Don - your point is well taken. No one should be handing money in a brown paper bag to anyone who simply claims to be part of ASCAP. The payments are more structured, and I really think the instances like the one you mentioned are relatively few these days.   Every should be careful.

The "professional threat men" are basically bounty hunters. I do not believe that ASCAP has anyone on their payroll that goes around looking for venues with music. The bounty hunters will work with ASCAP to get a cut of what they can collect.

The "whistle why you work" and the idiots with speakers in their cars are not normally applicable - no one goes to a workplace or a business just to hear a worker whistling to themselves, but if you can make the case that they do - then certainly it would fit the criteria. If the addition of music is done purposely to please the customer, then it would fit the criteria for requiring payment.