The next time you see someone jump onstage at a karaoke bar and belt out a tune, keep in mind you could be watching an illegal act. And it wouldn’t be the singing.
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers announced last week it has sued 24 restaurants, clubs and bars in 15 states for allowing live performances of their members’ songs or customers’ singing of copyright music without permission, resulting in lost income for the artists.
And the establishments have ignored repeated requests to pay required fees, Vincent Candilora, president of licensing for ASCAP, said last Friday.
The association licenses its members’ works, which include 8 million songs and compositions from artists such as Alicia Keys and Trisha Yearwood, and collects royalties for public performances of those copyright works.
Public establishments must pay a fee if any copyright songs are performed live or played through a radio station, jukebox, television or CD player.
The average establishment pays $2.16 per day, depending on how it uses copyright songs and how often they are performed, Candilora said.
“The owner of the karaoke bar needs to have permission or a license and pay royalties,” Candilora said.
“You as the person getting up to sing have no obligation. A band performing a song has no obligation. It is the establishment deriving the benefit.”
Dan Venglarik, a Dallas-based patent law attorney, said performing karaoke generally does not violate copyright law, unless establishments require a cover charge or profit in some way from the actual performance.
“If you just stand up in a bar or in public and start singing, you’re not infringing on any copyright laws,” Venglarik said.
“It comes down to whether you’re making money off of it or not.”
Stephen Rowland, a manager at Scuttlebutts Restaurant and Bar in Lubbock, Texas, which was targeted in the crackdown, said the restaurant features a professional singer performing rock and pop songs with a karaoke machine accompaniment.
While the restaurant pays the singer, customers are not required to pay a cover charge, he said.
“My opinion is that is should be up to (the professional singer) to deal with ASCAP, not us,” Rowland said.
Rowland said the restaurant was in the process of working with ASCAP to settle the dispute.
Candilora said ASCAP would like to settle most of the litigation outside of court. Penalties could range anywhere from $750 to $10,000 per infringement from the first time ASCAP contacted the establishment, he said.
“We want these clubs to be successful and we want them to make money from the uses of our members’ songs,” Candilora said.
“We don’t want to sue people, but there are always those who thumb their nose at the law.

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