This is one of the issues that's been addressed repeatedly by the North American Folk Alliance. I've not been active with them for a number of yeras, but I can remember sessions on dealing with this sort of hassle during at least three of the yearly conventions, dating back perhaps 15 years, that I attended in the past.

One of the most outrageous & egregious bits of hassle was going after contra dance venues by ASCAP. It was somewhat amusing watching an ASCAP guy farble his way through the session with the representatve from the Country Dance & Song Society there. The ASCAP guy just couldn't get his mind around folks doing tradional dances to traditional tunes. I hope nobody told him about modern dances or he might have seen about getting a royalty from that.

It won't improve the situation, and it prolly won't make you feel any better, but you will have groans of recognition about this sort of thing if you ever read Elizabeth Scarborough's SONGKILLER trilogy of fantasy novels. The fictionalized ASCAP guys get to be played by genuine devils!!

Try Folk Annoyance..er. Alliance and CDSS for formats for dealing with the berks & best of luck doing it!

Joanne in Cleveland