More proof that recording companies are money grabbing cockroaches

[ryan256]

Text

Be under no illusion, being unlicensed to play music to the public is a very serious situation in the UK. The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 states that if you use copyright music in public, you have to get permission from every single copyright holder to play their music. Or pay a fee to the right outfit.

Car maintenance chain Kwik Fit is currently tied up in a bitter legal battle with the UK Performing Rights Society (PRS). It?s alleged that Kwik Fit?s mechanics allowed their radios to be played within earshot of the public - a truly heinous crime for which the PRS are demanding £200,000 in damages.

According to a report, the PRS are at it again. The staff at a charity also received a visit from a PRS officer who declared that because a staff radio in the kitchen could be overheard by the public in their tea-room, they would need a license. The charity, Dam House, which was originally set up to save a historic building and offer community and health facilities, had to have a fund-raising event to raise the money for the license.

However, having purchased a license, this wasn?t the end of the matter. The PRS then started asking more questions, and when they discovered that kids sing in a carol concert there at Christmas, they declared that the premises were under licensed. Yes, of course - the PRS wanted yet more money.

?We got really worked up when they told us how much we would have to pay this year? said charity trustee, Margaret Hatton. ?They asked us what facilities we had and we think they are charging more because they found out we?ve got a function room.?

The next quote from Margaret really speaks for itself - has the world gone mad?

?They told us the only way to avoid paying to sing the carols is if the kids are told to stick to old songs which are out of copyright.?

Next thing you know someone will be saying ?Happy Birthday? is copyrighted and you can?t sing that to the public in the tea-rooms. Well, unfortunately it is, and legally you can?t.

Elaine Hurst, another Dam House trustee explained: ?We know the recording artists need to be paid for their work but this is ridiculous.?

Every TV owning family in the UK has to have a UK TV License by law, the proceeds of which go to fund BBC TV and BBC radio stations nationwide. To charge a charity money because the public can overhear a radio is crazy, especially when you consider the public already paid another license to be allowed to listen to the content coming out of its speakers.

Merry Christmas PRS

 

[Linflas]

Your government evidently decided in 1988 to pass a law that basically removed all fair use rights of copyrighted works. They are really the ones to blame. I'm sue they would love to do that over here as well and the DMCA was a giant step in that direction but fortunately we are not yet at the stage where playing music loud enough for others to hear can be considered infringement.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Linflas: frankly, the US laws aren't much better. The only difference is that the RIAA hasn't yet gone to stupid levels and decided that speakers violate the DMCA yet. Though they've hinted at it.

Edit:
I'd like to see copyrights return to the terms that patents do. There's no reason why something has to be copyrighted until everyone that ever had the chance to meet the original artist has died for it to go into public domain.

 

[Aharami]

man i hope US doesnt pass laws like that! Imagine having to purchase a license to play loud music in your car!?

 

[alkemyst]

This is why christmas music stations play the same songs over and over again.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Aharami
man i hope US doesnt pass laws like that! Imagine having to purchase a license to play loud music in your car!?

quite frankly, good. why the fuck do you need to play your music so loud that people 5 blocks away can hear it?

seriously though, wtf? this kind of stuff that the record companies and stuff are pulling is ridiculous.

 

[xanis]

Maybe this is the finals-induced, lack-of-sleep delirium talking, but this is possibly one of the most asinine things I have ever heard of.

 

[Linflas]

Originally posted by: alkemyst
This is why christmas music stations play the same songs over and over again.

OTA radio does not pay per play royalties when they broadcast music. It is something that they have been fighting over since radio first started to broadcast music. Here is a pretty good write up that I found back when all the issues with internet streams was being discussed last spring.

In fact (as I was reminded recently in the excellent book "Something in the Air" by the Washington Post's Marc Fisher), top crooners of the era like Bing Crosby (pictured) and Paul Whiteman stamped "Not Licensed for Radio Airplay" on their records and hired lawyers to try to sue the radio stations that played them.

However, a federal court ruled in 1940 that once a record was sold, the buyer had the right to use it in any manner he liked, including broadcasting it on the radio. In other words, the court determined that there were no copyright laws in effect that had granted that particular monopoly right (the right to control who plays it on the radio, sometimes called a "public performance" monopoly right) to the performer. Recording artists had been granted several rights by Congress, the court concluded, but not that one. Thereafter, radio stations knew they were free to play the records they wanted to play.

 

[txrandom]

No taxation without representation!

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Linflas

Originally posted by: alkemyst
This is why christmas music stations play the same songs over and over again.

OTA radio does not pay per play royalties when they broadcast music. It is something that they have been fighting over since radio first started to broadcast music. Here is a pretty good write up that I found back when all the issues with internet streams was being discussed last spring.

In fact (as I was reminded recently in the excellent book "Something in the Air" by the Washington Post's Marc Fisher), top crooners of the era like Bing Crosby (pictured) and Paul Whiteman stamped "Not Licensed for Radio Airplay" on their records and hired lawyers to try to sue the radio stations that played them.

However, a federal court ruled in 1940 that once a record was sold, the buyer had the right to use it in any manner he liked, including broadcasting it on the radio. In other words, the court determined that there were no copyright laws in effect that had granted that particular monopoly right (the right to control who plays it on the radio, sometimes called a "public performance" monopoly right) to the performer. Recording artists had been granted several rights by Congress, the court concluded, but not that one. Thereafter, radio stations knew they were free to play the records they wanted to play.

They are still controlled on what they can play.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: Aharami
man i hope US doesnt pass laws like that! Imagine having to purchase a license to play loud music in your car!?

quite frankly, good. why the fuck do you need to play your music so loud that people 5 blocks away can hear it?

seriously though, wtf? this kind of stuff that the record companies and stuff are pulling is ridiculous.

He didn't say loud enough to disturb the neighborhood, but we live in a free country...if you can hear my music while I drive by, that is part of it. I may not care while you cut your yard with a power mower, but it's your right to be able to.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: Aharami
man i hope US doesnt pass laws like that! Imagine having to purchase a license to play loud music in your car!?

quite frankly, good. why the fuck do you need to play your music so loud that people 5 blocks away can hear it?

seriously though, wtf? this kind of stuff that the record companies and stuff are pulling is ridiculous.

i agree, the record companies pull this crap and then they question why people steal music

 

[Xavier434]

Wow, talk about denying your freedom. Glad I don't live there.

 

[Rubycon]

International waters for the win.

 

[DangerAardvark]

Originally posted by: Rubycon
International waters for the win.

Something's wrong when you have to give lattitude and longitude in the directions to your Christmas concert.