Karaoke DJ Threatened With an Audit of His Music

Hello, forgive me if this is not posted in the correct section.

I host karaoke for a living in AZ. I legally own all my music (I have physical discs for every song I use.)

A few days ago I received a call stating that I had 5 days to respond to an audit that had been done on my karaoke show. It said that I had to receive and respond to a letter in that same period of time or that a complaint would be filed with federal district court, and that he was sending it to my email. I never received any email. The only information he seems to have on me is that which I have posted on my business facebook, and no one ever approached me at a job inquiring about the legality of my music. I have no idea what grounds they feel they can bring me to court on.
Here's where I need a bit of advice.

Do I have to respond to this phone call? If someone approaches me at a gig do I have to let them search my computer? If I do receive the letter in my email do I have to acknowledge it, or can I ignore it because its in e-mail format. I have no idea who this person is, I've never heard of the company he works for (nor could I find any credible information about it on the internet, or with the better business bureau.), should I do anything he asks?

About a year ago there was a company going around trying to extort money from hosts with threats of legal action. As far as I know, suits were filed, but no one ever went to court. A part of me feels like this is the same thing. I have nothing to hide, but at the same time I'm not going to turn my computer over to a complete stranger so he can feel at ease about the legality of my files.

What are my rights in this situation, and what kind of power do they have?

Thank you for your time.

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Do I have to respond to this phone call?

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Nope.

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If someone approaches me at a gig do I have to let them search my computer?

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Only if they are a law enforcement officer with a valid search warrant.

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If I do receive the letter in my email do I have to acknowledge it, or can I ignore it because its in e-mail format.

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Neither respond nor ignore. Rather, print it out and take it to an attorney.

I've never heard of "audits" for karaoke shows.

Which type of lawyer would handle this type of situation?

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Quoting LawResearcherMissy

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I've never heard of "audits" for karaoke shows.

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I have heard of something that might be considered an audit for a DJ. I would be extremely doubtful the OP is experiencing that here though. Sounds more like a scam.

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Do I have to respond to this phone call?

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Who would you respond to? Did they provide a name, business name, phone number, anything?

Generally, a phone call is not how a person is contacted. Until/unless you get something in writing, I would not do anything about this at the moment. If/when you get something in writing, then review the letter and make a decision based on that, not the phone call.

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Quoting jk

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Who would you respond to? Did they provide a name, business name, phone number, anything?

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He did provide his name, a case #, and APS & Associates as the company he was calling for. He left a number to be reached at if I wanted to receive the letter at a different e-mail address.

APS

It sounds like a lot of other companies that sign up clients for which they hunt down and attempt to obtain payments due to copyright infringement.

at this point, I would not do anything until you receive some written statement or demand. I do not know why they would have contacted you unless you had downloaded music illegally. Other than that, at best, they are on a fishing expedition of which I would refuse to be a part of.

one comment; do you realize the simply purchasing music does not in itself allow you to use it for commercial purposes? You must obtain the proper rights to do so. If you do not have such permission, figuring that out would be as simple as listening to you play or looking at a list of songs you have and comparing that to having obtained the proper permission from the appropriate source.

As far as rights are concerned in AZ the bar pays ascap/bmi a yearly royalty rate and that is suppose to make it so any music can be played. There is no individual license available for dj's here.
Even so, maybe that is why they are after me. I have done no illegal activity but I do use a computer and I have heard of people being singled out for just that reason.
Would they need to serve a cease and desist prior to taking further action?

Would I be looking at possible jailtime?

this has nothing to do with Arizona. Obtaining rights is a federal issue.
If you are an independent contractor and the music you use is yours, you have to have obtained the rights to use the music you use in your business. What the bar pays for music played at their establishment does not cover your liabilities.

Your only protection under their license would be if you were an employee using their music. Since you stated you own all your own music, I take it that is not the situation.

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Would they need to serve a cease and desist prior to taking further action?

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Would I be looking at possible jailtime?

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It is possible in certain situations but what you are facing right now is the civil side of things. The government has to press criminal charges.

