*Bop *Carolina/Collegiate Shag *East Coast/West Coast Swing
*Jitterbug *Hand Dance *Push/Whip *Lindy Hop *Jazz *Zouk/Blues/Soul
*Line Dance *Balboa * Ballroom *Latin/Rhythm *Country Western *Disco *Fusion

IN THIS ISSUE

• Membership 2024
• NFA Leadership
• Which Dance Styles Burn the Most Calories?
• Multi-day Events October-December
• 13 New Members
• The Importance (AND FAIRNESS) of Federal Music Copyright Laws
• Annual Reports to ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC
• Dates & Details for 2024 Multi-Day Events
  

     Many of our affiliated Clubs, Events, Instructors & Deejays hit the ground running with their dance/music activities beginning the first of the year. We will begin sending out Member Club & Supporting Member forms as well as Music Licensing Agreements in mid-November and again in mid-December. We encourage all of our affiliates to complete the forms and return them to us prior to the first of the year so that you can receive our Confirmation certificates before all of your dance/music activities begin in 2024. If for some reason you’ve yet to renew your 2023 membership, we invite you to complete your application for membership and licensing for 2023. There is an option on the application to deduct your 2022 music licensing credit, if applicable. We offer printable forms for you to mail in along with member dues and music licensing fees. We realize it can be difficult to estimate how many attendees you will have for 2024, but just do the best you can. We can always reconfigure the numbers at a later date. If you have attendee credit extended from 2023 and you just need to pay membership dues, you may do so by completing the membership form and send it along with dues by mail. Our PayPal account has become a little more reliable lately. All signs point to 2024 being a banner year for our National FastDance community. Everyone is getting back to some serious dancing!!

     Stay up to date on canceled events, share virtual classes, or just hang out with us on our Facebook group.
   
Newsletter Editor
bill@fastdancers.com 

Image Source: Kelly Dance Studios

     As Founder & Owner of the NFA, let me take this opportunity to get this issue off my chest! The NFA has about 200 social dance clubs affiliated with us. Nationally, there are THOUSANDS! We have about another 200 major multi-day events as affiliates. Again, there are THOUSANDS nationally. We have about 100 Deejays and another 100+ Dance Instructors affiliated us. Again, nationally there are THOUSANDS of each. So many, in fact, that ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC do not directly provide them with music licenses. There’s just too many!

     Now, all of our over 400 affiliates properly, AND LEGALLY, secure music licenses at a tremendous discount through their NFA affiliation. They do the right and legal thing!! Over 350,000 dancers under our national music licensing umbrella puts us in a strong position when we annually negotiate with our reps. in order to secure the best rates possible for our affiliates. And over the years we have been very successful in keeping the rates very low.

     But how much more successful would we be if we had not 400,000 but more like 4,000,000+ dancers under our nationwide music licensing umbrella? Why won’t all these other THOUSANDS of entities properly and legally secure music licenses? Most of them are aware that they are in violation of Federal Music Copyright Laws. But, for some reason, they just don’t care. They proceed in their endeavors to make thousands of dollars while others foot the licensing bill.

     They believe that their efforts should pay off for themselves. They seem to care less if the Artists get their royalties. Most of them know and agree that the music licenses fees are ROYALTIES that go to the Artists that provide the music that we all love to listen and dance to. Without them, we have nothing! But all of these unlicensed entities don’t care and won’t care until they are caught. And sooner rather than later, they will be caught. Meanwhile, as far as they are concerned, the Artists be damned.

     It’s great that a small handful of entities have done the right thing. They’ve decided that the Artists should receive the royalties that they’ve earned. It’s a downright shame that thousands of others have not and will not do the right thing.

The Editor     

     We have numerous affiliates who have dances and parties around the end of each year. It’s a time for celebration, especially on New Year’s Eve. This being the case, the NFA holds off on submitting our annual reports to ASCAP, BMI and SESAC in order to provide time for these activities and attendance to be reported to us. Our reports are usually formulated and sent in by mid-January of the new year.

      2023 was a much better year than either 2021 or 2022 and from what we’re seeing, 2024 looks like it will be a banner dance/music year for our many clubs and events. As usual, our reports have to include all of our affiliates, those who renewed their membership and properly reported all of their 2023 dance and music activities and those who, for some reason, failed to report.

       As we’ve previously stated, we will begin sending out renewal forms to all of our affiliates in mid-November. Again, we strongly encourage you to complete and return the forms before the end of the year or near the beginning of the new year. This will ensure that we are able to get our Confirmation certificates to you before your 2024 dance/music activities begin.

       All of this being said, as we enter the upcoming Holiday season, the NFA wishes all of our more than 400 affiliates a wonderful Thanksgiving, a very Merry Christmas and, most of all a happy, prosperous, and safe upcoming New Year with loads of dance parties and activities to fill your dance calendar.

IMPORTANT: Please note that in order for your 2024 multi-day event(s) to be included on our website EVENTS page, you need to send all of the event details (dates, location, contact info., etc.) to us as soon as possible. Our events page is a valuable promotional tool as dancers all across America frequently use the information that we provide as a guide to what’s going on within the national dance community.