Enforcement Map
Who is ASCAP actually suing? An interactive map of 2024-2026 filings.
A public dataset of named copyright-infringement filings by performing rights organizations against bars, restaurants, and small venues. Sourced from PRO press releases and primary news coverage.
The damages are real. Federal statutory law sets penalties at $750 to $30,000 per song infringed, rising to $150,000 per song if a court finds the infringement willful. Most operators learn this the way the businesses on this map learned it: from a process server. We built this so you can see, by state and business type, who has been named in a public filing — and how often.
Case list
Sortable. Click any column header. Source links open the primary filing announcement or news report in a new tab.
| Defendant ▲▼ | City ▲▼ | State ▲▼ | Year ▲▼ | Type ▲▼ | PRO ▲▼ | Source |
|---|
Methodology
How this dataset was built
Inclusion criteria
A case is included only if all of the following are true:
- A named defendant (business and/or owner) is publicly identified
- The action is a federal copyright-infringement claim brought by ASCAP or BMI in 2024, 2025, or 2026
- A primary source verifies the filing — either a PRO press release or a contemporaneous news report citing court records
- The defendant is a U.S. business that publicly performs music (bars, restaurants, nightclubs, music venues, lounges, similar)
Sources
The dataset is built primarily from:
- ASCAP press releases announcing batched filings (March 2024, June 2024, February 2025, March 2025, June 2025), which name each defendant and city/state
- Local and trade press reporting on individual filings (Boston Globe, Cleveland Scene, Austin Chronicle, City Beat, NewsChannel 9 Chattanooga, Patch, This Is Reno, Port City Daily, Westword, Queen City Nerve, others linked in the case table)
- Industry trade press with full named-defendant lists from ASCAP enforcement waves
Known limitations
- v1 uses public press releases and news reports. PACER docket-level data — full case captions, judges, settlement amounts where sealed-but-reported — is planned for v2.
- BMI is materially under-represented. BMI does not announce batched filings the way ASCAP does. BMI litigation typically surfaces only in local press, so the public dataset for BMI is thinner than the underlying enforcement reality. BMI files copyright suits routinely; trade reporting indicates 25 such filings against bars and restaurants in the Tampa Bay area alone over a five-year window.
- This is filings, not convictions. Inclusion in the dataset means a complaint was publicly identified. Many of these matters settle. Some may be dismissed. Inclusion is not an assertion of liability.
- Settlements that never become public are excluded. The vast majority of PRO disputes resolve before a complaint is filed. The tracked filings are a small slice of total enforcement activity.
- SESAC and GMR are not tracked in v1. Both perform enforcement but rarely with named-defendant press visibility in 2024-2026.
How to suggest a case
If you know of a publicly-named PRO infringement filing in 2024-2026 not on this list, send the source link to daniel@entuned.co and we will review for inclusion. We require a primary or contemporaneous source — not hearsay.
What this means for your business
Three honest takeaways for operators
PRO enforcement is real and ongoing.
Across just the filings we tracked, named defendants span both coasts and the interior. ASCAP files in waves, publicly. The cost of one of these complaints — even settled — routinely exceeds a decade of license fees. See our retail music FAQ.
Hospitality is the over-represented vertical.
Bars, nightclubs, and full-service restaurants dominate the named-filing dataset. If your business runs live performance, karaoke, or DJ nights, your enforcement risk is structurally higher than a quiet retail floor. Use our license exemption checker to test where you stand.
Streaming a Spotify account does not insulate you.
Personal-use streaming services do not grant the public-performance rights bars and stores need. The cases on this map are not edge cases — they are the predictable outcome of using a personal license commercially. Run the 60-second risk check or cost out compliance.
Music that is yours, by design.
Entuned engineers original music for your space at the parameter level — tempo, key, lyrical density, energy arc — tied to your customer and your sales outcomes. PRO-indemnified the moment it plays. No ASCAP exposure. No BMI exposure. Free to start.
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