Las Vegas Weekly

Please! The dude is just trying to share some music with the world. So if no one plays a cover song, those agencies still get money, which they share a portion of with artists? I understand that they are somewhat desperate as the entire old school music industry economy is in the toilet, but they should buck up and admit it. Move on. Make their money in legit ways and back off the little guys. I'm now inspired to start downloading music for free. Even things out a bit.

The music industry is falling apart and THIS is how they plan on making up lost revenue? Brilliant. Sounds like this is how they got into this financial mess in the first place, hitting sour notes by diverting their attention away from their real problems. Heaven forbid a local artist plays a cover song in a independent coffee shop on Water Street. Doesn't that help the songwriter's career, to have his or her song played in public? This isn't a national showcase, it's a coffee shop. Too bad...this is the day the music died.

This is really discouraging for artists, we've seen plenty of coffee shops venues come and go because of Proper Licensing. It's unfortunate that a small store like Mocha Joe is on their radar.

Who does BMI pay if I play a Johnny Cash cover at Coffee Shop to twelve people?

"Hopper insists his intentions were pure for his open-mic night", From this article on the internet it states that Edison Graff started the music nights at Mocha Joe, Very strange how someone would take credit for something that was so pure in intentions for the local music scene, when Hopper had no hand in starting it nor taking it in any direction other then owning the Coffee Shop. As I can recall he was never there for the music nights. Here is the article to reference these facts. http://www.viewnews.com/2010/VIEW-Jan-05...
Also, we have information from ASCAP that states for a venue the size of Mocha Joe, Music Type which is Live Music and Frequency Per Week, which was 3 nights or less would only cost Mocha Joe $4.46. Isn't that the price of a large latte? Funny, for someone to say "I don't have any business incentive -- just a grass-roots effort to help [unsigned artists] and get some culture here." Could not pay the $4.46 a week or $332.00 annually if his intentions were truly so pure for the local music scene.

After reading the article above and the adjoining comments, I did a little research in reference to the action Mr. Hopper took in shutting down the widely successful music nights at Mocha Joe. Being active in the radio industry for the last 15 years, I can honestly say that I have never heard of such an outrageous fine that a small business owner could not pay for licensing on.
ASCAP has a different set of regulations based on various factors as to the type and size of business. I have found that if Mr. Hopper had done a little research on his part, he could have been exempt from licensing altogether based on the square footage of the building and the fact that only two loudspeakers were being used on the premises.

"A food service or drinking establishment is eligible for the exemption if it (1) has less than 3750 gross square feet of space (in measuring the space, the amount of space used for customer parking only is always excludable); or (2) has 3750 gross square feet of space or more and (a) uses no more than 6 loudspeakers of which not more than 4 loudspeakers are located in any 1 room or adjoining outdoor space"

Wake up and smell the coffee Mr. Hopper. If you had any business sense at all, you would have kept the only thing that was making your business successful. Which was "Coffee After Dark".

I would just like to say, I was at Mocha Joe every coffee after dark, and Mr.Hopper was never there. Now that there's a interest in it by people. He is throwing his name all over it. Coffee after Dark Was Edison Graff. Not Mr. Hopper, It was just owned by Mr. Hopper.