There was a Pacific Northwest restaurant owner. His place was quite small. Being an ex musician himself, he liked featuring live music in his establishment. No, not all of the music featured in his place was public domain. He liked blues music but featured a variety of styles from bluegrass, folk, swing and rock.

His own musical background was quite impressive. He had been a drummer and had toured with several major rock and blues bands. The experience ultimately left him deaf in one ear.

I played a number of shows at his place. He eventually asked if he could jam along on drums. Since I played primarily acoustic oriented folk/blues, his rock background was kind of a strong contrast, that didn't quite fit but he was, after all, the owner. I didn't want to bite the hand feeding me. We organized a combo of musical misfits, a narcoleptic lead guitarist, a marginally talented sax player and offered several shows as a band. Our events packed the house with standing room only audiences.

Then, one day, one of the professional threat guys came by to try to make him pay up. They told him, that if he didn't pay them, they would sue him for $10,000. He informed them of all of the various bands that he had played with in the past and told them that he had not received a dime in royalty compensation from them. Then, he told them that he was going to sue them for $10,000 for not providing him with any royalties. They never came back.

In litigious matters, it's not the threat of your size but the size of your threat that matters.