@ErickaSimone @icastico @mirlo
My read is that the language is trying to solve this problem:
- My student friend Ericka writes a song for me
- She has no PRO; it was just for fun on the weekend
- I release it on Bancamp and tell them she has no PRO
- Then Ericka gets serious, goes ASCAP, hits it big
- But I don't update my Bancamp data because I have a life
→ Bancamp can say, “Hey, Ericka should get paid for this now!” without having to harangue me about it
That makes sense.
I see nothing in that language that lets •Bandcamp• grab the PRO cut for themselves as the OP suggested — only pass it on to the songwriter.
Reading the language with a suspicious eye, it does seem like Bandcamp •could• have latitude to do the crap all these services do where they just scrub alleged rights abuses without proper review, and it's a headache for musicians.
CAVEAT: I am not a lawyer (and it is a sad world where musicians have to try to be one for even 2 seconds).