During my on air days, we had to write down each song we played about a week each year but by the 1980s, that mostly ended. In the early 1990s I worked a mostly Jones Satellite Soft AC station. When ASCAP, I think it was, contacted me about this, I was told to submit the Jones format used and number of hours we were live with a percentage of that 'live' time was music. Fees were based on station sales and amounted to about 7-8% of gross receipts. Low Power FMs, paying likely the lowest rates, were paying about $1,000 a year between ASCAP, BMI and SESAC.
As for in store listening. I knew stores nailed by BMI. Funny thing is after being threatened with astronomical fines, Muzak would call within about a week and offer a service in the $60 a month range (1980s rate) that included music licensing. Once they signed BMI would back off. They did nail a convenience store that rigged up a radio for the outside speakers during a championship football game so consumers wouldn't miss the game as they filled gas tanks. The music licensing rep hounded the owner for months before the owner had enough and threatened them right back, making a call to his congressman to look in to their strong arm tactics. He never paid them a dime and made it his mission to cost them a bunch of time and headaches after they threatened the same. It helped he had a brother that was an attorney, likely with a bit too much time on his hands.
