The system Gary proposed is the sort of thing I was working on. My angle was that the lists be submitted to the PRO by the venue owner through some sort of Point-of-sale terminal or wired-Jukebox already on the premises. That was another idea - jukeboxes that automatically log and report what gets played. Satellite TV receivers already do this for Pay-per-view.

Writers already have ID numbers through their PROs (called an IPI, "Interested Person Identifier" by the international standards for tracking music rights.) PRO-registered pieces also have ID numbers assigned by the PROs. (BMI calls it the "BMI Work Number".) I assume the venues have licence ID numbers from the PROs as well.

The only thing missing is tracking the performers, who are the ones in best position to bring the set-lists in correct format to the venue owners to submit. Barcodes? Smart cards?