Charity Forced to Pay Copyright Fee So Kids Can Sing Carols
Written by enigmax on December 09, 2007Christmas is known world-wide as a time for sharing, a time for giving. But for one charity, instead of Santa arriving with gifts, the copyright police turned up demanding money. Why? Because the charity allows children to sing carols on the premises and their kitchen radio is a little loud. You couldn’t make it up.
Be under no illusion, being unlicensed to play music to the public is a very serious situation in the UK. The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 states that if you use copyright music in public, you have to get permission from every single copyright holder to play their music. Or pay a fee to the right outfit.
Car maintenance chain Kwik Fit is currently tied up in a bitter legal battle with the UK Performing Rights Society (PRS). It’s alleged that Kwik Fit’s mechanics allowed their radios to be played within earshot of the public - a truly heinous crime for which the PRS are demanding £200,000 in damages.
According to a report, the PRS are at it again. The staff at a charity also received a visit from a PRS officer who declared that because a staff radio in the kitchen could be overheard by the public in their tea-room, they would need a license. The charity, Dam House, which was originally set up to save a historic building and offer community and health facilities, had to have a fund-raising event to raise the money for the license.
However, having purchased a license, this wasn’t the end of the matter. The PRS then started asking more questions, and when they discovered that kids sing in a carol concert there at Christmas, they declared that the premises were under licensed. Yes, of course - the PRS wanted yet more money.
“We got really worked up when they told us how much we would have to pay this year” said charity trustee, Margaret Hatton. “They asked us what facilities we had and we think they are charging more because they found out we’ve got a function room.”
The next quote from Margaret really speaks for itself - has the world gone mad?
“They told us the only way to avoid paying to sing the carols is if the kids are told to stick to old songs which are out of copyright.”
Next thing you know someone will be saying ‘Happy Birthday‘ is copyrighted and you can’t sing that to the public in the tea-rooms. Well, unfortunately it is, and legally you can’t.
Elaine Hurst, another Dam House trustee explained: “We know the recording artists need to be paid for their work but this is ridiculous.”
Every TV owning family in the UK has to have a UK TV License by law, the proceeds of which go to fund BBC TV and BBC radio stations nationwide. To charge a charity money because the public can overhear a radio is crazy, especially when you consider the public already paid another license to be allowed to listen to the content coming out of its speakers.
Merry Christmas PRS
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Scrooge is alive! Bah! Humbug!
Really insane.
OMFG. oh well. Something similar happened to our business as well. Some PRS dude came and said that we were playing music too loudly and everyone could hear it. This was classical music that was in the open domain mind you.
So I told him to fuck off. He told me to expect a lawsuit, so I gave him an “address to resolve this dispute.” It so happens I know a few gang-bangers that I helped out a while back. So no one’s gonna see that dipshit ever again.
People like PRS/RIAA/MPAA and so on are going to burn in hell for the things that they do.
They ruin people all in the name of dollars and cents.
They are some really sick fuckers!
Is there a patent on “HO HO HO”?
HO HO HO and Marry Christmas assholes…
I used to run a small shop and one day I recieved a letter from the PRS (addressed to the previous owner) demanding money if (IF!) I played a radio on the premises.
It went on to explain that the artists would suffer by my actions if I did not pay and ended in a very threatening manner telling me that I could end up with a criminal record if I did not pay up.
I threw the (fishing for money) letter away assuming that they sent these out to everyone. I never heared from them again.
They are only picking on Quick Fit because it is a medium size business with enough cash to exploit. Quick Fit will probably pay up just to avoid the bad press!
This is absolutely ludicrous.
So long as the public lets them get away with it, they will continue to find every reason possible to squeeze you for a penny. We discovered that here in the US when the banks abruptly started charging basically for everything but walking in the door.
In the 60s and 70s, cassette tape recorders appeared and folks taped their favorite songs from radios and the newly developed, portable stereo, to play in their newly developed car tape player. Kids made copies of song and exchanged them with friends. Tired, in the 70s, of buying an entire album for one or two songs, they created their own mixes, especially when stereo systems included easy to use dubbing devices.
The record companies didn’t learn. The still shoved out albums packed with rotten songs — especially after doing away with the ’single.’ (You could buy a record with one good song on one side and an off song on the other for about $0.98.) When they pushed through the CD technology, making recordings got cheaper, but the record industry jacked the shelf prices up.
