Just a quick weigh in.

Seems to me that even though Brian is raising legitimate GENERAL issues, the real issue here is should this venue be paying any PRO fees IF THEY PLAY ONLY SONGS WRITTEN BY THE PERFORMERS THEMSELVES????


To me the answer should be no because neither ASCAP, BMI or any other PRO own the music or represent anyone owning, writing or playing it.


Having said this, this case boils down to a "he said she said here" with the ASCAP agent on one side and the bar and band on the other. In my experience, the party habitually keeping a proper set of records and who can provide them to the court usually wins in such a case. So unless the band kept meticulous play lists, or have a line up of witnesses willing to swear the music was not played, their case is going to be hard to prove.

If writing ever becomes work I think I'm going to have to stop