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like I said, it's not new, it's been this way for a long time.
It's up to the management to sort out the PRS licence in the same way as it would be for a TV licence if you had a TV in the workplace.
john_drummer - you do realise Robbie Williams and Bono get all the money anyway?
I dare say they do.
Radio & TV airplay royalties go to the [i]writers[/i] of any particular song. But TBH radio airplay is small potatoes compared with the earnings a decent stadium tour and multi-million copy record sales can make.
But for your average working band, the recorded material is used to promote the tour, which is where the money is earned; 20 years ago the tour was used to promote the recorded material.
That's how Radiohead can afford to give away their recordings - they make it all back on tour, with interest.
its all about money for old rope
I work in the music industry, so without getting caught up, as i can appreciate both sides of the coin, Ill answer a few quiries!
How do they know what music is played & pay appropriate people, Simple, Neilsen tracking, A computer that listens to all Radio stations & can recognise 99.99% of tracks.
PRS is for the UK, Almost all Western Countries have similar organisations, were similar rules apply, its not just the UK
The money has to go to lots of people, Writers, Producers, Performers, Record Labels etc
I was just thinking about something along these lines yesterday as i listened to BBC radio streamed via t'internet. Who pays for it - I certainly don't ?
How do they know what music is played & pay appropriate people, Simple, Neilsen tracking, A computer that listens to all Radio stations & can recognise 99.99% of tracks.
But my question was if I pay someone to rebroadcast the radio I am listening to in the office, how do they know what I am listening to?
john_drummer - Member
This system is hardly new - it's been developing since we first started recording and broadcasting music, and while it's not exactly ideal, it's the best they've managed to come up with so far.
You're not wrong John, but I think what is new is the aggressive and dare I say slightly unsavoury way in which they are trying to convince everyone that its illegal to listen to a radio anywhere away from your home without a PRS licence. From what I can see that is a very broad and blatantly incorrect interpretation of the act.
And I still want to know what they do with all the money they collect!
fair point.
The TV licencing people will be next on our cases. Actually, they already are.
"We have a list of all addresses that don't have a TV Licence. You'd better get one or we'll send the boys round.
What do you mean you don't have a television? Everybody has a television"
mastiles_fanylion - MemberBut my question was if I pay someone to rebroadcast the radio I am listening to in the office, how do they know what I am listening to?
[url= http://www.rajar.co.uk/ ]http://www.rajar.co.uk/[/url]
That will explain it better than I can, but basically they survey the public to get an idea of listening figures & trends
Right, thanks everyone, the company policy is now this,
The correspondence is filed along with a downloaded copy of the Act. We have highlighted the sections which we believe indicate that we do not need to buy a licence.
We will not reply to the circular letters, as we do not believe that they apply to us.
In the unlikely event that a PRS representative lands on our doorstep we will ask them to indicate which part of the Act defines our premises as a public place, or a place of public entertainment. If they can do so we will happily stump up, if they can’t we will then notify trading standards of what we believe to be at best a misleading, and at worst a fraudulent approach to this matter by the PRS.
I will also make a complaint to Trading Standards as a private individual to test our understanding of the matter.
In all cases if we are wrong we will hold our hands up and stump up, whatever it is that we owe.
(My business partner and I have a side bet on that they have employed someone that used to work for a private parking company or similar, due the simialrity in the approach used.)
what i would do...
We just ignore them
There's no public access to our office & radios can't be heard outside
Before they're done they'll be trying extort money out of companies whose employees have radios in their vans etc
If it makes you feel any better, I have a cheque for around £17 somewhere from the PRS.
As we would have had to split it 4 ways (we were a proper democracy and all that) we just framed it instead 🙂
I think the PRS are desperate to open new 'revenue streams' due to the death of local live music - it's been made pretty unpleasant for a landlord to even consider putting on bands from what I understand, and all these pubs used to pay PRS for the privilege. I guess they still do, but maybe it's considerably less than for live music?
Depends where you are brassneck. No shortage of pubs & bars in Leeds putting on live music
Some places, albeit not many in Leeds, operate a 'pay to play' policy where the band basically hires the venue; others operate a 'flyer' scheme where the band only gets paid according to the number of punters that bring a flyer with them. Both these schemes allow the venue to easily afford the PRS licence, but it's not popular with the bands