ASCAP Is Taking These 12 U.S. Venues To Court

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP)  has filed 12 separate copyright infringement actions against U.S. bars and restaurants alleging unauthorized public performance of its members’ copyrighted musical works.

ASCAP is one of the top U.S. performing rights organizations licensing the public performances of  songs, collecting license fees, and distributing royalties to its 680,000 members. Nearly 88% of the license fees ASCAP collects go directly to songwriters, composers and music publishers as royalties.

The average cost for bars and restaurants amounts to less than just $2 per day for the right to play an unlimited amount of music from ASCAP 11.5 million song catalog. “When you see a patron at your business bobbing their head along to the music, you see firsthand the value music can add to any environment,” commented ASCAP Executive Vice President of Licensing Stephanie Ruyle. “Music plays a key role in creating an emotional connection with customers; hundreds of thousands of businesses understand that and accept that a music license is part of the cost of doing business. Our goal is to have businesses comply with the law so that our members can be compensated for use of their work, and the establishments sued today have decided not to pay songwriters. By filing these actions, ASCAP is standing up for songwriters whose creative work brings great value to all businesses that publicly perform their music.”

ASCAP says that made numerous attempts at the establishments listed below to offer a license and educate the business owners about their obligations under federal copyright law. "Despite these efforts, the owners of these establishments repeatedly have refused to take or honor a license," says ASCAP. "Instead, they have continued to perform the copyrighted musical works of ASCAP's songwriter, composer and music publisher members for the entertainment of their patrons without obtaining permission to do so."

Establishments (City, State)

Barnacles, Duluth, GA

Dante's, Portland, OR

High Dive, Seattle, WA

Knockouts Gentlemen's Club, Arcadia, CA

Legends Sports Bar & Grill, Las Vegas, NV

Lunasea, Virginia Beach, VA

Mangos Beach Bar, Las Vegas, NV

Margarita Jones, Huntington Park, CA

Park Avenue, Dallas, TX

Ralph's Rock Diner, Worcester, MA

Playhouse Nightclub, Los Angeles, CA

Tortuga’s Latin Kitchen, Chicago, IL