A group of four radio broadcasters is now facing copyright infringement claims brought by ASCAP, which alleges that its members’ songs were aired without the required permissions. Named in the litigation are Haugo Broadcasting Inc., Spoon River Media, LLC, Taylor Communications and Barry Lunderville Radio, together responsible for 15 stations spread across South Dakota, Indiana, Mississippi and New Hampshire. According to ASCAP, the underlying licensing conflict with these companies has dragged on for years.
A Combined 15 Stations Left Without Coverage
According to ASCAP, each of the four companies declined multiple opportunities to renew its license and settle owed fees, yet kept airing songs from ASCAP’s catalog without securing permission or paying for it. Before turning to the courts, the organization says it cancelled every one of the broadcasters’ licenses, taking that step only after efforts to settle things outside of litigation went nowhere.
ASCAP made the litigation public on June 9, noting that the four broadcasting companies collectively run 15 stations. Not every station was named in the available materials, though the disputes span commercial radio operations in four separate states.
ASCAP Describes the Filings as Standard Practice
Paul Williams, who chairs ASCAP’s board, serves as its president, and works as a songwriter himself, emphasized that music plays a foundational role in radio programming and noted that the vast majority of stations stay compliant with licensing rules. He explained that an ASCAP blanket license gives stations a straightforward, affordable way to use music lawfully while ensuring songwriters and composers are paid what they’re due.
Chief Legal and Business Affairs Officer and EVP Clara Kim stated that pursuing litigation isn’t something ASCAP does casually, but that the organization owes it to its members to act when a broadcaster won’t pay for the music driving its programming. Per ASCAP, the stations involved had gone without paying for multiple years.
The Mechanics of Radio Licensing at ASCAP
With a roster exceeding 1.1 million songwriters, composers and music publishers, ASCAP grants performance licenses to a range of businesses that use music commercially, radio stations among them. Roughly 90 percent of the licensing revenue the organization brings in gets returned to its songwriter, composer and publisher members as royalties, it says.
The bulk of commercial radio stations in the U.S. obtain their ASCAP licenses through a deal struck between ASCAP and the Radio Music License Committee (RMLC). This blanket arrangement opens up a catalog of more than 20 million ASCAP-controlled works to stations, with pricing tied to a percentage of each station’s revenue.
In August 2025, ASCAP and the RMLC finalized a settlement that pushed royalty rates higher for close to 10,000 commercial terrestrial radio stations nationwide, building in incremental percentage-of-revenue increases from year to year. BMI struck a comparable deal with the RMLC around the same time, calling it the biggest radio rate hike in the organization’s history.
Different PROs, Different Licenses
ASCAP points out that stations airing music generally need licenses from several performing rights organizations at once — ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and Global Music Rights among them — since holding a license from one does not extend coverage to the rest, and each organization is free to bring its own infringement claims against non-paying stations.
Federal copyright statutes require broadcasters to secure clearance from rights holders before playing their music, ASCAP noted, adding that the four companies named in the suits had been airing its members’ work without permission or compensation for several years running.
Litigation Came Only After Resolution Efforts Failed
ASCAP maintains that it pursued every reasonable avenue to settle the dispute before filing suit. It also describes itself as the sole not-for-profit performing rights organization in the United States.
ASCAP traces its roots to 1914 and operates under a governing board made up of songwriter, composer and publisher members. Headquartered in New York, the organization licenses its catalog to streaming platforms, TV and radio broadcasters, and physical venues like bars, restaurants and retail shops. For 2025, ASCAP reports paying out a record $1.76 billion in royalties to its songwriter, composer and publisher members.
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