ASCAP or BMI Music Licensing

Our HOA, a 55+ community of private homes with a clubhouse, has been investigating whether or not we need to pay license fees to ASCAP or BMI. We play music at parties, sourced from mostly CD's or various Internet sources, we have at our clubhouse ballroom 4 to 6 times a year. We are a non-profit corporation as well, just assessing homeowners to cover operating expenses and funding of reserves.

So have any of the other HOA's out there investigated this and what was the outcome.

Thanks

I found this link to work better for me than the one originally provided....

https://www.davis-stirling.com/HOME/Clubhouse-Music-Licensing

Actually, this page didn't exist in 2016. It has since replaced the other.

Here's another source on the subject - https://songdivision.com/do-i-need-a-music-license-for-my-events/

It does seem silly a non-profit would have to go through this, but I also remember eating at a small Ethiopian restaurant years ago and the owner mentioned she had a tape of Ethiopian music playing in the background and someone from ASCAP happened to be eating there and told her she'd have to stop doing it or paying a licensing fee. Some of the people in my group were attorneys and they noted (as does this article) that it's one thing if you're home and playing it - that's private use, but this was a public setting. I suppose you could argue your clubhouse is intended for residents, but if someone or several people bring in guests that don't live there, it may be considered public and so you'd have to ante up (such is capitalism).

From https://goodlaw.legal/hoa-parties-and-copyright-infringement-have-fun-but-be-safe/
:

"Can you play music or movies at an HOA gathering?

In many cases, no. Although the law carves out some exceptions, most community gatherings fall outside that exception. This falls under the umbrella of intellectual property law: music and movies are the intellectual property of their creator, and when you display them for public consumption, you must pay a fee for that “performance.” (17 U.S.C., §101(1).) There are limited exceptions for “no commercial gain” parties, but they’re narrow and confusing—for example, even if you hire a party band to play music and don’t charge an entrance fee, you may still be liable! In one case, a condominium association was found to have violated the law by playing copyrighted songs for a dance in its clubhouse, even when it did not charge a fee to attend. Instead, they asked for a donation, which the court still deemed an admission fee. (Hinton v. Mainlands of Tamarac, 611 F.Supp. 494 (S.D. Fla. 1985).)

Don’t worry, though—it’s still possible to play music and movies at an HOA gathering. You’ll just have to ask for or purchase a license."

For those with websites - be very careful of the photographs used. A community newsletter referenced a local news story and used a photograph from the internet that was copyrighted. That was several years ago before the new website and alot of content was public viewable. A letter was received, and the attorney's recommending just paying.