Restaurant ordered to pay BMI $30K for "playing four unlicensed songs"

I'm a bit confused. Playing a song in a restaurant should be considered a public performance. While you can pay the yearly licensing fee instead of paying the statutory rate, you should also be able to pay the statutory rate for a public performance which shouldn't be more than a couple dollars for four playing songs in an average sized restaurant.

I spent a couple years as a tour manager(baby sitting bands on the road) and this write up seems a little naive.

Not because it isn't ridiculous that BMI wants that money, but because I've been in a handful of bars with walls COVERED in letters from ASCAP. This isn't new or uncommon. A mix CD can get you in a lot of trouble.