Baltimore Bar Must Pay $18.5K for Unlicensed Karaoke Songs

Photo Credit: Baltimore’s Ottobar

Performance rights organization BMI and a group of music publishers have been awarded over $18,000 in statutory damages from Baltimore’s Ottobar for unlicensed karaoke songs.

Performance rights organization Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI) and three music publishers have been awarded more than $18,000 in statutory damages and attorney’s fees after Baltimore music venue Ottobar was found liable for copyright infringement.

The venue and its owner were sued last year for the unauthorized public use of three songs during karaoke: “Take On Me” by A-ha, “(I Just) Died in Your Arms” by Cutting Crew, and “Goodbye Earl” by The Chicks. Last month, BMI moved for summary judgement, requesting that U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Mark Coulson award $20,000 in statutory damages for each of the three performances.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for Maryland, followed BMI sending a “music researcher” to stake out the venue’s upstairs area to document which songs were performed in karaoke on two separate nights. As the largest performing rights organization in the United States, BMI collects blanket license fees from businesses to perform songs from its catalog of over 22 million tracks and distributes royalties to its members.

The Ottobar outcome follows fellow U.S.-based performing rights organization, the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), suing four radio groups operating a total of 15 stations for broadcasting members’ music without payment or license. The radio groups, operating stations in South Dakota, Indiana, Mississippi, and New Hampshire, are accused of repeatedly refusing to renew their licenses to play music by ASCAP members over the last few years. ASCAP has now terminated its agreements with those groups and is pursuing litigation.

“We don’t take legal action lightly,” said Clara Kim, ASCAP EVP and Chief Legal and Business Affairs Officer. “When a station refuses to pay for the music that makes their business possible, we have a responsibility to our members to take action.”

A direct rival of BMI, ASCAP represents over 1.1 million songwriters, composers, and music publishers across the United States. About 90% of the license fees that ASCAP collects are paid to its members as royalties, according to the organization.