Live Music and Cover Bands: Who Owes, and the "Originals-Only" Myth
Live music is the clearest way a venue takes on a music-licensing obligation, and it is the pattern courts see most. The obligation is the venue's, it applies across every songwriter's catalog, and the common exits ("the band handles it," "they only play originals") work far less often than the results you have been reading suggest.
What You Need to Know
- A live performance of copyrighted music is a public performance, and the establishment presenting it owes the fee, not the band. The public-performance right belongs to the songwriters and publishers, and their agents (the PROs) enforce it against the venue (17 U.S.C. §106(4)).
- It applies across catalogs. A cover band works through many different owners’ songs in one night, so one night’s set can implicate several PROs at once.
- The size exemption does not reach live music at any size. 17 U.S.C. §110(5)(B) exempts only a broadcast radio or TV signal; recorded and live music fall outside it in a 900-square-foot room and a 9,000-square-foot one alike.
- “They only play originals” saves you only under strict conditions: the repertoire must be genuinely 100% owned by the performers, not registered with any PRO, contain no covers, and play alongside no other recorded or broadcast music anywhere in the venue.
- A band contract or a “we’re licensed” assurance can move the cost, not the liability. The venue remains the party the copyright owner sues.
- If a licensing letter or call has already arrived, the response steps are in how to respond to a PRO demand letter.
Why the Venue Owes, Not the Band
The right at issue is the public-performance right: the exclusive right of the copyright owner “to perform the copyrighted work publicly” for musical works (17 U.S.C. §106(4)). A performance is “public” when it happens at a place open to the public, which a bar, restaurant, or taproom hosting a band plainly is. The venue is presenting that performance to its patrons, so the venue is the party that needs authorization from the owners of the songs performed.
This is why “we made the band sign that they carry all the licenses” does not close the question. A contract like that can shift the cost between the venue and the act as a private matter. It does not change who the copyright owner is entitled to pursue, and courts have held venue owners personally and jointly liable for the unlicensed performances in their rooms (BMI v. Evie’s Tavern Ellenton, Inc., 772 F.3d 1254 (11th Cir. 2014)). The rule is that the establishment is liable; how liability is split between the venue and the band, and the specific tests courts apply, are covered in who is liable for music licensing.
What this means for you: booking a band that promises it is “covered” does not remove your name from a future demand. Treat the licensing question as yours to answer regardless of what the act tells you.
Live Music Is Outside the Size Exemption
The only exemption that turns on square footage, 17 U.S.C. §110(5)(B), applies solely to the communication of a broadcast radio or television signal. It does not reach a live performance, no matter how small the room. A common hope, that a venue “under the small-business exemption” can host live bands, does not survive the statute’s opening clause: the exemption covers a transmission “originated by a radio or television broadcast station licensed as such by the Federal Communications Commission,” and a band on your stage is neither.
If your question is really about the rest of the music in your building (a radio, a TV, a background system), that is where the size and equipment thresholds actually operate. The §110(5)(B) exemption screener walks the source-by-source test for those.
The “Originals-Only” Carve-Out: When It Actually Works
There is a real version of “originals only means no license,” and it is narrow. The public-performance right belongs to the owner of a work. If the only music performed is music the performers wholly own, no other owner’s right is implicated, so there is no third party to license. That is the entire basis for the carve-out, and it is why the conditions below are not optional details. Each one is a way the “no other owner is involved” premise breaks.
Does “originals only” actually exempt you?
The carve-out holds only when all of the following are true:
- Every song is wholly owned by the people performing it. A single co-writer, publisher, or administrator holding a share means a third party’s permission is in play, even if the singer wrote the melody. “The band wrote it” is not the same as “no one else owns a piece of it.”
- The works are not registered with or licensed to a PRO. Musicians often register their own originals with a PRO to collect royalties. Once they do, performing those songs is performing that PRO’s repertoire, and the venue is back inside the licensing question.
- No covers, not even one. An encore standard, a guest who sits in, a crowd request the band honors, an open-mic performer who swaps in a hit: any of these is a performance of someone else’s work, and it is enough on its own.
- No other recorded or broadcast music plays anywhere in the venue. A house playlist before doors, walk-on music, between-set tracks, TVs with sound, a trivia or bingo bed: each is its own public performance with its own owners, and each defeats the “nothing here is owned by anyone else” premise.
All four hold → no PRO license is needed. Any one breaks → the venue owes.
The practical difficulty is the last two conditions. Most rooms cannot hold them for a full night: the PA is playing something between sets, a TV is on, or a band closes with a song the crowd knows. An originals-only policy is real protection only in a room that controls every sound source, in writing and in practice, and can prove it if a licensing representative asks.
What this means for you: a genuinely all-original bill is not a loophole to reach for, it is an operational standard to hold. If you cannot lock down every other music source in the building, the policy does not do the work you want it to.
