I can understand the principle of royalties for records and airplay. It seems reasonable for a songwriter or artist to receive a share of the profits if money is changing hands on a commercial scale. At live gigs - unless huge sums of money are being generated - this is not the case at all. Indeed, the expense of collecting the fees far outweighs any potential benefit to songwriters. You are usually only obliged to pay for something, which benefits you directly. It is performers who fill small pubs, clubs and cafés, not songwriters. No wonder the owners of these venues resent paying fees to songwriters! In practice, the cost of collection of royalties for live gigs far outweighs any advantages to us. In fact, it is costing us gigs.
A few months ago I got a statement from GEMA to tell me that I had earned a few cents because someone, somewhere had sung "Never Going to Drink Again". The postage alone cost several times that amount. Someone also had to be paid to collect that information.
Expecting to be paid songwriting royalties from small gigs is akin to a child expecting payment, because his or her picture is up on the wall. Let us just be grateful to get our songs out at all. No one else is making money out of us. It is only sensible to expect financial rewards from songs, which are making money on a commercial scale.