Arlington Coffee Shop Sued Over Music License Fees

ARLINGTON, VA — The owners of Northside Social Coffee & Wine in Arlington are being sued by a group representing songwriters for allegedly playing songs without permission.

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) said the lawsuit addresses the "unauthorized public performance of its members’ copyrighted musical works."

"Our goal is to have businesses comply with the law so that our members can be paid for use of their work, and the establishments sued today have decided not to compensate songwriters," ASCAP Executive Vice President of Licensing Stephanie Ruyle said. "By filing these actions, ASCAP is standing up for songwriters whose creative work brings great value to all businesses that publicly perform their music.”

ASCAP ensures its members can earn a living from their art by licensing the public performances of their songs, collecting those license fees and distributing royalties to its members. The group is a membership associated that represents more than 650,000 independent songwriters, composers and music publishers.

ASCAP filed 11 separate copyright infringement actions against bars and restaurants nationwide, including:

• 5-D Steakhouse and Lounge (Yorktown, TX)
• Brisbi's Lakefront Restaurant & Bar (New Orleans, LA
• Draught (Charlotte, NC)
• GoodFellas Cabaret (North Charleston, SC)
• Ham's Restaurant (Greensboro, NC)
• Northside Social Coffee & Wine (Arlington, VA)
• Tailfins Ale House & Oyster Bar (Destin, FL)
• The Dam Bar (Port Angeles, WA)
• The DL Lounge (New York City)
• The Savoy Entertainment Center (Inglewood, CA)
• Time-Out Sports Bar and Grill (Las Vegas, NV)

>> Patch reached out to Northside and has not heard back from them. We will update this post if we do.

Like us on Facebook for more local news:

Photo via Shutterstock