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I have several friends who own night clubs. It is ridiculous what BMI and ASCAP want you to pay for playing their music. What's even worse, they won't give club owners an list of "their music". If they'd put out a "list", then my friends would be sure not to play or allow bands to play these songs. But, they tell the club owners "We don't have to tell you anything. Just pay us the money." Talk about a holdup without a gun.

One of my friends decided to fight them in court. They told her "Go ahead and file suit. We'll keep it tied up in court for so long, you'll be broke and have to close your club. We don't care. So you might as well pay our fee." She paid a fee of $10,000. What a rip-off.
Greedy old money grubbers. I can remember before they started imposing these fees. Clubs played all kinds of music. Now, they're afraid to play too much. Something needs to be done about this. The music people get richer, and the club owners have to pay out even more money. It's just not fair. Somebody needs to find a way around this or a way to beat this before all the clubs go broke or quit playing music all together. That would be a sad day-when you go into a club and can't hear music. Talk about the "Day the Music Died." That's what it's coming to. Scary, very scary.

Learn more about this author, Sherrie Porter.
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