When you go out with friends to a karaoke bar, probably one of the last questions on your mind is: “Did the bar license this music?” Yet, bars and venues that stream music must pay fees in order to respect musicians’ copyrights and stay in the legal clear.
However, the licensing system can prove complex – to the point that some bars might miss required payments out of sheer confusion. This is what one karaoke bar in Reno, NV has claimed recently in response to a lawsuit brought by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP).
ASCAP sued the Reno karaoke bar for copyright infringement over the songs “Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman, Wild Cherry’s “Play That Funky Music,” and Looking Glass’s “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl).” For the songs in question, Purple Rabbit Music and Warner Chappell Music Corp. were the infringed-upon parties.
The organization claimed that they were motivated after the bar did not respond to its communications to sign a new licensing agreement. However, the bar counters that they were not even aware that they needed to pay ASCAP dues.
How did this scenario play out, and who is at fault?
Music Pros Use PROs
ASCAP is one of the major performing rights organizations (PROs) for music. They collect licensing fees for song plays in public spaces (i.e. on the radio or in restaurants – situations that would mire musicians in the difficulty of tracking those plays). When a venue pays its ASCAP fee, they are safe to play all the music from the ASCAP catalog without fearing copyright retribution, and the artists under the ASCAP umbrella receive their royalties.
This arrangement means that the pursuit of copyright infringement falls on ASCAP and its brethren, BMI and SESAC. However, according to ASCAP, they go to great lengths to secure licensing agreements with venues before filing a copyright lawsuit.
The reconnaissance of a reporter at The Reno Gazette Journal showed that, in the absence of communication, ASCAP will send an undercover auditor to take notes on the business’s music usage, determining whether or not a lawsuit is justified. If the infringement seems valid, they will send a final letter of warning in an attempt to nail down licensing – and only non-response to that letter will provoke a lawsuit from ASCAP.
This process sounds judicious, but some venues assert that ASCAP is targeting small businesses unfairly, claiming that the pre-lawsuit notice is insufficient.
Is ASCAP sufficiently notifying these small businesses of their licencing agreements? Or is it the responsibility of venues to vet their licensing obligations more thoroughly?
Copyright Infringement — What Letter?
To hear the story from West 2nd Street’s side, they had no inkling that they needed to pay ASCAP fees – nor were they aware that the organization had been trying to talk to them about a licensing agreement. According to the filing, West 2nd Street karaoke bar signed an ASCAP agreement in 2008 but did not pay the fees, resulting in a 2015 cancelation. The bar points out that ASCAP has not yet produced this contract.
West 2nd Street’s co-manager, a relative of the owners in the family-run business, details that the bar already pays fees to Karafun and Spotify for its karaoke music. They assumed that ASCAP fees were included in these payments.
The co-manager also reported that she had not received letters from ASCAP in the past two years of managing West 2nd’s mail. She did confirm that they received calls – but she and the owners thought they were scams. West 2nd’s manager and owners wish that ASCAP had sent an in-person representative to clearly state their issues.
It does raise an interesting question: if ASCAP has the resources to send an agent to investigate infringement, why not make it a face-to-face meeting?
Mixed-Up Messages
It seems that the bar’s defense is simply confusion. If the case moves forward with a loss for West 2nd Street, they will owe ASCAP statutory damages and attorney’s fees, a heavy burden for a small business.
ASCAP has voiced that it wants the lawsuit to serve as a wake-up call for venues to fulfill their end of licensing agreements. According to their representative, they are not trying to win in court or burden small businesses.
One wonders if this all could have been avoided with clearer logistics and communication on both sides.
In the meantime, ASCAP has asked the bar to refrain from playing “Fast Car,” “Play that Funky Music,” and “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl),” and karaoke in Reno has lost a little of its shine until this copyright infringement claim is worked out.