I've looked into this at length and I think I can answer a few of the points. (Insert standard "I am not a lawyer" disclaimer here.)

Guest guest, the exemptions are very few and very limited. For example, a performance license is not required for performance of a catalogued composition if it is used as part of a bona fide worship service. The exemption does NOT apply if the performance is taped or broadcast outside the immediate worship venue in any way. It also does not cover photocopied song sheets or overhead projectors (that would be a mechanical reproduction license, and those people do NOT have worship service exemptions -- in fact they aggressively go after worship groups for that). Just because the organizer is a non-profit does not qualify them for an exemption.

Guest at 3:01, I'm not sure what your last couple of sentences are getting at. "Most of songs are published"? Publishing is not the issue. The issue is whether the PROs have a composition listed in their catalog, and if they do not have it listed, they have no legal or moral business whatever trying to pry money out of someone for performing it.

Now if they DO have it in their catalog, it is because the composer (copyright owner) has delegated to them the legal right to collect, on the composer's behalf, royalties for each and every public performance. However they seem to be blind to the amorality of collecting license fees from venues on a micro-scale, and then basing their payouts on a macro-sampling scheme that takes no notice at all of said micro-venues. In other words, if I register some little composition of mine with ASCAP, and the only person who ever performs it is me, at small venues, I will never EVER get a penny of any of the supposed license fees back. Michael Jackson's estate and Jon Bonjovi will get what I supposedly earned. What a deal.

And on top of that, there is no real legal or moral justification for collecting license fees when there is no serious likelihood of copyrighted material being performed. "Just in case" someone sings 'Happy Birthday' or something? Rubbish.

-Glenn