- Original Poster
- #1
Does anyone know about the laws concerning playing music in public?
I have been contacted a couple of times by the Performing Rights Society who seem to think I should need a licence to play music in my business premises. Since I work alone, and play the occasional CD for my own pleasure, I can't believe that I do. Anyway, they can't prove it, so they can whistle for it (as long as anyone who listens to them whistling pays the appropriate fee).
I am all for musicians getting what's due to them, but I think the PRS is taking its remit a bit too far. This is a quote from their leaflet "Are You Listening": "..it is a legal requirement to gain permission from the
music creator to play their music outside of the home...". That means that if you listen to your iPod outside your front door or a CD in the car, you ought to first get permission from the music creator, and / or be paying fees to the PRS? Really?
I contacted the PRS to clarify this, but they ignored my specific questions and just sent me another copy of the leaflet.
They also talk about "public performance", but nowhere in their literature do they define what "public performance" actually means.
Perhaps they have given up on policing the millions of illegal downloads that go on every day, and instead are going for the easy pickings of small businesses.
I have been contacted a couple of times by the Performing Rights Society who seem to think I should need a licence to play music in my business premises. Since I work alone, and play the occasional CD for my own pleasure, I can't believe that I do. Anyway, they can't prove it, so they can whistle for it (as long as anyone who listens to them whistling pays the appropriate fee).
I am all for musicians getting what's due to them, but I think the PRS is taking its remit a bit too far. This is a quote from their leaflet "Are You Listening": "..it is a legal requirement to gain permission from the
music creator to play their music outside of the home...". That means that if you listen to your iPod outside your front door or a CD in the car, you ought to first get permission from the music creator, and / or be paying fees to the PRS? Really?
I contacted the PRS to clarify this, but they ignored my specific questions and just sent me another copy of the leaflet.
They also talk about "public performance", but nowhere in their literature do they define what "public performance" actually means.
Perhaps they have given up on policing the millions of illegal downloads that go on every day, and instead are going for the easy pickings of small businesses.
