The Performing Right Society..

[Lorns]

I received a phonecall at work the other day. The scots lady was very pleasant as she told me, " It has come to our attention that you have music playing in your salon, you will need to buy a license if your clients can hear the radio, it will cost you £70.61p for the year".
I responded with " you are taking the effing piss!" ( i was having a bad day, i don't normally swear at people.. Honest!!)
Obviously, she said no and apparently lots of people say that to her ( hardly surprising really).

Now apparently this license protects the artists copyright thingy and the license fee goes towards their royalties.

My arguement was that i do not play c.ds, i just have radio 1 on. Dosen't matter it is still music being played to the public. For heaven's sake i'm a Barber my clintelle do not come in to listen to the music, it is just background noise and banter. It is on more for the staff than the clients although i'm sure the clients appreciate the radio while they're waiting.

Now this is what i get for £70.61 a year. I will be able to play c.ds, radio and T.V . Now this interested me somewhat, as it is cheaper than the usual T.V license. I questioned this with her ( as you would) but it turns out to watch T.V i would also need the usual T.V license too. I asked her why i would have to pay twice to watch T.V because surely if i wanted to watch T.V i would buy a license so therefore this new P.R.S license should be cheaper.
Now get this, on television there is often music playing in the background of programmes and they must protect the artists.

I have contacted a couple of my other associates who have salons in the area and they too have been contacted by the Perfoming Right Society. We have come to the conclusion that they have sent people to our salons undercover as we were all told "that it has been bought to our attention etc etc..).

I've been looking for a loophole so i don't have to pay it, not found one yet.
If i don't pay i have to remove the radio from the salon and i don't like it when there is nothing going on in the background i think it adds to the atmosphere of the salon, not to mention staff motivation. So it looks like i'm going to be £70.61 worse off a year.

I hadn't heard of this before. Have any of you with businesses been contacted by them or did you already know about it?

Initially i thought this must be a scam but i don't think it is. I am waiting for the invoice and license to arrive. I then have 14 days to decide what to do.

[babyben]

PRS and PPL too will screw the 'public' for whatever they can get.

They work for the music industry and fook everyone else - common sense, doesn't apply.

[Bail]

I know this goes on for music from cd's etc, but simply playing the radio, thats pathetic, everywhere plays the radio. Does that mean the local market guy has to pay as people on the highstreet can hear? Or builders on a building site? The radio staions themselves pay through the nose of the use of music and production music, why on earth do you have to pay just to listen to the radio.

If I were you just say that it's for personal use, and put a small notice up for the public saying they are not allowed to listen to the music... not that it'll stop them, hehe.

[Lorns]

I know this goes on for music from cd's etc, but simply playing the radio, thats pathetic, everywhere plays the radio. Does that mean the local market guy has to pay as people on the highstreet can hear? Or builders on a building site? The radio staions themselves pay through the nose of the use of music and production music, why on earth do you have to pay just to listen to the radio.

If I were you just say that it's for personal use, and put a small notice up for the public saying they are not allowed to listen to the music... not that it'll stop them, hehe.

That's what i said to her, infact i took the phone outside so she could hear the workmens radio out on the main road ( not one of them are fit ) . I also used Taxi drivers as an example.
I'm pretty certain you do not need a license to own a radio.

Instead of offering my clients " something or the weekend" as they leave i can offer them earplugs when they enter

[Chris]

Hmm ... has Elektrik Media been in your salon recently?

[Aston]

You could use mood music that's free from copyright. However, it's usually all bollocks and might put people off from coming to your salon!

To be fair though, £70 for the year isn't that much, just under £6 a month - surely you can afford that?

[Si-Co]

Slightly off-topic, but when I was younger I was actually stopped by a ticket inspector on the bus going to college, and he told me to take my 'Walkman' off (showing my age there!). I naturally rang the bus depot to complain and they told me he was right - the bus doesn't have a license for music, so technically the passengers cannot listen to radio/tapes/CDs even on a personal stereo.

[Lee]

Slightly off-topic, but when I was younger I was actually stopped by a ticket inspector on the bus going to college, and he told me to take my 'Walkman' off (showing my age there!). I naturally rang the bus depot to complain and they told me he was right - the bus doesn't have a license for music, so technically the passengers cannot listen to radio/tapes/CDs even on a personal stereo.

No one can tell you to turn off a Walkman, iPod, or anything else with earphones. For all they know you could be listening to your own music. Sounds very wrong to me.

I was told about the licence for music at a business workshop a few months ago, I'm not too sure about radio but I assume the same rules apply. I wonder what sort of licence you'd need to have a TV?

[marksi]

Slightly off-topic, but when I was younger I was actually stopped by a ticket inspector on the bus going to college, and he told me to take my 'Walkman' off (showing my age there!). I naturally rang the bus depot to complain and they told me he was right - the bus doesn't have a license for music, so technically the passengers cannot listen to radio/tapes/CDs even on a personal stereo.

They're wrong. If you were playing music to other passengers then they'd be correct, but as no one else can hear it there's no issue. To be honest this whole area requires new legislation. Radio/tv stations are paying to play music, and some listeners/viewers are then charged again to hear it. It is a case of the music industry having it's cake and eating it.

[Sput]

Now I just asked my father, who's working for the licensing department of a council - he tells me that TV and radio are live transmissions and thus exempt. In any case, it's background music and so even less relevent!

He seems pretty sure of himself...but don't shoot me if he's wrong

[steddenm]

Now I just asked my father, who's working for the licensing department of a council - he tells me that TV and radio are live transmissions and thus exempt. In any case, it's background music and so even less relevent!

He seems pretty sure of himself...but don't shoot me if he's wrong

You're right. I pay a fortune each year to use production music, and it's rediculous [sic]. Why should I fork out to use a piece of music in a design set?