Re: [ARSCLIST] Brunswick Records rights/Universal

[David Lennick <dlennick@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Funny....but was this actually printed with the word spelled "principal"?
Civilization is doomed, folks. Hope the cockroaches enjoy the place when we're
gone.

dl

Matt Sohn wrote:

> > Further, you know that tune that keeps running through your head and you
> > can't get rid of it? From now on, you'll be expected to pay royalties on
> it!
> >
> <snip>
> On a similar note:
>
> First published by the Macclesfield Express
> http://www.macclesfield-express.co.uk/news/s/207/207169_its_a_fiddle.html
>
> MUSIC shop boss Steve Kowalski has been told he will have to pay to
> play if his customers want to try out his instruments before they buy.
> And that, he says, is a fiddle.
> The Performing Rights Society claims he needs a licence if he, or any
> of his punters, want to "have a go" on anything from a harmonica to a
> harpsichord or castanets to clarinets.
> And officers have told him that if he doesn't stump up cash to the
> tune of £114 he will have to face the music.
> But Steve, 53, who is gob-smacked by the order, said: "They can go
> whistle!"
> He says he wants the threat removing - no strings attached!
> Talking from his shop, the well-established Jones Music on Charlotte
> Street in Macclesfield, he asked: "Has anyone used their common sense
> here?"
> Steve, who took over the 78-year-old established business a year ago,
> received a call out of the blue from PRS who asked if he or his
> customers tried out musical instruments.
> He said: "I thought, what a daft question, of course we do."
> When he said they did, they told him that if anyone played a riff - an
> identifiable piece of music - he was in breach of copyright and was
> breaking the law.
> "They said it constituted a public performance!" he gasped. "I thought
> someone was winding me up.
> "I have never heard anything so ridiculous in my life. It means that
> customers will either have to try something out without the piece
> sounding melodious or they will have to buy it untried.
> "I am certainly not going to pay for a licence. I am making a stand
> for all musical instrument shops who are just going about their
> business."
> When Steve, who lives in Macclesfield with partner Sally, asked PRS
> what they were going to do about it, they told him they would send in
> their copyright protection squad.
> "I could tell that meant trouble," he said.
> Steve, who himself plays lead guitar in a band, ironically called
> "Rough Trade", said the cost of the licence was determined by the size
> of the shop and since Jones Music was 1,500 square feet he would be in
> for a £114 bill.
> "It's not the money," he said. "It is the principal. I don't intend to
> rock over this one."
> Keith Gilbert, PRS Performance Sales Director said: "Royalties are
> crucial - they keep songwriters and musicians writing more music. And
> royalties are paid by everyone that plays music in public.
> "Music shops pay like everyone else, but get a 30 per cent discount if
> their only music use is for demonstration purposes."
> Pat Hills