ASCAP Threatened to Sue the Girl Scouts
Girl Scouts do activities like making crafts, hiking, camping, and performing good deeds for the community when they're not selling you their addicting cookies. But let's go back and talk about camping for a moment. What is a part of camping? Campfire music, marshmallows, and tents. And that is, or nearly was, a lawsuit right there.
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, or ASCAP, had the most embarrassing disagreement with camp music in the middle of the 1990s. The group claims to be non-profit and seeks to defend the rights of musicians and vocalists by granting licenses for the use of its members' music in public performances. In other words, a performer is compensated when one of their songs is played on the radio. This is how they manage billions of dollars.
The organization has been accused of obnoxiously pursuing every copyright dollar it can obtain despite doing what appears to be beneficial work. They informed the American Camping Association in 1995 that because the musical concerts at their campgrounds are open to the public, they intended to charge for them. Possibly included in this were campfire tunes. The organization informed its members of several things, such as possible fines if a $250 fee wasn't paid. Girl Scouts were among their participants.
The PR disaster came on fast and hard. The Girl Scouts were never threatened, ASCAP was quick to claim, which was partially true but partially false. Finally, they gave in, and camp songs were once again free.
