One Bar At a Time
Published August 19, 2002
New Jersey rockers frown upon Penn bar:
- "The Boss" doesn't hit town on tour until December, but a lawsuit filed on behalf of Bruce Springsteen and rocker Jon Bon Jovi has already arrived in federal court.
The rockers, both members of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, are suing a local bar for allegedly playing their music without a license.
The lawsuit, filed Friday by the ASCAP on behalf of Springsteen, Bon Jovi and Universal-Polygram International Publishing Inc., says RPM's in Bridgeville is not allowed to play music by ASCAP members without paying an annual $2,818 fee.
The lawsuit alleges RPM's continues to play "Born in the U.S.A." by Springsteen, and "Wanted Dead or Alive" and "Bed of Roses" by Bon Jovi, despite being warned repeatedly not to do so.
The defendants are J&J 1020 Restaurant Inc., the corporate owner of RPM's, and its owner, Joan Martin. Martin was out of town and could not be reached for comment Saturday.
The suit seeks $750 to $30,000 in damages and a permanent ban on the use of ASCAP music at RPM's.
- One Bar At a Time
- Published: August 19, 2002
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- Section: Culture
- Writer: Eric Olsen
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Addendum: unless they have a jukebox, in which case the fees pay themselves.
DON'T PAY ASCAP LICENSING FEES! Set the dogs on ASCAP reps if they stink up the door to your bar or restaurant. I'm a songwriter and I think ASCAP, BMI, etc., are out of their stupid money grubbing heads to think that public performance is a cd player in a bar! It's a pathetic, greedy law and is helping to contribute to the death of a completely befuddled music industry. Listen up, song publishers and record labels (and you brain dead artists as well): The days of conspicuous consumption and being filthy rich from selling records is OVER. If you want to succeed in this new century you'd better come to grips with digital downloading, homemade recordings,YouTube and DJ's in bars: WAKE UP: These venues are helping to hype you, not stealing from you.
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I hate the headline to this story. Springsteen and Bon Jovi aren't suing the bar. That would be utterly ridiculous. ASCAP is suing the bar. It's their fees at stake. It's not about royalties or fair compensation for the artist. It's about a CD player behind the bar with a Springsteen album from 1984 in heavy rotation. It's about lawyers. That's all it's about.
Springsteen sue a bar for playing his music? Not in this or any parallel universe would that ever happen.
That said: this was "on the wire" today to Salon, but how it got there is beyond me. This is pretty standard stuff. Every bar and coffee shop I've ever worked in has been aware of the penalties for playing music -- ANY music -- without paying ASCAP fees. The strategies range from looking the other way to threatening employees with termination if they so much as turn on an old Beatles tape. No business I've ever heard of has actually ponied up the couple of grand that ASCAP demands in order to play music.