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§ 506. Criminal offenses6

(a) Criminal Infringement. —

(1) In general. — Any person who willfully infringes a copyright shall be punished as provided under section 2319 of title 18, if the infringement was committed —

(A) for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain;

(B) by the reproduction or distribution, including by electronic means, during any 180-day period, of 1 or more copies or phonorecords of 1 or more copyrighted works, which have a total retail value of more than $1,000; or

(C) by the distribution of a work being prepared for commercial distribution, by making it available on a computer network accessible to members of the public, if such person knew or should have known that the work was intended for commercial distribution.

(2) Evidence. — For purposes of this subsection, evidence of reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work, by itself, shall not be sufficient to establish willful infringement of a copyright.

(3) Definition. — In this subsection, the term “work being prepared for commercial distribution” means —

(A) a computer program, a musical work, a motion picture or other audiovisual work, or a sound recording, if, at the time of unauthorized distribution —

(i) the copyright owner has a reasonable expectation of commercial distribution; and

(ii) the copies or phonorecords of the work have not been commercially distributed; or

(B) a motion picture, if, at the time of unauthorized distribution, the motion picture —

(i) has been made available for viewing in a motion picture exhibition facility; and

(ii) has not been made available in copies for sale to the general public in the United States in a format intended to permit viewing outside a motion picture exhibition facility.

(b)(b) Forfeiture, Destruction, and Restitution.—Forfeiture, destruction, and restitution relating to this section shall be subject to section 2323 of title 18, to the extent provided in that section, in addition to any other similar remedies provided by law.

(c) Fraudulent Copyright Notice. — Any person who, with fraudulent intent, places on any article a notice of copyright or words of the same purport that such person knows to be false, or who, with fraudulent intent, publicly distributes or imports for public distribution any article bearing such notice or words that such person knows to be false, shall be fined not more than $2,500.

(d) Fraudulent Removal of Copyright Notice. — Any person who, with fraudulent intent, removes or alters any notice of copyright appearing on a copy of a copyrighted work shall be fined not more than $2,500.

(e) False Representation. — Any person who knowingly makes a false representation of a material fact in the application for copyright registration provided for by section 409, or in any written statement filed in connection with the application, shall be fined not more than $2,500.

(f) Rights of Attribution and Integrity. — Nothing in this section applies to infringement of the rights conferred by section 106A(a).

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3120 West Carefree Hwy. Ste. 1 is a UPS Store. "Suite 1-301" is most likely a post office box in that store. They do appear to be licensed (#1563294). This presumably is the letter (or something close to the letter) you were supposed to receive; this is what they apparently mean by an audit.

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Quoting coolkatk

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As far as rights are concerned in AZ the bar pays ascap/bmi a yearly royalty rate and that is suppose to make it so any music can be played. There is no individual license available for dj's here.

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Licenses with MBI and ASCAP cover music within their libraries. Even if the songs you are playing are in their libraries, the Karaoke version - with the lyrics that display - may not be. I have not investigated, but I doubt that a company that produced Karaoke versions of songs for commercial use would license those versions through ASCAP and BMI. So if in fact you are pirating Karaoke CD's and DVD's to play in bars on the assumption that the bar's license covers you against a copyright violation, you're very likely wrong. Further, even if we assume that the bar held such a license, it would not excuse your pirating the music and storing it on your computer. (Assuming any of that occurred.)

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Quoting coolkatk

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Even so, maybe that is why they are after me.

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If they found evidence, or their client found evidence, that you're using pirated copies of the client's music, that would presumably be why they're after you. (They may be misinterpreting something they found - or they may go after every puff of smoke on the principle that 'Where there's smoke, there's fire.")

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Quoting coolkatk

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Would they need to serve a cease and desist prior to taking further action?

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No.

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Quoting coolkatk

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Would I be looking at possible jailtime?

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jk posted the law, but I expect that is about money.

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Quoting Mr. Knowitall

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jk posted the law, but I expect that is about money.

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In editing my post, apparently I remove the statement I had typed that said exactly that. The folks contacting you are wanting money. If they wanted to have you prosecuted, I believe they would act quite differently.