the FAI office.

House Concert Rules and Regulations:

Performance is in a private home
Performance is by invitation only*
1. *the intent of the “invitation only” regulation is that a person cannot just come without some connection to the presenter or artist (i..e. a “wide circle of family and friends”) The details of that compliance might include but not be limited to 1) not publicly displaying your address 2) “by invitation only” or “call for invitation” on all information accessible to the public (i.e. website, flyers)

The next phases of this agreement will deal with coffee shops and non profit presenters working in community buildings, schools, and churches. We are also working with the PRO’s in the way they deal with our festivals. As you are aware, this is a very large and complicated negotiation that will still take time to finalize all phases of this potential agreement. We will continue the discussion on these topics as we move through the process. Big thanks to Renee Bodie, BMI, ASCAP, and everyone that took part in the PRO committee and discussions.

PRO Agreement