Brewery and Taproom Live Events
Breweries and taprooms sit under the same rule as bars and restaurants. A taproom that adds a live-music cadence (an acoustic series, a weekend cover act, an open-mic night) is presenting public performances, and the obligation is the taproom’s. Guild checklists and taproom-operations guides that treat music as part of setting up events are pointing at a real cost: the recurring live schedule that draws a crowd is exactly the activity PROs monitor through venues’ own event listings.
The taproom’s other music counts too. The playlist over the taproom speakers and the TVs at the bar are separate performances from the band on the patio, each with its own owners. A taproom running an all-original acoustic set is in the same position as any other venue: the originals-only conditions above apply in full, including the requirement that no other recorded or broadcast music plays in the space.
Music Bingo and Trivia Nights
Music bingo, “name that tune,” and music-driven trivia are easy to file mentally as games rather than performances, and that is the mistake. These formats play recorded music (song clips, full tracks as questions, background beds) to the public, which is a public performance of those compositions in the same way a playlist is. The obligation does not turn on whether a band is on stage.
Two points matter for these nights. First, a bingo or trivia vendor may tell you its service “includes licensing.” Sometimes that covers the vendor’s own use and not your venue’s public performance, so confirm exactly what a vendor’s license covers before relying on it. Second, because the music here is recorded rather than live, the source-by-source analysis for recorded and streamed music is what applies. The §110(5)(B) exemption screener and the page on streaming and recorded music carry that detail.
Recording or Livestreaming a Live Night
Recording a set or streaming it to Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube reaches beyond the public-performance right this page covers. A live-in-the-room performance implicates the performance right; capturing or transmitting it also touches the reproduction and synchronization rights in the composition, and, for any recording used, rights in the master. Those are separate permissions, negotiated with publishers and rights holders directly, and a PRO blanket license does not grant them.
The recording, sync, and master-licensing chain is a separate area of law, and no general answer fits every setup. If you plan to record or livestream music nights, treat it as a distinct licensing question and get advice specific to what you intend to capture and where you intend to post it. The in-room performance obligation is only the first layer.
What It Costs, and What to Do Next
The obligation is real, and it is manageable. The venue’s route to compliance is a blanket license from each PRO whose catalog its performances reach, which grants the right to publicly perform any work in that PRO’s repertoire for a flat annual fee. Because no single PRO represents every songwriter, a venue with a full live schedule typically needs more than one. The breakdown of the four PROs and what a license runs is in which PROs apply and what a license costs.
The reason to resolve this before it resolves itself is the gap between the two numbers. A venue’s annual licenses generally run from a few hundred to low four figures. Statutory damages for infringement run from $750 to $30,000 per work, and up to $150,000 per work where the infringement is willful (17 U.S.C. §504(c)). Courts have entered five-figure judgments against venues over a handful of songs; how enforcement escalates and what those judgments have looked like is set out in how PRO enforcement works.
If licensing every source is not the right answer for your room, the honest alternatives (changing what plays, dropping to genuinely exempt sources, or holding a true originals-only standard) are laid out in your real options. For the overall map of who contacts you and how the process runs, start at the music-licensing overview. If karaoke is part of your week, the split between the host’s obligation and the venue’s is covered in karaoke: who owes and who pays.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a license if the band only plays original songs?
Only if the originals are genuinely the whole picture. The carve-out holds when every song is wholly owned by the performers, none of those works is registered with a PRO, no covers are played, and no other recorded or broadcast music plays anywhere in the venue. If a house playlist runs between sets or the band closes with one cover, the performance is licensable and the venue owes.
Is the venue or the band responsible for music licensing?
The venue. The public-performance right is enforced against the establishment presenting the music to the public, and courts have held venue owners personally liable. A contract making the band responsible can shift the cost between you and the act, but it does not change who the copyright owners can pursue. The tests courts use are covered in who is liable for music licensing.
Does a small venue need a license for live music?
Yes. The size exemption in 17 U.S.C. §110(5)(B) applies only to a broadcast radio or TV signal, not to live performances, so square footage does not exempt live music at any size. Size and equipment thresholds matter for a radio or TV in your space, which the exemption screener walks through.
Do I need a license for music bingo or trivia night?
Generally yes, because these nights play recorded music to the public, which is a public performance of the compositions. The format being a game does not change that. If a vendor says its service includes licensing, confirm whether that covers your venue’s performance or only the vendor’s own use.
Does a brewery or taproom need a music license for live music?
Yes. Breweries and taprooms are treated the same as bars and restaurants. Hosting cover acts, open mics, or any performance of others’ songs creates a public-performance obligation the taproom owes, and the taproom’s own playlist and TVs count as separate performances alongside the stage.
Can I livestream or record my live music night?
That is a separate licensing question from the in-room performance. Recording or streaming touches reproduction, synchronization, and master rights that a PRO blanket license does not cover, negotiated with publishers and rights holders directly. Get advice specific to what you plan to capture and where you plan to post it before relying on your performance license alone.