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Mechanics told to pull the plug (From York Press)
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Mechanics told to pull the plug
11:22am Friday 15th March 2013 in News
By Nadia Jefferson-Brown, nadia.jefferson-brown@thepress.co.uk
MECHANICS have had to pull the plug on their transistor radio after refusing to pay hundreds of pounds a year for a licence.
Jeff Parkins, 59, and Mick Collinson, 56, were told to pay £278 in royalties if they wanted to continue listening to the radio at their garage in Melrose Street, Scarborough.
They failed to win with their argument that the radio was so quiet they often could not even hear it themselves, while the public is not allowed in the workshop and could only have heard it faintly through the wall from the tiny office.
The pair, whose workshop has had a radio since 1981, never imagined they were in the same public entertainment league as high street shops, pubs and restaurants.
But the licensing agencies that chase payments for playing background music to customers, to generate royalties for performers, demanded the garage pay up – twice.
The men paid £139 for the year to PPL, which represent the interests of the performers, but were then asked to pay the same again by the Performing Rights Society which acts for the writers and composers.
They refused to pay for the second licence, and took the radio home instead.
“We would have had to pay nearly £300 for two men to listen to the radio. It’s a scandal,” said Mick.
Scarborough MP Robert Goodwill said: “It seems ridiculous that two people who work alone in a garage are paying a fee equivalent to a TV licence to listen to the radio.”
PPL press officer Clare Goldie said when recorded music was played in the workplace, two licences were usually required because copyright protected musical compositions and lyrics separately from the recordings of them. “Fees go to record companies and performers, as well as to composers and publishers.
“These two organisations exist to ensure that those who invest their time, money and talent to create the music people love, are fairly rewarded for the use of their work.
“Research has shown that music within the workplace can have significant business benefits, including improving staff morale and reducing employee sick days.”
She said there were plans to simplify the licence system to include a joint licence for small workplaces.
The Performing Rights Society said they could not comment on the case because Dickinson’s was not a subscriber.
Comments(29)
retrorigg
says...
1:03pm Fri 15 Mar 13
Yorkborneinbse
says...
1:49pm Fri 15 Mar 13
This Country really is in the pits because of these types.
They'll want a fee from builders whistleing favourite tunes next.
Yorkborneinbse
says...
1:49pm Fri 15 Mar 13
This Country really is in the pits because of these types.
They'll want a fee from builders whistleing favourite tunes next.
alfie
says...
2:05pm Fri 15 Mar 13
Garrowby Turnoff
says...
2:09pm Fri 15 Mar 13
Yorkborneinbse wrote:If you have a PRS licence you can whistle what you like. If you record it you'll need to pay royalties to the MCPS. If you sell the recordings whilst busking you'll need a CoYC busking licence as well.
This case has been brought about by a person, a nobody, a detestable jobsworth, someone with little value in life and few friends.
This Country really is in the pits because of these types.
They'll want a fee from builders whistleing favourite tunes next.
This is all to ensure that the musicians who wrote, arranged, and recorded the original tune cream every last penny from their talent. Oh, and then there's the publisher who p'raps sponsored the original musical production, paid for the recording and then distributed the CD and media around the world. You also need to consider the impact you'll have on internet mp3 downloads and that by whistling the tune badly you'll probably ruin the sale of the song to anyone that hears you.
In fact, if you know what's good for you, stop being responsible for audible music being heard anywhere and take up politics.
The Watchful one
says...
2:44pm Fri 15 Mar 13
Capt. Dobie
says...
2:59pm Fri 15 Mar 13
The Watchful one wrote:I was wondering a similar thing...what if we have guests at the house? What about an office/ tea-bar/ common-room/ barracks/ ship/ bloke stuck in traffic with his window down/ astronauts on the ISS?
I could think of more important things they should be dealing with. Should I turn off the TV, or radio or CD player when the windows are open, just in case someone can hear????
SURELY these fees have been paid for by the BROADCASTER so that any 'infringement listening' is permitted due the fact that the tune is being transmitted via radio waves?
