In the 1974 case Twentieth Century Music Corp. et al. v. Aiken, the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of George Aiken, owner of a fast-food chicken franchise who played radio broadcasts for his customers without paying licensing fees to copyright holders of the music being broadcasted. The court held that such use did not constitute a "performance" under section 1(e) of the Copyright Act and therefore was not an infringement on copyrighted works as it fell within what is now known as a "homestyle exemption". This ruling clarified that businesses using radio or television receivers similar in size and capabilities to those commonly used at home do not need to pay performance royalties for playing music from these devices for their customers.

In the dissenting opinion for Twentieth Century Music Corp. et al. v. Aiken, Justice Blackmun argued that the majority's decision to allow a small business owner to play copyrighted music without paying royalties was inconsistent with copyright law and its purpose of incentivizing creativity by protecting creators' rights to their work. He contended that Congress intended for businesses using radio broadcasts as part of their operations - even those not charging admission or directly profiting from the broadcast - to pay licensing fees under copyright law, and thus disagreed with the majority's interpretation of "perform" in this context as excluding such use cases. Furthermore, he expressed concern about potential negative impacts on composers and publishers due to lost revenue if other businesses followed suit.