[UPDATE BELOW] Here we go again! Bruce Springsteen, barstool musician and voice of the working class, is suing a bar. The Daily News reports that he's the face behind the latest copyright infringement lawsuit. more ›

Well, they didn't knock him on the noggin like the Tony Awards, but they did play his song "Talk Dirty to Me" without permission. Cityfile reports on the latest in ASCAP/BMI lawsuits filed against New York clubs, saying "Earlier this week, BMI and a collection of labels and artists filed suit against Pianos on the Lower East Side" for playing that tune and others. The companies have been on a rampage, attacking Jay-Z's 40/40 club, Hiro, Cafe Wha? and others, but the site makes a good point: "securing the rights isn't all that expensive. A blanket license from ASCAP, for example, supposedly goes for as little as a dollar a day." Maybe a little more; when we talked to ASCAP VP Vincent Candilora, he told us "the average annual license fee for all bars, restaurants, nightclubs and similar establishments is less than $2.50 a day. With a maximum annual cost of $912.50." Well, the club certainly charges enough for their drinks to cover that cost, no? more ›

Times they are a changin'. Cafe Wha?, the Macdougal Street club that put many legends (including Dylan, Springsteen, Hendrix, even Bill Cosby) on the map by giving them a start on their stage, is being sued for playing one of the musician's songs without a license. The Post is reporting that the venue is "named in a pair of copyright-infringement suits charging unlicensed performances of Billy Roberts' 'Hey Joe' and more than a dozen other hits." BMI and ASCAP (who busted Jay Z's 40/40 Club in 2007) are behind the suits, which could yield up to $30,000 per claim (of which there are 16 total). But should they turn a blind eye to the legendary club that's managed to keep its doors open in the now high-rent Greenwich Village? more ›