I foresee a world where ASCAP forms it's own DMV and hires it's own police force to enforce crimes against singing about love.

Think; off key West Side Story.

Hmmm... I wonder why the author of the article did not bother to cite any of the other 21 local bars who are also being cited by ASCAP and BMI? hmmmm? While it is true that a bar or nightclub needs to purchase a license to play music in their estabishment, it is not commonly known that they need to do the same when they are a small bar, or have a juke box. Give the Ten some slack, as well as the other 21 bars and clubs and let them sort out their issues without blasting their name across your periodical.

Well look who decides to open pandora's box. Many of the karaoke company's that are in the business have been hosting shows for 15 plus years. Purchasing karaoke discs costing upwards of $45.00 each. Now you want to tell us that even though we "Paid" for these discs when the were origionally released and only after the fact that the artist decided to pull the rights that the bar is in violation. And which are the "other" establishments named in this report which you failed to list and the document number this refers to. In essence what ASCAP and your blog in City Pages has managed to do is give a big black eye to all the karaoke companies and their hosts as well as the manufacturers of the discs. All of this which could ultimately not only cause an establishment financial hardship as well as any karaoke company from even booking a show or loosing accounts from these kinds of accusations. Now I wonder....what if somebody posts things like that about you and your job is lost due to slander. Maybe they can bring a lawsuit after you in retaliation for lost wages. How fair would that be to you.

What a joke. Someone out there just can't handle the karaoke competition The 1029 puts out. Funnier yet how the so-called ASCAP foot soldiers have randomly picked the 29 bars from across the US:http://news.finditt.com/newsstoryex.aspx?queryid=QJ32736&article=J083inw0125&cat=1 and you can't honestly tell me that only 29 bars across the US aren't paying ASCAP licenses. AND why isn't it cited how many times or over what period of time the 1029 was approached for fees? Perhaps, the "foot soliders" aren't conveying the appropriate legalese to the bar owners or maybe they don't have appropriate identification. I would personally like to see the bar owners retalliate with a form of countersuit for extortion because basically, ASCAP is doing what they're famous for and making an example of a decent establishment just for the ruination of said establishment because they have nothing better to do and they can't take on the big dogs so they go after the little guy. Typical. And why can't the bar owners pay the artist the fee instead of ASCAP - I'd much rather pay the artist instead of a glorified go between. Besides, the bars aren't making money from the songs - they're making money from the karaoke goers singing the songs and the karaoke companies within the bars have already bought and paid for the songs so why does the bar have to pay again. ASCAP is a total ripoff.

For one thing - get the facts right - it's 29 separate infringement actions against nightclubs, bars and restaurants in 22 states and the District of Columbia - check it on www.ascap.com. For another - ASCAP states: The establishments listed below (*meaning "below" as listed in the lawsuit) have performed publicly the copyrighted musical works of ASCAP's songwriter, composer and music publisher members without receiving their permission to do so, resulting in lost income for these music creators - HELLO, it's not the establishments performing, it's the patrons of the establishments!!! DUH! And if the song was bought on CD it was paid for which did not result in a low of income to the music creator! ASCAP so needs to get real!

Wow! You guys aren't gonna like this. Songwriters join performing rights societies to get the performances fees to which they're legally entitled. It's up to ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC (in the US) to protect their members. Since 1909, anywhere music is publicly performed, a license is required (with some minor exceptions). I gotta side with the songwriters. ASCAP DOESN'T GET TO KEEP THE MONEY!. It's divided between the songwriter and the publishing company to whom the copyright to the song has been transferred. There are very few millionaire songwriters and they're entitled to whatever their songs can earn.....this is especially true today with the huge decrease in record sales, because this has also had a major impact on the songwriters income. Compared to what clubs pay for liquor, a performance license is pretty cheap.

Just a response to David - we're not trying to keep money from the songwriters or the publishers - the songs were already bought and paid for by the karaoke people. Do you think they just download they're songs or that it falls out of the sky? They actually have to buy their music just like anyone else, therefore, the songs are paid for and the artists are already receiving the royalties for said music as it was issued on a karaoke CD. ASCAP pays out the alloted 'fees' in their agreements to the artists but when they settle out of court for $3000-$7000 or more, there's nothing saying that money goes to the artists - the licensing fees derived from that might but the rest is unspecified.