I know the practice is not very accurate. I am a member of ASCAP as a performer and as a publisher. I know my published songs play on the radio pretty widely and regularly and my songs are played as well by a few folks in public venues. I have not received payment of any license fee for these performances - and I am NOT surprised. That is because my music plays in the comparatively small world of Folk/Bluegrass and Celtic. We do not have large audiences and so my "sampled" plays have not reached a high enough multiplier. No worries, though. I am happy it plays at all and I suspect someday it'll catch up to me.

;-)