ASCAP Seeks Six-Figure Judgment In Radio Music Licensing Fight.

ASCAP is asking a federal judge to hit a New Hampshire radio group with $315,000 in damages and bar its stations from airing music in the organization’s repertory after the broadcasters failed to respond to a copyright infringement lawsuit filed in June.

Music publishers represented by ASCAP have filed a motion for default judgment against White Mountains Broadcasting and several related companies that operate as Radio New England Broadcast Group, along with owner Brian Lunderville. The motion says the defendants were served July 7 but never answered the complaint or requested additional time. The court clerk entered a default Aug. 5.

The publishers are asking the U.S. District Court in New Hampshire for $45,000 for each of seven alleged copyright infringements, for a total of $315,000. They’re also seeking $3,411 in attorneys’ fees and costs and a permanent injunction prohibiting the stations from airing any ASCAP-controlled music without a license or other authorization.

The filing puts a dollar figure on the licensing dispute for the first time. ASCAP says the broadcasters owed approximately $173,000 in past-due license fees when their license was formally terminated May 31, 2024. It calculates that another $45,000 in fees would have been due since then, bringing the total to roughly $218,000.

ASCAP argues the penalty should be significantly larger than simply paying what the stations allegedly owed in the first place. Citing an earlier copyright decision, it says damages should make clear “that it costs less to obey the copyright law than to violate” it. The $315,000 ASCAP is seeking is roughly one-and-a-half times the $218,000 it says the broadcasters would have paid had they remained properly licensed.

The case involves classic rock “The Outlaw” WOXX/WOTX/WKDR (97.1/93.7/1490), “Oldies 1400” WLTN, hot AC “Kiss 102.3” WXXS and hot AC “Kiss” WMOU (1230). ASCAP says the stations had become delinquent on their licensing fees and alleges efforts to resolve the balance stretched back several years. The filing says ASCAP ultimately sent a formal notice in April 2024 warning that the license would be terminated unless the past-due balance was paid by the end of May.

ASCAP says monitoring conducted this spring shows the music kept playing on a “near-continuous basis throughout the day, every day.” Recordings of WOTX-FM on April 7 identified 25 different songs fully controlled by ASCAP, while monitoring of WOXX-FM on April 28 found another 16. ASCAP says the monitoring showed an average of about three fully ASCAP-controlled works airing each broadcast hour.

Seven of those performances became the specific infringement claims in the lawsuit. On WOXX-FM, ASCAP cites The J. Geils Band’s “Just Can’t Wait,” Styx’s “Renegade,” The Doors’ “L.A. Woman” and Bad Company’s “Burning Sky.” On WOTX-FM, it cites Asia’s “Heat of the Moment,” Electric Light Orchestra’s “Out in the Cold” and Mick Smiley’s “Kiss Me Deadly.”

ASCAP argues the alleged violations were willful, saying the broadcasters knew they lacked a license but continued airing its members’ music. It says the seven songs cited in the complaint represent only a fraction of the unlicensed performances it believes occurred.

The New Hampshire case was one of four copyright actions ASCAP launched against radio groups in June. It also sued Haugo Broadcasting in South Dakota, Taylor Communications in Mississippi and Spoon River Media in Indiana.

The Spoon River case has since ended, with the music publishers voluntarily dismissing their claims after an apparent out-of-court settlement. The New Hampshire case has instead moved toward a potential judgment, although the judge has not yet ruled on ASCAP’s request for damages or an injunction.