"Louise Gould, the proprietor of Kutz Hair Design in Winston Crescent, has been in business more than 10 years but was shocked to receive a bill for �60 to obtain a licence for the radio.
The request for cash has come from the Performing Rights Society (PRS), an organisation which collects copyright royalty payments on behalf of musicians and bands.
Mrs Gould told us, 'The PRS has told me if I want to play the radio in my salon I have to buy a licence, which this year is �60 and will no doubt go up in time."
I always wondered how much that cost, if you actually paid it. Of course, that it is in UK money (about $90 US).
Wow, I didn't know ASCAP/BMI went after beauty parlors too. Usually they just hit bars and restaurants.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if they charge for playing digital or CD music (and TV)? If they do, they must make you keep a log like radio stations do?
FYI - it's pretty interesting the way they (use to, anyhow) apportion royalties. They went in the field and recorded 24 hours of a radio station. Then they brought back the tapes to the office.
This is the cool part--I used to know people who did this for a living. You put on headphones and listen to the music until you can Identify it, you log it, and then fast forward to the next song. They had rock, classical, jazz and country specialists. Then they divide up all the license fees on a pro rata basis among the copyright owners...
Yes, it still works that way. Which means if you are a guy who only gets a few plays a week then you might never get a penny. Plus it depends on when they measure - whether you are getting a lot of airplay at that moment or not.
ReplyDeleteI assume that for stations that keep logs, they use the logs, or if you subscribe to Muzak, they use those records.
This reminded me XM Radio for business.
ReplyDeleteWhich goes for $27.95/month.
And in one of bullet points, they say:
"No Hassles: All ASCAP, BMI and other commercial music license fees paid in establishments where XM is the only music provided and permitted."
That's pretty cool... A satellite version of Muzak...
ReplyDelete