Florist News

Is anybody else being "oyned" by the PRS(Performing Rights Society) for several months now we have been receiving mail from these people telling us we need a licence to play music in shop!!!..Its on in the back workroom and is inaudible in the shop?????(only Oasis here is green and brick shaped)
Several other shopkeepers are geting the same mail shoots,one who is a one man barber(one chair 3 customer seats,has been told by PRS that its £100.00 for first year then £30.00 each year thereafter.
I once read something saying"That if the music you play is incidental and not the main reason for visiting your shop you do not need a licence,but since that i have read,that any music played in a commercial premises whether incidental or not requires a licence...Even if its in the staff workroom???
If this pursuit of charging for any played music continues whats the outcome,will we have to have a licence to play the radio in our cars(i thought we paid a licence "T.V" this includes radio as well)so if you travel in your ar alone you dont need a licence,if you work alone you dont need a licence,but if someone gets in your car"licence time"or if someone works with you "licence time"..........Surely this cant be right!!!!
Carrington PLEASE HELP!!!!Help if you can,just to clarify it cause i can't make "moss nor sand" out of it

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I know my "ASP from my OBOWL"

waaahahahahah I had a call from these muppets last Friday of all days, they've called me around 3 or 4 times now. I told the caller to speak up as I couldn't hear them... I'd turned my radio up loudly on purpose
Just waiting for the fine to plop on my doorstep any day now. I'm sick of these companies thinking up new ways of extracting our hard earned cash in return for nothing (oh yes, I've seen what you get when you pay the £100, a tiny sticker to put in your window saying this premises is licenced. Its an "I'm a mug" sticker if you ask me.) They can sing for their money!

i had the same phone call a couple of years ago and i said well its a shed all my stuff is outside and when and if we put the radio on its in the workroom and if you going to tell i need a licence i will go now and smash the radio up as i am not paying no bugger else money for nothing ok and the girl said ok as long as its not playing to the public bloody silly if you ask me if we had music blasting out how would i here my customer whilst giving me her order for her loved one being buried......don't think so i have worked in shops that used to play opera in the shop (for the image) and she got away with it then

These people are having a field day with all retailers so it's not just florists. However as far as I am aware - because we have the same problem - as long as the music can only be heard by 5 or less people and/or isn't in a public place (ie the shop) you don't need to pay.

Which is why, although we have 6 sound systems in our building, because they are all in individual offices with no more than 4 people it doesn't count. What we do have to pay for is the hold music we have because that's in the public domain.

Therefore, as i understand it, if the sound system is only in your workroom and there are 5 or less people there and the customer definitely can't hear it then you are safe.

However will get onto Austin and check our information and let you know if it's changed

Carrington

TA MUCHLY .XX.

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I know my "ASP from my OBOWL"

Had a phone call from those lot when I was working for someone else.

She said then that if it wasnt in the front shop and there wasn't anymore than 5 staff then there didnt have to be a license.

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Thats not what Ive been told, they rang me before xmas and asked how many staff I had, I said 2. She then told me I needed a licience even though the radio was in the back shop and couldnt be heard in the shop by customers. I said what bout tapes/discs and she said wouldnt be allowed to play any type of music, I then said are we allowed to sing or do we need a licience for that too...she laughed, glad I made her day...not. Anyway, when the letter came in to confirm that I had taken the radio out there was a grey area about music from the internet, well not really a grey area more like wording that could be interpreted wrongly....something like " we are not resposible for internet"....something or other. Now this in my mind, cause Im a bit dim, could be interpereted as you are allowed to play music on the internet. We now listen to radio one off of the internet and if they come in to check, which they have threatened to do then I'll just tell them Im a bit dim and didnt understand the letter

You have to pay regardless of how many people are in the shop even if it is in a back room just for staff.I only had 2 people working for me and it was in the back room.Still had to pay

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[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

Therefore, as i understand it, if the sound system is only in your workroom and there are 5 or less people there and the customer definitely can't hear it then you are safe.

Carrington[/quote]


couldn't fit 5 people in the shop

What about the 3 or 4 cars full of goons,all sat listening to music(loud as you like..pretty much broadcasting)on maccy d's car park most nights,if you need a licence surely then it follows that a car full of monosyllabic drones need one to!!

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I know my "ASP from my OBOWL"