I mean, the stores are full of recording technology that is absolutely legal. What did they think you were going to do with all of that stuff? Buy it as a paper weight? If the technology is legal, then songs played to the public ought to be free so long as you are not a commercial enterprise specifically created to broadcast news, information and songs.
In my opinion, with the computer technology we have today, upload from your CD player, burn CDs and give them out to your friends so they don’t have to buy the recordings since the record companies are being idiots. Tweak the songs a bit with a free or inexpensive recording program and you might make the thing better than the original.
Just wait. Some hacker will crack the iPod codes that limit the time you can keep downloaded songs and you’ll be able to not only have them indefinitely, but dump them onto your computer and burn them to disk.
See, you keep goading the public and they’ll fight back.
Weird shit, I don’t know what to believe. It could be an isolated incident or maybe this is just the beginning of “isolated incidents”.
Anyway, it is messed up, it’s like taking law to the extreme. Welcome Big brother.
Btw, what the fuck, it doesn’t make sense. So if you’re listening to music in your car one must have lisence?
[quote comment="235630"]Is there a patent on “HO HO HO”?[/quote]
No, but it’s offensive and derogatory …
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2628317.html?menu=
Hmm, so if I get this right Prince/TAFKAP has moved to britain and got a job with the PRS? strange :x
Holy shit! What bastards!
You mean those kids didn’t pay the multimillionaire record companies royalties? They deserve to get locked up.
But seriously… Why are people so obsessed with money these days.
The law is so stupid as well. It should be flexible so stuff like this doesn’t happen.
Right then perhap now they can go after those wankers who drive round the 30mph zone all evening with their shite music blaring out loud enough to hear beyond the rattling of the piece of shit car.
thought not.
this is what 10 years of a labour government does to britain.
fucking destroys it and takes the money and runs.
last month we had the courts rule its “illegal” to employ british doctors first then EU then Non - EU doctors.
despite the fact the government pays 100k for every doctor to be trained, we have to employ fucking foriegners eqaully as much as uk citizens.
its all bullshit.
what other country would stand for that.
Write to them and complain - the more we complain the more it will have an impact. Also, write to your MP.
For the PRS I think the contact page is http://www.mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk
For your MP try writetothem.com
Remember - this is nothing to do with the Labour government - copyright extensions into infinity, daft licensing requirements, making CDs that don’t play properly - that’s all the music industry itself and the fact that there are more important things on your MP’s radar - write to them and it will change.
In Shakespeare’s time there was NO copyright and the arts were really good - now we have copyright most of it is c**p … go figure.
What we really need is a MONTH of action by the general public and a campaign site to support it. Ten claims for public freedom re. music and films, one month of not buying their products, and one month of lobbying MPs.
go fuck you, PRS
[quote comment="235658"][quote comment="235630"]Is there a patent on “HO HO HO”?[/quote]
No, but it’s offensive and derogatory …
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2628317.html?menu=/quote
Yes apparently! I wonder when all words are patented and we have to use Sign Language to communicate…..?
I want freedom of speech, I want to be able to take a shit on the street if i feel like it, sing, hear, speak, every-fucking thing i want! You have to kill me before you get that changed in my head, you mother fuckers!
I don’t understand how this can apply to Christmas carols. Aren’t these centuries-old songs public domain? Also, didn’t the radio stations already pay royalties to broadcast copyrighted music? How can it be legal for the PRS to go after people just for playing radios in public? Could someone with their car radio or boom box blasting be charged?
What I don’t get is that so many people think these morons are nuts. It’s obviously a very small amount of crazy people making up these rules as they go along. How long will it be before someone stands up and says “enough” and let common sense reign free again.
phuk the riaa!
okay this is seriously,,, I don’t even know how to describe it! it’s kinda funny though (and sad at the same time)… they should plug this into a christmas comedy movie or something….
i mean seriously.. what the fuck is wrong with these people?
Guess our only hope is a open Music/Movies Movement… do it for the love of the Art… you support what u love not what they tell you u will like, wouldn’t need a license to play that so RIAA and MPAA can go FTS!
This is sick! Greedy pervert assfuckers! Call mafia to kill the bastards.
Seriously??! This is outright ridiculous! WTF PRS?
sadly, little do they know, “happy birthday” IS copyrighted. By Michael Jackson.
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