John,

Your argument assumes that in 100% of the cases, there are never ANY songs which have assigned rights to ASCAP or BMI or SESAC or the Canadian PRO or the Australian PRO etc.

If a venue can afford to track ALL of that accurately, night after night, it seems to me they'd be saving a LOT of money by simply paying the fees, and having all types of music without fear of violating rights. And remember, if you only play your own songs, but 1 or more of them are registered with a PRO, it seems there's still a violation based on your agreement with your PRO.

I really can't side with the venues on this. A few years ago (1998) when they passed a "Fairness in Music" act (which is absurd) the government gave a pass to a huge percentage of restaurants and businesses to play music for free without paying royalties. (Over 80%). It was passed simply because the lobby for the restaurants was so much more powerful than for the music industry. PRO royalties are by far the largest source of income for most pro songwriters. If the only penalty to a venue for not paying the fees is to be forced to pay the fees AFTER a confrontation, most will never bother. And it costs money to "force" someone to do the right thing.

Brian

Brian Austin Whitney
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