It's pay-to-play with licensed music, and two Tampa Bay restaurants and bars now face a lawsuit amid charges they didn't pay. They could lose big for playing unlicensed music.
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) has filed 13 copyright lawsuits, and Tampa's Cask on South Howard and the Flamingo Resort in the Maximo area of St. Petersburg are among them. The charge? Playing copyrighted music without paying the artists who created it.
Here's how it's supposed to work: Any business that wants to play music should pay royalties on that music, and ASCAP (and, in some instances, BMI and SESAC) collects those royalties in the form of licensing fees. ASCAP says almost 88 percent of the fees it collects goes to the artist.
Businesses must pay not only for pre-recorded music, but for live performances of copyrighted work.
Other Florida venues facing a similar lawsuit include Platforms Dance Club in Boca Raton and Surfer [The Bar] on Jacksonville Beach.
"ASCAP representatives reached out repeatedly to the 13 businesses to "offer a license and educate the business owners about their obligations under federal copyright law," the nonprofit association wrote in a press release. "Despite these efforts, the owners of these establishments repeatedly have refused to take or honor a license."
The organization exists so that songwriters can earn a living. Most venues can get a license for about $60 a month, ASCAP says on its website.
"We want every business that uses music to prosper, including bars and restaurants. After all, as songwriters and composers, we are small business owners, too, and music is more than an art form for us. It’s how we put food on the table and send our kids to school," ASCAP president and chairman of the board Paul Williams (yes, that Paul Williams) said.
This is not the only time in recent memory Tampa Bay businesses have had to pay the piper (literally) for playing unlicensed music — in 2015, Tadpoles closed after facing $30,000 in fees from BMI — one of 26 venues in the Tampa Bay area hit with a BMI lawsuit since 2011, the Tampa Bay Times reported in 2016.
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This article appears in Feb 28 – Mar 7, 2019.