Is this actually a statute/ law like a TV license or are these 2 organisations just taking the mickey? Anybody else in the region been stung?
Every work place in the region BE WARNED!!!
THE MUSIC POLICE ARE COMING!!!!!!
old_geezer
says...
3:41pm Fri 15 Mar 13
capt spaulding
says...
4:43pm Fri 15 Mar 13
Dont know what else to do.
So Do I get a visit from the music lot or the rspca. ???
sparkseffect
says...
4:58pm Fri 15 Mar 13
Guy Fawkes
says...
5:13pm Fri 15 Mar 13
SURELY these fees have been paid for by the BROADCASTER
The broadcaster's licence is for listening in the home only - not in a place of business. By the same token, if you buy a DVD in HMV, the notice that appears on the start states that it comes with a licence for home viewing only. If you want to show it in a pub (for example), you need to buy a licence (usually from Filmbank).
It does seem excessive to charge this much to license a business with only two staff and no members of the public listening, though; and action like this will simply undermine public support for licensing businesses that really do use broadcast or recorded music as part of the service they offer to customers (e.g. hairdressers' salons).
If these two really wanted to stick two fingers up at PRS, they could always listen exclusively to Radio Four or the World Service (or another exclusively speech channel), and defy them to prove that they are actually playing any content covered by their licensing scheme.
Yorkborneinbse
says...
5:25pm Fri 15 Mar 13
I would like to speak to Clare Goldie, and also the pillock who brought about this case.
Just as I would countless others who misrepresent Laws and the approved codes of Practice around Health & Safety. There for a good reason, given bad press by misunderstanding unqualified meddlars usually.
pedalling paul
says...
5:39pm Fri 15 Mar 13
NoMorePlease
says...
5:44pm Fri 15 Mar 13
the butler
says...
5:44pm Fri 15 Mar 13
the butler
says...
5:44pm Fri 15 Mar 13
RoseD
says...
6:01pm Fri 15 Mar 13
Yorkborneinbse wrote:Exactly right.
This case has been brought about by a person, a nobody, a detestable jobsworth, someone with little value in life and few friends.
This Country really is in the pits because of these types.
They'll want a fee from builders whistleing favourite tunes next.
AnotherPointofView
says...
6:04pm Fri 15 Mar 13
pedalling paul wrote:Licensed, Paul? Not sure about that but there are some things that you should be....
Good job my bike bell only tinkles.......if it played a tune, I'd have to be licensed.....!
dfieldsend
says...
6:08pm Fri 15 Mar 13
I have a small office with me in and occasionally the wife, and we arnt open to the public, so to save sanity I listen to CD's (or rather iTunes) and
they wanted to charge for every track I owned, which came to over £1500 per YEAR!!!!!!!! I told them to take me to court and 3 months later they backed down after numerous letters and phone calls FROM THEM
Mr Anderson
says...
6:40pm Fri 15 Mar 13
Hectormacorkindale
says...
8:45pm Fri 15 Mar 13
Mr Anderson wrote:Well said !
I fully support the performing rights society. They are there to make sure musicians are paid for the work that we enjoy. Ok. I agree that in this case they are being pretty anal about it. But come on! How many times have you been ripped off by a mechanic? £40 an hour at least! Who's ripping who off here?
Yorkborneinbse
says...
10:01pm Fri 15 Mar 13
Hectormacorkindale wrote:Absolutely nothing to do with the case as reported, and the interesting views on the matter from others. Well said my 'arris'
Mr Anderson wrote:Well said !
I fully support the performing rights society. They are there to make sure musicians are paid for the work that we enjoy. Ok. I agree that in this case they are being pretty anal about it. But come on! How many times have you been ripped off by a mechanic? £40 an hour at least! Who's ripping who off here?
If you want your cars fixing for nowt, Suggest you have a go yourself !
Mr Anderson
says...
