IndyDDR.com

http://local.amazon.com/indianapolis/B0 ... 6090050_fd

More of the same.

Whoa whoa whoa did they change their name from Latitude 39?

It looks like the stores are adopting the name of the parent company. Also, this...
http://latitude360.com/latitude-360-inc ... l-changes/

There is a bit of a reason for some of the changes that are going on. Around the time that Latitude got the Pump cabinet there was a major change in management.

Also, they were supposed to move the cabinet and rearrange the game room this week, but I haven't seen any changes yet.

On a positive development, the place has introduced a powercharge option where $3 gets a bonus $3 and $5 gets a bonus $5. (The bonus is only usable on non-redemption games apparently so good for pump, bad for non-pump) This makes it far more affordable than what it was.

Updates: The cabinet was moved to a far better place, but to say the least they aren't really doing the best job with cleaning so I've been taking Windex and paper towels. The machine is still on 1.05 so it isn't up to date, but it's ok.

There is one issue though....
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/loca ... titude-360

*facepalms*

Also, this is the first time I've heard anything about this policy.

I'm guessing that is some sort of misguided anti-gang policy?

I guess Jewish yarmulkes would be in violation of their policy, too?

*headdesk*

You know, I'm guessing a fair amount of businesses have that policy but no one adheres to it because it's retarded. I wonder how many real ass thugs they've kicked out.

http://www.indystar.com/story/news/2015 ... /71318490/

A few observations. Given that they went overboard with trying to get live acts or DJs for every night, I get an odd sense of schadenfreude from this development. I will mention that I have only gone there once in the past four months, but based on the emails I get from them they are still going a bit overboard with live acts. Hopefully they'll resolve this in an amicable manner.

ASCAP is notorious for frivolous lawsuits so nothing will probably come of this. They're basically like the mafia running a protection racket or those handicap people that go around to every building and sues them for not complying with ADA guidelines. Every Joe Schmoe bar out there that plays any sort of music can be sued for not paying royalties but none of them do because nothing ever comes to fruition from the subpoena.

There is nothing frivolous about this lawsuit. This is a very clear cut copyright law case here. I hope Latitude pays up or gets fucked. (Or just stops having bands because they sound like crap there due to the lousy acoustics...regardless of its impact on Pump.)

I'd be less harsh if this were some sandwich shop that had the radio playing in the dining area (which I think is technically a violation also). But this is a case where the copyrighted material in question is intended as the attraction to bring patrons in. They may not be charging a cover for it, but they are definitely presenting it as a "here is why you should come out tonight (and spend money)." And with that being the case, they should absolutely pay for that privilege.

The linked article says that ASCAP has filed 16 other lawsuits this year and 150 over the years. I'm actually surprised these numbers are so low. Without reviewing them all, I would guess that they're actually at least reasonably selective about who they go after.

I am offended by your shitty comparison to ADA cases, and you are also dead fucking wrong if you think that nothing ever comes of these ASCAP lawsuits. And you might be surprised by the people who actually comply with the rules. For instance, if you're playing Muzak, that's what part of your subscription is going toward.

If you think the law is wrong, that's one thing. But you clearly have no understanding of it, and it is clearly 100% on ASCAP's side on this one.

ASCAP/BMI actually are pretty well known for trolling people with this sort of thing. It rarely makes it to lawsuit level, though. This one is not a troll, though. As Ho pointed out, they actually really do have live music acts that are playing covers of popular music or DJs mixing popular music, and it's presented as a real attraction (though it's almost always terrible for reasons not just related to the awful acoustics of the place). They should be paying up.

ASCAP/BMI also go after tiny outfits for less obvious reasons like places that occasionally have a radio playing back in the kitchen or places that explicitly allow only original musical compositions to be played live (no covers), etc. They're technically correct (the best kind) that the former is applicable, but the latter does not entitle those groups to a dime because the artists playing the music own the copyright to the work in question and can publicly perform it all they want. I've also heard of them going after establishments that are already paying appropriate royalties via other means. For example, I've heard of them going after dance games (which are suitably licensed as part of the cost of the game, and it's doubtful any of the music on it has composer rights managed by ASCAP/BMI anyway), people with Muzak or similar services (again, already licensed as a part of the service), and things like that. These situations rarely make it to court, though they successfully get quite a few establishments to double-pay or pay up when they don't owe anything.

I apologize for having an opinion on ASCAP that is disagreeable and I respect this discourse. I hope someone somewhere makes a lot of money off of content creators.

You know who made a lot of money? Afroman. I'd like to know how much money he's made off, "Because I got high."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPZvw72hTUI

SUE THIS MAN

Merk wrote:I apologize for having an opinion on ASCAP that is disagreeable and I respect this discourse. I hope someone somewhere makes a lot of money off of content creators.

Hopefully, the content creators... In a perfect world, that's the point of this. You're paying royalties to use copyrighted work and at least part of those royalties should make their way back to the people who created the work. Of course I realize this system gets perverted and there's 1758401783940758932 middlemen in between the royalty payer and the content creator, but this is the system we've got.

I am interested to hear about the trolling that MonMotha mentioned. If that's the case, shame on them! But this doesn't seem to coincide with the relatively low numbers of lawsuits that were mentioned in the article. Those seem like a reasonable number of actual violators. If they were really going after trivial technical violations or even non-violators, I would expect those numbers to be quite a bit higher. Although maybe those are only the ones that actually do end up going to court. I have made no effort to further understand this statistic they've given or even verify that it was correct at all.

You don't have to apologize for your opinion. But you're just flat out wrong on your assessment of this particular situation with Latitude. But it was your comparison to ADA enforcement that really raised my ire. I'm glad you're able-bodied. But if you weren't, you would probably be glad there are people pushing for enforcement of ADA else find yourself in a situation where you were out and couldn't even take a piss.