Swift Sues Sports Bar After Sting Operation | TMZ.com

According to a report on the TMZ website, Taylor Swift has supposedly joined a lawsuit against a small Idaho sports bar called The Sports Cellar. The website says that song rights managament company BMI sent out an 'agent' to the sports bar and found that it was playing music, which includes Taylor Swift music, without paying royalties for it. Included in the lawsuit are gasp Karaoke tracks.

What is interesting about this case is that it's not likely to reap much, if any, money for BMI or Swift so why even bother in the first place. While the bar probably should've joined Muzak for their music or a jukebox server, it's not as if many small town places don't do the same thing The Sports Cellar was doing. Wouldn't it have been better to try and work an agreement out with this small bar before suing them. Also, the only reason anyone's hearing about it is because Taylor Swift's name is mentioned in the lawsuit.

And if one of ASCAP and BMI agents happen to roam around Mango or any small bars here in the Philippines, they wold probably sue them too for playing their music.

Ridiculous as it is, it's actually in the law that an unauthorized broadcasting of a certain licensed material is prohibited. You can read even read that on the inside of a CD or cassette.

But many independent artists don't mind it that much and even maj0r label artists like My Morning Jacket(EMI), Kings of Leon(SONY), and Death Cab For Cutie(WARNER/ATLANTIC) find it ridiculous.