Not sure if this applies, but I was at “Lawry’s Prime Rib” restaurant in Central Tokyo a few weeks ago. And every 15min or so, it seemed like the staff came together in front of a guest’s table to sing “Happy Birthday” in English or if it was an anniversary event, they would substitute “Anniversary” for “Birthday”. 
That explains why Hall’s Auto Parts can play the local classic rock station through the store, I guess.
How about the story I was told about the coffee shop/performance venue that had to put all played CDs up for sale to get around the performance royalty? I was told that this let them claim that they were promoting the sale of the used CDs, although I doubt anyone bought one.
Another thought for this crowd: If I write a song for the credits of a movie, what contract am I probably signing? I wonder if the writer of “I’m Your Weather Man”, which goes over the credits of “Groundhog Day” has actually made serious money. I suspect that it was written under contract to be sold to the producers, but I also thought I was told that songwriter royalties were unsaleable, the better to protect writers against the voracious industry. Does anyone know the realities of this?
Nothing in U.S. copyright law prevents an author from assigning all rights to royalties to another party. However, the 1976 Copyright Act allows an author to terminate a copyright transfer or license after a set period of years. The exact period depends on a number of factors, but for example, say a copyright was secured in 1965. The author (or the author’s widow, children, grandchildren, or estate) can serve notice of termination of a transfer or license as early as ten years before 2011 (2011 being the deadline to serve notice). The termination can be effective as late as two years before 2024, or as early as 2021.
FWIW, one of my Bathroom Readers mentions, as its fact at the bottom of the page, that the song is the most commonly sung song.
And if you think about it, it makes sense. Not sure how each performance is handled, but if you think about it, as everyone has a birthday, it could get expensive pretty quickly.