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
Previously: 50 Cent: File-Sharing Doesn’t Hurt Artists, Industry Should Adapt
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[quote comment="235816"][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![/quote]
If they had any sense, they would actually realize that the word “hoe” is what is the real offensive word, and not “ho.” But then again, common sense really is hard to find now and days now isn’t it?
hoe
1. A skank
2. A woman that is too loose in the booty.
3. Woman or man that fuck anything with two legs.
4. A promiscuous person.syn: slut
ho
A word Santa Clause says three times when he sees your wife, mother and sister together in the same room.
Ho, Ho, Ho Merry Christmas!
WTF. Picking on childrens for singing on a charity.
What’s next? I’m gonna pay my next fart?
Sure…YOu’ll have to pay for your fart.
They have the copyright to it.
But if your fart doesn’t make any sound,youre okay.
If your fart makes a sound and no one hears,you’re okay.
But if your Fart makes a sound and someone hears,there will be it:
http://www.braintree.gov.uk/Braintree/business/licensing/PerformingRightsSociety.htm
april 1st !?!
[quote comment="235244"]As a spokesperson for the Oxford dictionary it is now illegal for any word within our covers to be used in public without paying royalties to us. Happy holidays.[/quote]
I kniht taht I evah tsuj thguoht fo a yaw ot tnevmucric ruoy thgirypoc. yppaH syadiloH.
Good thing that the copyright laws don’t apply here, in Macedonia, otherwise I’d have to blow them to pieces. :-S Seriously, like “126″ said, sooner or later, we’ll have to pay so that we can make a sound when we fart… this is stupid.
“Changing Images of Man predicts an American economic collapse and a “garrison” (police) state,” if the overwhelming inequities of our economic system are not corrected by powerful multinationals making more humane decisions. Alternatives to this doomsday scenario are discussed, all of which point to the need to devote all available resources towards transforming the image of man, changing man’s nature, instead of altering the corrupted economic system which has brought America to this dire state. In this government study it was inappropriate to denounce the evil culprits behind all our troubles (who pull the strings on government itself), even though the task was to document and remedy the damage that they have done. Instead, they are cited as the hopeful “saviors,” that we should look to for help and leadership. The hypocrisy of the hegemons!”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7577
[quote comment="235066"]Absolutely disgraceful, I hope the members of the P.R.S (and anyone else of the some mentality) have a really CRAP Christmas… for the rest of their stinking, no-good, money grabbing lives![/quote]
Henry VI, (part 2)
——————-
“The first thing we do, we kill all the lawyers.”
William Shakespeare
[quote comment="235066"]Absolutely disgraceful, I hope the members of the P.R.S (and anyone else of the some mentality) have a really CRAP Christmas… for the rest of their stinking, no-good, money grabbing lives![/quote]
Henry VI, (part 2)
——————-
“The first thing we do, we kill all the lawyers.”
William Shakespeare
[quote comment="235240"]I guess the PRS and the rest of the music industry doesn’t care what they look like. With this they might as well have taken a Public Relation bullet to the head. Attacking a charity, you can’t get much lower.[/quote]
Sure you can!!! You can go after a)orphans, b)widows, c)grandmas, and d)dead people - just ask the mafIAA!!!
holy mother of fucking god. I am ashamed that some group like the PRS can go to a CHARITY and threaten to SUE A BUNCH OF KIDS for crying out loud! seriously if that ever happened to me here in the states I’d say go fuck yourself and slam the door. then play the music even louder! how DARE they threaten to sue a charity!
(sorry for double posting)
Society need to take a long hard look at themselves. are the PRS really that desperate for attention that they have to resort to these despicable acts? this really makes me sick. you all can thank the good people of a dying age for all of this. I’m surprised nobody has been sued for singing happy birthday. or no wait here’s a better one. SUE NBC or FOX or ANY OF THE TELEVISIONS FOR SINGING AUD LANG ZYNE (however you spell that).SHIT
They don’t get anything from ME!
