quote:

A 73-year-old bar manager who illegally performed copyrighted tunes by the Beatles and other artists on the harmonica was arrested Thursday on suspicion of violating the Copyright Law, police said.

Arrested was Masami Toyoda, of Tokyo's Nerima-ku. He has reportedly admitted to the allegations against him.

Investigators accuse Toyoda of illegally performing 33 songs such as the Beatles' songs "Here, There and Everywhere" and "Yesterday," whose copyrights are managed by the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers.

quote:

"If you have a bar and local musicians play their own music, and aren't members of ASCAP, you shouldn't have to pay ASCAP a royalty. But what happens when the local band you've booked plays a cover tune? Michael Dorr, owner of Portland, Oregon bar Imbibe, knows. When a cover band in his bar played "Wind Cries Mary" along with two other cover tunes, ASCAP slapped him with a lawsuit that could cost in excess of $100,000. A sum which would drive Dorr's neighborhood watering hole out of business. "