cutting your hair supports musicians

nicholas on 2008-09-02T09:11:12

I almost forgot...

Last week, when I got my hair cut, a curious new sign was prominently on display on the counter of the barbers. It was a certificate from the Performing Rights Society, phrased as a thank-you, to the named branch, for supporting musicians. I wasn't aware that shops needed a licence to play a public radio station in public in the UK, but clearly the PRS now thinks that they are.

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paying for playing a public radio station in publi

pne on 2008-09-02T09:55:52

I believe it's the same in Germany.

I think you even have to pay if you use a radio station stream as your telephone on-hold music.

Details

acme on 2008-09-02T10:23:02

The details are in Complete Tariff RS (PDF). It has all sorts of little clauses inside. Worth a laugh to see how doomed the music industry thinks it is.

Public Entertainment Licence

barbie on 2008-09-02T11:37:52

The Public Entertainment Licence has been around for many years (probably even before I was born). They are usually handled by the local council and apply to any building or structure (including tents and marquees) where music is to be played or performed, regardless of whether it is live, pre-recorded or being broadcast via a radio, in what would be considered a public area. Thus private homes are excluded, but your local barber is required to have one if they wish to have any music in the shop.

When I was at 6th form college, the 6th formers had their own tuckshop and lounge area, where we were able to play music via a sound system, from the radio or cassettes (CDs weren't being mass produced back then ... I did say the licence has been a round for a long time didn't I ;) ). Anyway, before we were allowed to plug the sound system in, we (well the school) had to apply for a special licence for us, as the main one they used only covered the main buildings and the 6th form building was designate separate for some reason.

PRS has been taking a notable part of the revenue from the licence, and it has been a source of controversy for many years too. The reason being that the main benefactor of the PRS royalties is Paul McCartney, due to the large number of copyright holdings he owns. Some live music venues requires that any artist that performs on stage to complete a form that lists their setlist and the writers of each song. I believe this was instigated to thwart McCartney, and ensure that those smaller artists actually got the royalties they deserve. All radio stations are also supposed to submit a list of the songs they broadcast everyday too.

The amusing part of all this is that none of The Beatles own their own songs, and as such neither McCartney nor the Lennon estate receive any royalties for The Beatles music via PRS :)