I get what few CDs I DO buy at Goodwill or Salvation Army (at least I know that money is going to a good cause!)
It really is time for revolution… these capitalists, who always try to increase their earning have to get stopped… I mean this really is freaking insane… Maybe its their right… but does that mean its ethical correct?
[quote comment="235544"]look you ridiculous sounding people, there is absolutely no point in swearing and cursing on this post, no-one is listening, certainly not at PRS Berners Street, london W1 where i used to work. They don’t care, are not interested in your views, and whatever you say, whatever you do or threaten is meaningless to them.It never has worried them and never will, and of course don’t forget if they don’t get you then phonographic performance or some other collection agency authorised by the artists through their record companies, will! We have all been mugs for so long and just let these things happen, so what DO you expect if PRS etc take it to the limit? Believe me they do not find it all strange or bizarre to be doing what they do! Have a nice day![/quote]
Actually, because this is an excellent p2p news source, which is publicly available, monitored ~non-stop, or at least daily, by the appropriate mafIAA departments. We might convert some of the humans in them (an expose publication sent here and to the CBC [canada] BBC [britain] CBS [states] and AP [international] would be nice); and we might not.
But mark my words, the data on this site is meticulously, and professionally, being monitored.
P.S. - That’s why people get pissed when others openly speak about tracker invites and the Scene, etc.
[quote comment="236230"]It really is time for revolution… these capitalists, who always try to increase their earning have to get stopped… I mean this really is freaking insane… Maybe its their right… but does that mean its ethical correct?[/quote]
Its bad business is what it is. what this group is claiming to be doing is its fighting for the “rights” of the “artist”. this is an example of a public policy gone extremely the opposite of what was its intention
the world has gone mad
..Mafia ?
..Protection money ?
..organised extortion ?
Spot the difference !
Idea.
1:Get a load of people to gather outside the offices of the PRS in London..
2:Alert the media in advance
3:Everyone sing some (pre-arranged) copywrighted songs outside their offices(A very Public Place)
If you are talking about 100-200 people doing this alll together..what are they going to do ? sue us ?
[quote comment="236280"]Idea.
1:Get a load of people to gather outside the offices of the PRS in London..
2:Alert the media in advance
3:Everyone sing some (pre-arranged) copywrighted songs outside their offices(A very Public Place)
If you are talking about 100-200 people doing this alll together..what are they going to do ? sue us ?[/quote]
Great Idea!
so how do all the DJ’s make it in the UK? Am I going to get sued for singing the Beatles as I walk down the street. Oh, lets say I meet a few people on the street and we break into a doowop (sp) of “Who do fools fall in love?”. Someone trying to sue me for that would seriously get murdered by words. Rappers ain’t got nuthin on me.
What the hell is happening to people?
boo! stupid n00bs!
I really enjoy playing “I Wanna Fuck Myself” by GG Allin really loud at stoplights. Does that count?
I pull my pud until it bleeds
I masturbate on toilet seats
Girls can’t give me the satisfaction
I fuck my fist to the rage of passion
I wanna fuck myself
I wanna fuck myself
I wanna fuck myself
I wanna fuck myself
Fuck myself
I wanna fuck myself
I like the way it fits in my hand
Feel the cum through my burning head
I like to fly it on my chest
I fuck myself ’cause I’m the best
I wanna fuck myself
I wanna fuck myself
I wanna fuck myself
I wanna fuck myself
Fuck myself
I wanna fuck myself
And no one else
I love myself
I wanna fuck myself
I wanna fuck myself
I wanna fuck myself
I wanna fuck myself
I wanna fuck myself
I beat myself until I’m raw
Come and come ’till there’s no more
My hand is my favorite whore
Stick my finger up my ass, beat it some more
I wanna fuck myself
I wanna fuck myself
I wanna fuck myself
I wanna fuck myself
Fuck myself
I wanna fuck myself
And no one else
And no one else
I wanna fuck myself
I wanna fuck myself
the parasites will kill the host.
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