[jpsb]

Yea, that is correct. I stopped hiring bands and stopped doing karaoke. Most (all) of the clubs in my little town did the same.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Do you feature a jukebox? I may be wrong (it's been a while) but I thought that the fees you paid to prrovide jukeboxes also covered liver performances... did that change?

[weegee]

I stopped hiring bands and stopped doing karaoke. Most (all) of the clubs in my little town did the same

If you have a radio, jukebox, or tv set, you still can be pressured by hired goons to cough up regular payments to ASCAP and BMI. There is no accounting for radio, tv, or cds (the jukebox is a separate matter) as to what your customers may have heard. Also, all of those performers and songwriters got paid (radio and tv for the broadcast usage, whether it is part of a program or an advertisement "jingle"). The CD copyright holder was paid when you bought the album.

The agencies are good at collecting money from an ever increasing pool of sources (shakedown new clients every year, tv is a recent addition) but they aren't so good at actually paying the songwriters and artists.