(Forbes) - Writing for winebusiness.com in December 2015 Emily Rasmussen's headline asked wineries with music in the tasting room if they were breaking the law. They probably were.

Performing rights organizations (PRO) like the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), and SESAC, formerly the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers exist because musical compositions constitute intellectual property which belongs to its artists, the creators of the works. Using that property implies a moral as well as legal obligation on the part of the user to seek and obtain proper permission. ASCAP boasts about 600,000 members representing 10.5 million copyrights, BMI claims 750,000 members and 12 million copyrights and SESAC cites 400,000 copyrights on behalf of 30,000 members.