OK, so I work for a small design/advertising company with staff of 6 full time and 3 part time people. Today, we received a phone call from the Performing Rights Society (Google them) explaining that if we have a radio on in the office we have to pay them for a licence. My boss took the call, and foolishly said that we do have a radio, so after they said that he'd have to pay them £300+ for the year's licence (maybe more, apparently it depends on staff levels, working hours and number of working days in the year). Anyway, the upshot of it all is the radio has now been taken out of the office.

They also said that they're perfectly entitled to charge us for up to 6 previous years' use by law - that would be £1800+ in back payment. I mean, WTF!!!? Luckily my boss said that we'd only had the radio for a year (a white lie?), so we only have to pay £300 for last year. I suppose we could all club together for future years' use, but with only 6 full time staff that's £50 each so I guess that's out of the question really.

Is this legitimate, calling companies up and demanding money for just listening to the radio in a private office space? I had heard of this before, but kind of assumed that it was for larger companies/enterprises or for businesses related to the entertainment sector, such as pubs, clubs, shops etc. We're a small company, already struggling to survive in this financial climate. Is this really the right time to strike businesses that are finding it hard already? From what I've read on t'Internet, they're currently targeting companies, especially in the North West of England - but probably other areas too.

I'm already missing music! God, it's awful without the radio on - like a f'ing library!! We aren't allowed to wear iPods either, as we need to hear and answer the phones - we only have a part time receptionist. Jeez, this bloody country just gets more like a dictatorship every day. I'm proper annoyed by this!

What's everyone's view on this, would you cough up or would the radio have to go?

The whole thing's obviously a fcuking nonsense, but then the PRS have a long history of that... Personally, I wish we could get rid of the friggin' radio in work, or at least stop listening to crap local stations

This always strikes me as a bit of a con. The PRS have already presumably been paid by the radio company for the rights to broadcast the music in the first place and now they want the listeners to pay for it as well. It's pure greed.
Fair enough if you're going to be playing only CD's then, as they are normally sold for 'personal use' then using them in a work place is outside of the licence conditions for the CD but charging for folk to listen to the radio is frankly mental.

Have a look at this from a couple of years back clicky. I find it insane to be honest. They'll be fining car driver next who play their music too loud for public performance! If I were in chanrge of the country its crap like this that would be thrown out.

Well the solution is simple - everyone take their own radio in.

That way it's for "personal use" and radios cost less than £50 =)

Just feel lucky you aren't a shop, café, restaurant or similar, they actually go round those on a regular basis - customers moving in and out all the time, they pay more.

This has been going on for decades, so, not wanting to be snobby or anything, it does surprise me when a company owner is "surprised" by such a telephone call.

In Germany, they actually have a group going round and demanding money from buskers, if they are playing copyrighted material!

Only if you use headphones!

What if you have it on REALLY quietly? >.<

Some guitar shops now won’t let people try guitars out if they are not playing original material. That joke in Wayne’s World about the “No Stairway to Heaven” sign used to mean that it was the most played tune when people were trying our guitars/. Now the PRS could demand fees as someone trying out an instrument in a shop counts as a performance.

I'm surprised you haven't heard about it to be honest, they had a major thing on Radio 2 about it last year. PRS are doing a major crackdown. However, they were saying that they were only charging people that were broadcasting, ie a garage where you could hear the radio as you walked past, not offices, so that's new.

I'd lie. I've paid the license fee already and so has everybody else in the room, so I'd feel perfectly justified in doing so.

Oh yeah, look on the bright side, at least you can still listen to Test Match Special.

So, if I have a song in my head (you know, a really annoying one) and I tell my colleagues, am I guilty of copyright fraud because I breached the 'personal use' rule?

I now have 'Stairway To Heaven' going round in my head. Oh bugger, I've just advertised it to the whole world. Mia Culpa

Al

It is 'illegal' to play music in a music shop on an instrument that you don't own the rights to. So if you go into a Piano shop and start knocking out some Elton John or Richard Clayderman or something else awful you are technically breaking the law or rather some kind of law these Performing Arts ***** got put in place via lobbying.

Sounds fair to me as I doubt that buskers are declaring income to the tax man.

They called me at work whilst I was listening to the iplayer.
I promptly turned it off and said it was just my mobile ringing

Mind you, if it was just a phone call, how did they identify themselves as the PRS? Could you tell who they were from the call?