Anyone familiar with PRS Licences?

[mumhadenough]

I've just had a telephone call at my office from the PRS (Peforming Rights Society) calling themselves PRS for music and telling me I need a PRS licence.

We don't play music or the radio at work, we have no public in our offices but she tells me I need one for our television that is in our staff canteen.

As far I was concerned, our tv licence covered us for this. TV licensing have confirmed this is the case but would not commit to commenting on whether we require a prs licence or not. Grrrrrrrrrrr

Can anyone advise?

YOu need a PRS license to broadcast music
. that is thru a radio/DJ/live music. If its thru your TV then its fine.

PRS pay artists for any broadcast of their music (DH is a memeber)

They're telling me that you need it as music can be played through the tv.

PRS here Its a bit grey actually.

If I was you, I would look up PRS themselves and then phone them and ask them the question. So far as I am aware, it can be expensive to pay for prs license so you don't want to be scammed... would be easy money for fraudsters because so many people bend the rules!

Sorry, I was a bit pre occupied then ...

as far as i understand it, if your TV is playing music to someone other than yourself then you are broadcasting it.

section 5 should help

Thanks mumofmonsters, looks like we'll just need to pay up! Tv licensing are wimping out completely of answering any questions on that. Being unsuspecting, we just assumed that we were covered by our tv licence.

Humpty, its def them, the number they gave me to call back on is on their website.

Yet another pound to pay in rip off Britain eh!

The PRS is a business which collects money on behalf of recording artists and then 'redistributes' it. It is not a government agency.

If it were me I would claim that you never played music on the TV (eg if it was permanently tuned to a news channel) and then leave it up to the PRS to prove otherwise. They're not like the TV licensing people, they can't come to your office and demand to see your equipment.

Thanks Grendel, I will do that. It is actually only ever on Sky news! lol

I read somewhere else though that said you are liable to pay for a licence if they use clips of music i.e. on the news. Even though the broadcaster will have a licence to do so, technically we are broadcasting it!

I would call them on their advice line and ask about a number of different scenarios, eg:

1. If we have a TV recieving only the main 5 channels, are we liable?

1. If we have a TV tuned only to the news channel, are we liable?

etc.

Much of the work that PRS does is really good, and they are a valuable service for small musicians and composers, but I must admit that I struggle slightly to see that they can justify charging for a licence for a TV which might be used to play music!

Bramshott, thats totally fair enough. I don't disagree with their work. We are a software company so understand totally how piracy and stuff can affect companies/artists etc. It just seems quite unfair.

I'm actually tempted now to disconnect the freeview and use the tv only for the wii. Can you imagine how upset the staff would be though!

I might just pay it mind you, as it would be good if we could have a radio playing in the reception area. Will need to have a think.

Thanks all for your valuable input, its been most appreciated. I can always trust mumsnet to help me out when I'm stuck. Best search engine in the world!

grendel - they can come to premises and demand to see licenses. It's just been done at BILs work place. They are now no longer allowed even MP3 players in case its a bit loud and someone else hears it. Bit silly really.

The TV thing is just bizarre though.

About to leave work but I know a bit about PRS and yes you do need a licence. On a TV there will be music, commercials, background music etc etc.

They are on a real clampdown at the moment, ridiculousy so.

I gladly pay the annual fee (run a children's theatre/dance school so we obviously play music but musicla instrument shops have to pay it in case their customers play a bar of a copyrighted piece when testing the guitars/keyboards!!!!

Thanks IOS, looks like we'll have to pay it then eh.