fox4zero, why should I or my employer pay royalties to anyone when I sing songs that have been around for many decades and in some cases for centuries, no one knows who the composer is, and I am playing and singing my own arrangements?

By the way, if the coffeehouse owner isn't making his expenses and a reasonable profit to make it worth his time and effort, he'll probably close up shop. And I, not to mention other singers who perform there, am out of a job.

Why should ASCAP or BMI have a right to collect royalties under those circumstance? Who are they rightfully collecting those royalties for?

A lttle reality check, there.

Don Firth