Children at camps around the country in the summer of 1996 were not able to dance the "Macarena" except in utter silence. Their usual oldies dances were halted in 1996. The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) notified camps and the organizations that sponsor camps (such as the Boy Scouts of America and the Girls Scouts of the USA) that they would be required to pay the licensing fees if they used any of the 4 million copyrighted songs written or published by any of the 68,000 members of ASCAP.

The fees for use of the songs have exceeded the budgets of many of the camps. One camp that operates only during the day charges its campers \(\$ 44\) per week. ASCAP wanted \$591 for the season for the camp's use of songs such as "Edelweiss" (from The Sound of Music) and "This Land Is Your Land." ASCAP demanded fees for even singing the songs around the campfire. ASCAP's letters to the camps reminded the directors of the possible penalties of \(\$ 5,000\) and up to six days in jail and threatened lawsuits for any infringement of the rights of ASCAP members. Luckily, "Kumbaya" is not owned by an ASCAP member.

 Discussion Questions
1. Why does ASCAP work so diligently to enforce its rights and collect the fees for its members' songs?
2. What risks does ASCAP run if the camps continue to use the songs without payment of the licensing fees?
3. What ethical and social responsibility issues do you see with respect to those camps that are strictly nonprofit operations?
4. Can you think of a compromise that would protect ASCAP members' rights but still offer the camps a reasonable chance to use the songs?
5. What would you do if you were an ASCAP member and owned the rights to a song a camp wished to use? Do you think Mr. Berlin's trust has the correct approach? Could his trust not simply donate the use of the song? What problems do you see with that practice?