Playing music? Don’t get a record

THOUSANDS of companies in Oldham use music to entertain both customers and staff throughout the day.

Yet the simple act of turning on a radio to provide background music can have serious consequences where there is any chance of a member of public hearing it.

Two separate licences are required to play music on a radio, but many businesses are unaware they need both.

Reporter Marina Berry spoke to one businessman who thought he was complying with the rules, until he received a series of telephone calls telling him he was flouting them.


CAFE owner Mike Cumiskey had a brush with the law, all because his customers enjoy listening to the radio as they tuck into snacks.

Mike runs the Pavilion cafe in Chadderton Hall Park, and has a PPL licence which he thought entitled him to play his radio in public.

But over the last few weeks he has been bombarded with telephone calls telling him he also needs a PRS licence.

He said: “I knew I had a licence which allowed me to play the radio in the cafe, so I just kept saying I already had one and didn’t need another.

“I thought they were cold selling so I didn’t take a lot of notice, but eventually they explained that I had no choice but to buy two licences if I wanted to continue playing music.

“I was taken aback because I always try to keep within the law, and, unbeknown to me, I was doing something wrong.”

To play music in public, people need a PPL (Phonographic Performance Ltd) licence, where the money raised goes to record companies and performers.

They also need a PRS, or performing rights society, licence, which gives money to songwriters, composers and publishers.

Mike accepts he has no alternative but to buy both, which will cost him just short of £1690 a year.

He said that although he only turns the radio on for background music, it adds to the ambience of the cafe, and his customers like to hear it.

And he now faces having to fork out £109 a year for the PRS licence, on top of the £60 he pays for a PPL licence.

Mike is alerting Oldham’s businesses to the fact they too could be breaking the law in all innocence.

He said: “I didn’t know I needed two licences, and I have no doubt there are other people in Oldham who think they too are playing music legally when in fact they aren’t.”

Contact

A spokesman for PRS For Music said 350,000 businesses across the UK had licences, and explained the organisation contacts companies who don’t have a licence to advise them they need one.

He said people without a licence were generally happy to pay when they were told it was a not-for-profit licence, and all the money raised by issuing them went to songwriters, composers and publishers. Licence costs differ depending on the circumstances, but, he said, the cost for a small cafe playing one radio was £109 a year.

The general advice is that where members of the public can hear music being played, there must be a licence.

But the spokesman said there was a degree of common sense applied to the issue.

He said lone workers who were not on their own premises, such as a joiner or plumber working in a property where there were other people around, does not need a licence to turn the radio on.

Mechanic

Nor does a lone worker on their own premises, such as a mechanic working in their own garage, or someone who works from home.

But as soon as other people can hear the music, a licence is needed — and the general rule is, the fewer people who listen to it, the cheaper the licence is.

Businesses which employ four people or fewer, which is not visited by members of the public, pay £44 a year for a licence.

Each sound recording has two separate copyrights, and a PPL licence gives the record company and performers’ permission to play music CDs or a radio in public.

The PRS licence gives the permission of songwriters, composers and publishers to play music in public.

There are some instances where licences are not needed — such as patient areas in hospitals, but a licence is needed for music played in GP surgeries and dentists.

There is a sliding scale for both licences, and without them copyright laws are infringed and you are breaking the law.

Anyone who is unsure as to whether or not they need the two licences can visit www.prsformusic.com or call 0800 068 4828 free for queries relating to a PRS licence, or email ppnb@ppluk.com or ring 020 7534 1070 for more information on PPL licences.