A licence for a radio??!!

[laurace]

Has anyone got any advice?? We are a livery yard and have been told we now have to have a licence for the radio on the yard!! Has the world gone mad! The fee is quite expensive too. Whilst mucking out up to 20 stables a radio is helpful in keeping you sane! Also local news and weather updates are helpful.

 

[case895]

PRS (Performing Rights Society) licences cover any premises where paid staff work. I did warn my previous yard owner that eventually the PRS would get around to livery yards, but he didn't believe me!

 

[laurace]

Just seems a bit excessive theres only myself (and i live here) one full time and 2 part time staff.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

ridiculous I been using a radio here since 1996 without a license and I am not starting one now .

 

[Tammytoo]

If you have a TV licence it covers radios. The Performing Rights thingy is for when you are using music in public so if the radio is for your personal use I don't see why you need another licence. It's not your fault if your staff "overhear" it!

 

[laurace]

Looks like its livery yards watch out! Where is it going to stop?? Everyone seems to want to take money off us wherever they can.

How do 'artists' expect anyone to hear their music if you have to pay for it all the time?!

 

[Honey08]

Its silly. We have a garage and had to stop playing the radio as we had one employee! They got round it there by just having car radios on when they worked on them, but not sure if that would be allowed even. They did pop round to check now and again too.

I think it should be in proportion to the no of employees - ie smaller for tiny businesses.

 

[amandap]

Has anyone got any advice?? We are a livery yard and have been told we now have to have a licence for the radio on the yard!! Has the world gone mad! The fee is quite expensive too. Whilst mucking out up to 20 stables a radio is helpful in keeping you sane! Also local news and weather updates are helpful.

You were always supposed to get a licence for radio. It's a broadcasting licence to receive any broadcasts I'm afraid not just TV.

 

[faerie666]

How do 'artists' expect anyone to hear their music if you have to pay for it all the time?!

So do you expect the artists to work for free then, or do you expect the radio stations to pull the license money for the music out of their arse?

 

[PucciNPoni]

It's not just whether you have employees or not - it's also whether or not your clients (ie liveries) can hear it too. I had to get one for my dog grooming shop and it was cheaper if I said the music is not heard by clients (which is true) but despite the fact that it's just me in the shop I had to still get a license.

 

[smellsofhorse]

We have this trouble at work, its classed as broadcasting.
So ridiculous.
My theory is a radio station has a license or any mp3s, CDs, tapes etc have been paid for so why do we need a license?

 

[Janette]

My hairdresser has somebody 'official' who drops by her shop to check, because she was 'caught' playing the radio whilst cutting clients hair......

Do cows count as an audience? Our cows seem to enjoy listening to 'The Archers'

 

[rubysmum]

You were always supposed to get a licence for radio. It's a broadcasting licence to receive any broadcasts I'm afraid not just TV.

sorry - can i ask a dumb question here
i dont have a TV - so dont have a TV license - BUT - i do have a digital radio - do i need to get a license?????

 

[smellsofhorse]

I've heard they will also telephone a business to listen if they can hear music in the background!

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

sorry - can i ask a dumb question here
i dont have a TV - so dont have a TV license - BUT - i do have a digital radio - do i need to get a license?????

Not for personal use no. You used to a long time ago: if you had a radio but not a television you were required to pay for a radio licence until February 1971.

If you have it in a business workplace you might well need one.

My argument is that if a radio isnt been channelled through speakers, then the owner of it is using it, whether or not other people overhear. If it's channelled through speakers/PA system then they are rebroadcasting and should have to pay.

But these days, does common sense matter? No, only money.....

 

[Yertis]

Use ear phone thingys, it is then not being broadcast but is personal to you

 

[justforfun]

What a joke, use an ipod, works well especially when I want to ignore horid nasty liveries

 

[Sarah Sum1]

Can you play c.ds? Or is that still not allowed?

 

[Sixteen Hands]

See: http://www.prsformusic.com/users/bu...musicforbusinesses/pages/doineedalicence.aspx

and:

http://www.ppluk.com/en/I-Play-Music/

 

[PucciNPoni]

sorry - can i ask a dumb question here
i dont have a TV - so dont have a TV license - BUT - i do have a digital radio - do i need to get a license?????

Sorry, but yes - if you're playing it in a business premesis. I don't think you would at home for non business purposes, though.

 

[PucciNPoni]

http://www.jisclegal.ac.uk/ManageCo...ts-halls-of-residence-What-about-offices.aspx


The above link has some useful info re license requirements. For some reason I thought that if you wore earphones you'd still have to license, but seems I was wrong.

 

[PucciNPoni]

Can you play c.ds? Or is that still not allowed?

Nope, CDs and MP3 players still require licensing.

