Originally Posted By: bobbyt9999
I can honestly say that in my forty plus years of making my living working in music, this is the first time I have ever heard of bands and club owners having to pay ASCAP for doing covers in the clubs.

We were a cover band - classic Country/old Rock and Roll. All of the other local bands were/are cover bands as well. In all my years, nobody ever approached us about the need to pay royalties for all the songs were were doing/covering. Nor any other band. As I said, it was never heard of.

I DID get tagged for not keeping up with my musican's union dues many, many years ago. frown



You live in Canada. ASCAP and BMI are American PRO's. Canada has it's own equivalent and it's own laws regarding intellectual property.

Many restaurants locally in NC-USA have ASCAP or BMI stickers on their doors. I've played in many bars also with the sticker on the front door. One place, a private club where we were the house band, had a visit from the PRO rep and while they never came to us to ask questions, the owner informed us they did speak to him and he wanted us to provide a set list of the songs we played over the last several months.... the further back the better. They don't speak to the bands because the bands rarely own the venue. It's the owner who has the liability and responsibility to pay the royalties and license fee. Shortly after the PRO was there and we provided the set list to the owner, a BMI sticker was proudly placed on the front door glass.

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