Danvers club sued for music copyright infringement
Aug. 24—DANVERS — A Danvers music venue has been sued for copyright infringement for allegedly failing to pay licensing fees to play music at the club.
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers announced Tuesday it has filed the lawsuit against Breakaway in Danvers as well as six other establishments around the country.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in Boston, alleges that Breakaway has failed to pay the license fees required by a license agreement that it signed with ASCAP in 2016. The organization terminated Breakaway's license in November 2018, but the club continued to play ASCAP's members' music, the lawsuit says.
The organization sued Breakaway for copyright infringement in 2020, and the club failed to pay a settlement, the lawsuit says. The club has also refused to obtain an ASCAP license agreement, according to the lawsuit.
Breakaway owner Joe Crowley denied that the club has failed to pay license fees since 2016. He said the club did not pay the fees during the pandemic because it was closed for eight months and did not have live entertainment for a year and a half. He said he is in the process of negotiating with ASCAP over how much its license fee should be.
Crowley criticized the organization for filing the lawsuit and making the dispute public.
"They think they can strong-arm people by embarrassing them," he said. "They don't care about the reputations of businesses or how difficult it has been during COVID."
ASCAP is a membership organization of songwriters, composers and music publishers. The organization says it licenses music to hundreds of thousands of bars, restaurants, radio stations and other businesses to allow them to legally play songs that are protected by copyright laws, whether those songs are performed by a live band or played through recorded music.
The lawsuit accused Breakaway of presenting "unauthorized public performances" of copyrighted music. The lawsuit cited the performance of three specific songs on July 31 — "That's Life," "Ain't That A Kick In The Head," and "There, I've Said It Again."
Crowley said the songs were played during a Karaoke night at the club.
Crowley said he and ASCAP disagree over how much the club should pay in license fees, which he said are based on the size of a venue. Crowley said ASCAP is basing the fee on the size of Breakaway's entire building, rather than just the entertainment portion of the club. The building, located on Route 1 in Danvers, also includes a restaurant and function hall.
ASCAP says the average cost for bars and restaurants to obtain a license is less than $2 per day, and that gives them the right to play an unlimited amount of music and covers over 11.5 million songs. Nearly 90% of the license fees goes directly to songwriters, composers and music publishers as royalties, the organization says. ASCAP says it represents more than 875,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers.
According to the lawsuit, ASCAP has attempted to contact Crowley or his representatives at least 14 times since July 23 to offer a license to Breakaway. The lawsuit asks that Breakaway be ordered to pay damages of not more than $30,000 nor less than $750 for each the three violations cited, plus the cost of the lawsuit. The plaintiffs are listed as Universal-Polygram International Publishing Inc., Maraville Music Corp., and Music Sales Corporation.
The other businesses that ASCAP has filed lawsuits against include Calvin Theatre in Northhampton, as well as sites in Texas, Connecticut, Wisconsin and Illinois. In a press release, ASCAP Executive Vice President of Licensing Stephanie Rulye said songwriters depend on royalties to make a living from their creative work.
"It is only fair the businesses who were fortunate to receive government relief during the tough times to cover their expenses, like The Breakaway, pay the songwriters whose music brings such value to their establishments," Rulye said.
Breakaway received two loans totaling $307,379 through the Paycheck Protection Program, according to online records.
Staff Writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2535, by email at pleighton@salemnews.com, or on Twitter at @heardinbeverly.
Staff Writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2535, by email at pleighton@salemnews.com, or on Twitter at @heardinbeverly.
