good morning

my workshop is too quiet!
I do like my music and feel that having some atmosphere can increase morale and productivity with my mechanics.

Who here has had experience with PRS licences?

http://www.prsformusic.com/Pages/default.aspx

thanks

I am able to use google, however asking through the forum for anecdotal advice please.

can increase morale and productivity with my mechanics.

Simples…….pay them more. 8)

after looking over this form I suspect I would just put 6music on…

I’ve been humming a song by Alt J today, do I owe them money for that?

just put the radio on – job done

(some folk like to overcomplicate everything)

Simples…….pay them more.

I am of the opinion that money is not everyone’s motivator.

Iirc if it’s not for public hearing it’s all good

You’ll need two licences I beleive.. one from the council for public broadcast and one from the performing rights (or something like that) for royalties.

Even if you only play royalty free music you’ll still have to get the one from the council if the music can be overheard by the general public.

There was an article in the paper about a fire station being forced to get one as members of the public (council jobsworth) overheard music coming from the station.

They have been known to ring up companies and listen to see if they can hear music in the background then hassle you for the licence.

should i just ask all customers to wear ear defenders when they enter the shop then?

Or dont play music.. I dont and find I can concentrate on my work much better.

Unbelievably, the ONE time I listened to a song someone recomended.. hey rang me…

They asked if I played music, I said no… they said ‘we can hear music in the background’. my exact words were.. ‘Thats my mobile phone ringing’ and I hung up.

Sod em

Iirc if it’s not for public hearing it’s all good

not true, however if it’s just for a few employees it only costs around £40 IIRC.

What about playing your own music?, specifically your own self produced music – that wouldn’t cost anything or would it?. And if i slightly remixed or stuck a few loops into a commercially available track using my production software/hardware would you get away with doing that and not paying PRS.

even if you’re whistling a tune.. it’s still a public performance and will require a licence for public performance (or not if you just ignore the ****ts).

If only one person can hear it you are ok. Aside from that you need ppl and prs.
On another thread I have cited the story of a lady in a chip shop who didn’t want to buy a licence so she sang to her customers. Still got busted.
Our local Turkish restaurant play CDs of musicians from their local village. Still need a licence. If one of your staff listens on his iPod and someone can hear the music leaking from the ear phones you need a licence.
A radio licence is cheapest, CDs more and mp3s even more.
There is no escape.
Each of the licences costs around £80 each for our small shop. If you get prs ,ppl will be contacting you soon after.

There are two groups demanding collecting money for music, PRS and PPL. One distributes to writers and the other distributes to performers. The PRS licence is pretty much a flat fee and the PPL fee is determined by a number of factors including floor area. PPL seem quite amenable to haggling.

well… the council are bastards and will tax you on anything, so thats to be expected..

The musicians assume that you are using their intellectual property to enhance your own working environment and that of your customers and want paying.

Only way around it is to

A: pay both licences.
B: play royalty free misuc and just pay the local authority.
C: ignore them and hope they never catch up with you.
D: Dont play anything and tell them to get lost when they come calling.

I have been known to do C: but 99% of the time do D:

Edit: something else to consider..

Half of Britain’s shoppers have left a store because they were annoyed by the music, according to a study by Immedia Plc, a company that develops music strategies for retailers.

Has anyone ever had a physical visit from the PRS or PPL?

According to our letter someone came in the shop and heard music. I guess it must be a letter they send to everyone.

I worked in a record shop for 6 years, we played music all day every day, we didn’t have a PRS license. we never got pulled about it….

Someone made a complaint about the stuff we were listening to in the workshop once which (unknown to us) could be heard in the shop above.

It was a fair complaint though cos we had a Bill Hicks CD on, we were crying with laughter and some of the words coming from the stereo were not very polite… 😉

Got told we had to play music only from then on.

If you have that annoying customer that refuses to leave the workshop when you are working on their bike, something like this can work wonders:

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZWmYEUoweg[/video]

I am of the opinion that money is not everyone’s motivator.

Ask them which they would prefer.More money or music.

working to the basic hygiene principals.
motivating factors for us all to get up each morning, wash, poo and go to work are many. I agree, money is important however there are other factors that have been proven to ensure staff stay happy and driven, environment is one of these.

it is not as simple as deal or no deal

We own a busy Conveince store and started playing music last year its amazing how quickly the PRS catch up with you it was less than 2 weeks for us. They are a pain in the arse but have to be paid.

you could see if you get away with not paying but im sure at some point they will catch up with you.

I’ve been humming a song by Alt J today, do I owe them money for that?

On the contrary – you should be congratulated for having good taste. Cracking album. 🙂

I had a real ding song with the prs. I refused to pay the whole amount as I always turn the radio off when Whitney is on and I didn’t want her to have any money. That didn’t work.
As the prs play hold music I asked the man I was speaking to for his licence number. He didn’t know it,so I phoned back wishing to report someone who I believed was playing music without a licence. They got all excited and when I read out the offenders address they hung up on me. I then reported them to the ppl but never heard anything back.
At least the prs were quite vocal in saving 6 music. It just sucks that the radio have to pay to play,then we have to pay to listen.
Not sure if it still exists but you could listen to Amazing radio on dab as they owned all the music they played and they didn’t want any money.

The wife has a small hair salon, had it for about 18 years. Never had any idea that a licence had to be paid and never heard anything for about 6 years then PPL got in touch and have been paying them ever since.
About 2 years ago PRS sent a letter demanding back payments/fines etc totalling about £250. Told them I’d pay for the licence but not for anything else unless they could give me specific details of what copyright had been breached, sent them a cheque with a letter stating full and final settlement etc, they cashed the cheque then sent the remainder to a collection agency. Explained the situation to them and never heard a thing since. Still having to pay them both each year, about £160 in total.
They will get in touch and ask under hand questions, “we are doing a survey about what radio station you listen to” etc and as stated that there is music playing in the background.

I play music in my shop after hours, or when no one is around,

It’s just me and my CDs, youtube or 6music… no different to playing music at home.

Another shop got a call, they could hear music in the background… Chap in shop said that’s not the radio, it’s the mechanics having a jam in the workshop, and hung up.

The shop I worked at in Scotland never paid for any of the licenses but after 3 years we started getting calls about it. Big fines (very big) threatened and rather than pay for a license the boss just made us all switch off the tv/music.

We used to use it to watch the Tour/Giro etc. and I think the cost of the license would have cancelled itself out with people coming to the shop to buy stuff just to watch the last hour of the day’s stage.

After the music was turned off morale went down, and work definitely slowed. It definitely did more harm than good,and the workshop wasn’t behind a closed door so couldn’t even have it there.

The boss backed down to their demands as a restaurant nearby had been crippled after a £15,000 back-dated fine and license bill. It just didn’t seem worth risking.

I hate having no music on whilst working. It makes the day drag IMHO.

PRS = tossers.

An organisation that serves no practical public use whatsoever when it comes to enforcing this particular and and pointless law.

Could stores just play music from local unsigned bands (thus actually promoting musicians rather than flaccid members like Simon Cowell)?

walleater – Member
Could stores just play music from local unsigned bands (thus actually promoting musicians rather than flaccid members like Simon Cowell.
Not so sure. As I said above our local Turkish restaurant play CDs of traditional Turkish music played by family members in turkey. They still need a licence.

About 3 years ago my shop was inundated with calls from the PRS folk.
For about 6 months the basically hounded the shop with calls.
I just either hung up the phone or laid it down on the bench for 5 mins then hung it up.
Never heard a peep from them since.