10:21pm Fri 15 Mar 13
Yorkborneinbse wrote:It's obvious what you do for a living.
Hectormacorkindale wrote:Absolutely nothing to do with the case as reported, and the interesting views on the matter from others. Well said my 'arris'
Mr Anderson wrote:Well said !
I fully support the performing rights society. They are there to make sure musicians are paid for the work that we enjoy. Ok. I agree that in this case they are being pretty anal about it. But come on! How many times have you been ripped off by a mechanic? £40 an hour at least! Who's ripping who off here?
If you want your cars fixing for nowt, Suggest you have a go yourself !
Scam people and rip them off! In other words. A car mechanic.
Magicman!
says...
1:36am Sat 16 Mar 13
I suppose we're going to have people from PPL on every single bus in every single town and city then, so when a chav starts playing loud tinny music from their mobile phone they'll be hit with a £278 bill because they're playing music 'in a workplace that is also a public place....
Final thought: people don't steall stuff that is dirt cheap. And shops that sell stuff dirt cheap are currently the ones on top during this recession. Meanwhile buisnesses selling music at the prices set by music companies are going out of buisness. You draw your own conclusions, but I know my viewpoint!
Maquis
says...
2:41am Sat 16 Mar 13
If a pub wants to play music which is legally purchased either online or traditionally they have to pay a fee based on their ground floor area. Usually costing hundreds or even thousands of pounds per year.
If a pub has a music system which plays music randomly, there is a fee,
If they then have a DJ play from the same selection, there is another fee.
If they have a TV, there is a further fee (according to the PRS/PPL its to cover any music played as a part of a show or advert)
I think that if you want to play recorded music commercially then as long as you have bought the content then it is yours to play as you wish, although copying and distributing is correctly banned.
Anybody who creates music should be happy to take the money generated by the initial sale of the content, further income with the same content can be generated by performing gigs and selling tickets / performance fees.
The current system could be transposed to another product, to show how ridiculous it is. For example a chair:
A chair is designed (music is written)
A chair is then produced in a factory (music is printed onto CD or put online)
A chair is retailed (music is then sold in a shop or online)
The difference is that once a chair is purchased, it is yours, you dont make copies of it, and you have it as a service to customers. If the system were the same, you would have to pay a yearly fee for the benefit of having the chair in order to help fund up and coming chair designers.
Another even more ridiculous rule is that even if you dont play recorded music, but have live acts, playing their own music, you still have to pay.
As far as Im concerned the way to help up and coming performers is to pay them to play in pubs and give their music exposure, not to add a further tax to businesses.
Steveuub
says...
6:38am Sat 16 Mar 13
- WORKERS PLAYTIME, so the music in the workplace was on the go long long before the PRS was even thought of ,
I started work in the 1960`s we had the radio on at work, in the 1980`s our car accessory shop had both radio and cassette players working ,
Yesterday I was at the Cornlands
Road Surgery listening to Radio 2 !
ouseswimmer
says...
9:30am Sat 16 Mar 13
Yorkborneinbse
says...
3:57pm Sat 16 Mar 13
Mr Anderson wrote:Clearly not obvious, as your assumption is wrong. Rash and incorrect statements having no substance or accuracy. Pretty well reflects your personality I will hazard a guess. Meanwhile to keep you entertained, do you want to have a wild 'guess' again, as to my profession?
Yorkborneinbse wrote:It's obvious what you do for a living.
Hectormacorkindale wrote:Absolutely nothing to do with the case as reported, and the interesting views on the matter from others. Well said my 'arris'
Mr Anderson wrote:Well said !
I fully support the performing rights society. They are there to make sure musicians are paid for the work that we enjoy. Ok. I agree that in this case they are being pretty anal about it. But come on! How many times have you been ripped off by a mechanic? £40 an hour at least! Who's ripping who off here?
If you want your cars fixing for nowt, Suggest you have a go yourself !
Scam people and rip them off! In other words. A car mechanic.
Pedro says...
12:43pm Fri 15 Mar 13