Typical for a Friday night, music was blaring, people were dancing. But it was only the investigator who was keeping track of each individual song being played.
Especially two: Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and J-Kwon’s “Tipsy.”
Those two songs, and their respective writers, are central to a copyright infringement case filed in U.S. District Court on Monday. The suit, filed by ASCAP, claims that Rum Runners owners—Ronald Leonhardt, Jr., and Jawbone Partners—have refused to pay annual dues to the music licensing agency for years.
ASCAP reps made “more than eighty” calls and emails, the complaint states, in an attempt to prod Leonhardt and Jawbone into agreeing to a license that would, as with any bar playing music, keep Rum Runners away from any kind of copyright problems.
“We’re not looking to put Rum Runners out of business,” Jackson Wagener, ASCAP’s senior VP for business and legal affairs, told Scene. “All we’re really trying to do is generate a discussion with the owners, and get them to the table. Our goal is to ensure music creators and the songwriters who made the music are paid a fair compensation.”
The one million songwriters registered with ASCAP get 90 cents of every dollar paid to the agency for licensing fees, Wagener said. Paying those fees allow everyday bars and restaurants to play about 20 million songs to patrons in a legal format that’s been commonplace since the 1910s.
Along with Rum Runners, 14 others bars or restaurants were hit with copyright infringement suits in the past week, including Lori’s Roadhouse in West Chester, Ohio. Typically ASCAP files a dozen to hundreds of suits of such kind per year.
A spokesperson for Leonhardt declined comment on the suit.
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This article appears in Feb 27 – Mar 12, 2025.