I think the only get out would be if the music is YOUR OWN, you wrote it, you composed it, performed it and recorded it and are playing it back. How can they possibly require a license to pay for what you truly own?

 

[paulineh]

I have my radio playing in my yard all the time,just as back ground. Also the local news/station is useful..

What about a radio etc in a car when you have other people with you.

 

[case895]

I have my radio playing in my yard all the time,just as back ground. Also the local news/station is useful..

What about a radio etc in a car when you have other people with you.

A private car is not business premises. A yard is. Not sure how it works if the vehicle is yard owned. Remember you cannot smoke in a work vehicle as that counts as business premises.

 

[velocette]

We have the same problem at my work. In the NHS we are a community team and the public do not get into our office but we are not allowed to play radio in there. Also I have music for teaching pilates classes and I have to check the premises where I teach has a music license. It does get pretty silly!

 

[Sixteen Hands]

Whatever the concerns, here are the relevent extracts from the PRS website


"In UK copyright law, a person wishing to play copyright music in public will generally require the consent (or licence) of the copyright owner before doing so. ‘In public’ means, broadly speaking, to an audience outside of his/her domestic or home circle. If the person does not obtain the required licence they may risk infringing copyright.

So, in nearly all cases, if you are playing our music (copyright music written, published or arranged by a member of PRS for Music or one of its affiliated societies) outside the home (or domestic environment), you will need to buy a Music Licence unless:
• there is an exemption in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended) that means you do not have to obtain a copyright licence,

or
•your music use is covered by a PRS Charging Policy and PRS for Music has decided, at its discretion, not to make a charge for our licence in your circumstances.

Even if you think you don’t need a licence by law or, that you would not be required to pay PRS for Music a fee as a result of a PRS Charging Policy, we always recommend that you contact us to discuss your music use. We will help you ensure that you have the right licence in place to lawfully perform and authorise the performance of our music in your premises. If you don’t need a licence, or if you don’t need to pay a licence fee, PRS for Music will note this information and ensure that you do not receive our standard mailing letters.

5. Workplaces

Workers/colleagues and/or customers/clients have been recognised by the courts as falling within the composer's ‘public’. Any person wishing either to play or to authorise the playing of our music to such individuals in the workplace - wherever that workplace is situated - should therefore obtain a Music Licence.

PRS for Music requires any workplace using music to obtain a Music licence. However, PRS for Music, at its discretion, will not make a charge for its licence in certain circumstances:
•Home offices within a private residence - for an individual working on their own in the home office or for people who are permanently resident at that address. However, if you have colleagues working with you (who do not live at the premises) or customers/clients coming into your home (and music is played at these times), PRS for Music would apply the relevant tariff.
•Lone workers - workplaces with only one worker, where music is not made available to any visitors/customers coming onto the premises.
•Personal Portable Devices - Where music is only used in the workplace by individual employees or workers solely by means of Personal Portable Devices (such as MP3 players) with headphones. Any music must only be audible to the employee or worker to whom the Personal Portable Device belongs through a headset attached to that device and not to any other individual in the workplace.

If music is made available to employees or visitors to the premises by any other means, PRS for Music would apply the relevant tariff."

But there are other things to consider...

1. Most radios are powered by the mains and often perched periously almost waiting to fall. Some I've seen look as if they've already fallen with broken cases with electric shock/fire potential.

2. Some time ago, an injured girl's cries for help couldn't be heard over the high volume of a radio playing.

There was a report some time ago in H&H about the PRS visiting a yard.

It's a shame that those "windows down, volume up" drivers who parade slowly around our towns with whole vehicle vibration don't get hit by the PRS for their "public performances"!

 

[PucciNPoni]

It's a shame that those "windows down, volume up" drivers who parade slowly around our towns with whole vehicle vibration don't get hit by the PRS for their "public performances"!

LOL, quite right!

 

[Ella19]

It's based on the number of people potentially listening so whoever mentioned rates for small businesses this is what they do. We have 8 seats at work in the waiting room, I seem to remember the guy telling me that over 12 seats would cost more.

 

[Ladydragon]

Has anyone got any advice?? We are a livery yard and have been told we now have to have a licence for the radio on the yard!! Has the world gone mad! The fee is quite expensive too. Whilst mucking out up to 20 stables a radio is helpful in keeping you sane! Also local news and weather updates are helpful.

It went mad a long time ago... This isn't anything new...

'Broadcasting' in a public/business/work place = needing to pay for a licence bar a small number of exceptions...

My MP3 player has radio - so playing that or stored music with one ear plug in means I can hear it but also hear someone speaking or a phone ringing...

 

[luckyoldme]

ridiculous I been using a radio here since 1996 without a license and I am not starting one now .

Be very carefull where you say that... they come in for back dated money!
They come round industrial estates checking... i can get away with it because i work on my own!