This Charlotte dance club is being sued for playing songs without paying artists

A Charlotte nightclub is being sued for playing songs without a license.

Tequila House, an uptown Latin dance club owned by Fifth Street Management, now faces a lawsuit for playing three songs it shouldn’t have over one weekend in 2023, according to court documents.

The songs, copyrighted under the American Society of Composer, Authors and Publishers, require bars to hold licenses to publicly perform or play them, according to the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court of the Western District Court of North Carolina on March 4.

ASCAP, a not-for-profit membership association, represents nearly 1 million songwriters, composers and music publishers and collects licensing fees venues must pay to host public performances of copyrighted songs to ensure its members receive royalties owed to them through those license fees.

ASCAP says the venue and its owners were aware that unauthorized performances would constitute copyright infringement. That’s because Tequila House once held a license bought in 2018. In 2022, ASCAP terminated the license because the venue stopped paying licensing fees.

Tequila House did not respond to The Charlotte Observer’s calls and emails requesting comment on the lawsuit.

All three infringements happened on Sept. 28, 2023, and Sept. 29, 2023, according to the lawsuit.

The 2004 song “Tipsy,” 2005 song “Un Beso,” and 2016 song “Heroe Favorito” were played, and royalties never made it to the artists’ pockets.

According to ASCAP, the club would have avoided the lawsuit had it paid its license fees.

It’s unclear how much Tequila House was previously paying ASCAP and how the organization learned of the three alleged violations.