You thought the RIAA was bad? It appears that ASCAP is also joining the Evil club.
The whole process of detemining who has the right to collect money for anything music-related is fairly complex, but the way they’re going about it here is outright extortion. “No, we haven’t proven you’ve violated any licenses, but pay us anyway or we’ll sue you into oblivion.” Even if they could win, the legal fees alone would bankrupt most clubs and bars.
It’s reminiscent of how Microsoft would force computer vendors to pay for DOS licenses for every machine sold, even if it didn’t ship with DOS on it…