Open mic nights at bar lead to lawsuit from BMI over music, ask for $121,000

[HooptieWagon]

108. They seldom go after the musicians,

because the musicians aren't charged licensing fees (and probably have little money). They go after the bar owner, threatening suits for hundreds of thousands of dollars, unless the bar pays licensing fees. ASCAP charges the highest fees, about $5000/yr for a small bar with live music 3 nights a week. Of course, this is a prohibitive expense for many small bars.

I know a woman who owns a venue (I'm being deliberately vague, to protect her) that simply cannot afford to pay licensing fees. She thinks she is being safe by only permitting original songs, for donations. However, one of her popular songwriters that performs, registers their songs with ASCAP. They cannot play the songs they registered with ASCAP in a venue that is not paying a licensing fee to ASCAP. And the basis of playing for donations doesn't matter. After studying up on the matter, I warned the woman of her potential legal problem. She simply doesn't have an alternative...she will just shut the doors if she is sued.