I must thank Marty and Liszt for ringing in.
I've seen some very valid thoughts coming from everyone. And Graham... what a shocker to find your system wasn't quite what yourself (and many others around you) had thought! ...proving the mess surrounding this topic is not exclusive to the U.S.

There are many of us who thought the direct accountability method used in Australia was a great concept. I still think it is, and I don't see it as impossible at all.
When I think of all the people employed by the PROs who are trying to establish equations and formulas on how to pay a songwriter his/her just dues (via radio play and other assorted concepts of complete inaccuracy) I tend to laugh, (while being completely disgusted at the same time), because it appears the system ONLY serves somebody with a top-40 hit record played on the radio. Exactly what percent of songwriters does this represent? (very small)
I see a direct accountability system as not only possible, but also much simpler, far more understandable, honest, fair... AND as something which would probably eliminate a big bunch of paid employees within any PRO organization.
It would be a matter of numerical entries into a computer system, and quite likely a walk in the park for any computer programer to create such a program. So long as a reasonable price was established for any cover song, I'd go as far to say that most venues would pay *less* money than they currently do. Some would pay more, yet it would be a direct reflection of factual matter. Cover bands normally pull in more customers anyhow, so it works out.
I not only see it all as a possible solution, but the only solution. And it has nothing to do with handing a barowner a bunch of scribbles on a napkin. Most any band or performer knows the covers they perform,(or are prepared to perform) and could readily have a checklist created with numerical song identifiers on them... reporting ONLY cover songs to the bar after the performance, from which the bar could report weekly via electronic tranfser to the PROs. The last I heard, computers handle numbers rather well.
Everyone would be fairly represented, nobody could question a thing, and Willie Nelson would be represented no more or no less than the average JPF member who has a friend playing their song.
I'd even go so far as to suggest that most performers would feel obligated and somewhat *wanting* to properly credit (and thank) a songwriter for works used.
To me, this concept truly reflects the
"we're all in this together" motto we all believe in.
To the contrary, the current system is suspicious at best, and comes off as nothing more than a legal mafia collecting money via thug tactics.
A few more hot pieces of press as the one which started this thread should have the PROs being loved as much as Clear Channel Communications, when in fact the PROs are a good thing, simply in need of a much better system....not to mention palpable accountability.

-gary