Copyright Law

Unlawful Use of Copyrighted Karaoke Songs Costs Bar $49,000

By Jared Moya

Royalty-collection group accused Tucson, AZ restaurant of using 14 copyrighted songs over two nights of karaoke without a license.

Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), which collects license fees on behalf of songwriters, composers and music publishers, has been waging a long battle against venues of all sorts to make sure they pay for the privilege of playing copyrighted music to their customers, cover and karaoke songs included.

Karaoke night at Chuy’s Mesquite Broiler in Tucson, AZ has landed its owner in trouble to the tune of $48,694, including $3,000 in damages, for apparently using some 14 copyrighted songs without permission during two karaoke nights back in late February.

The BMI filed suit after the owner failed to respond to repeated complaints over the matter, and then won a default judgment against the owner, Mark Evenson, last Tuesday after he also failed to appear in court.

“We haven’t done anything wrong,” said Evenson. “We answered the complaint, but they (BMI) wanted us to do ridiculous stuff. Our attorney said to take it to court and see where it goes.”

He insists the karaoke night event is conducted by third-party contractors whom all are properly licensed by the BMI as required and that therefore there’s no need for his restaurants to be licensed as well.

Jerry Bailey, a spokesman, for BMI, said the purpose of seeking large judgments such as this is to serve as a warning to other restaurants and bars the importance of paying the proper licensing fees.

These scare tactics of his are certainly the reason why the BMI reported record breaking revenues of more than $905 million.

Either way, just as it’s to blame for the shuttering of open mic venues, perhaps karaoke nights may be soon to follow.

Stay tuned.

jared@zeropaid.com

Full post as published by ZeroPaid on December 21, 2009 (boomark / email).