Listening to Radio at Work

[Stringent]

http://www.absoluteradio.co.uk/listen/at_work.html

Some good advice if you listen in the workplace

If you're lucky enough to work for a company who play Absolute Radio in the office, there are a few things you should be aware of regarding music copyright.

PRS for Music is entitled to charge businesses for having Absolute Radio on at work. When music is played or performed in public, they act as the agent who collects the performing royalties for the people who wrote the music. So you can continue to enjoy music in the workplace, we’ve put together a list of tips to help you:

PRS for Music doesn’t charge a fee if you are listening to your own music with headphones.
PRS for Music rates are based on the number of people who can hear the radio, not the number of people in your workplace. Try to reduce the number of people who can hear the radio - don’t put it out over a tannoy so that the whole factory floor can hear it.
If you are a lone worker, or you work from home, you don’t have to pay for music. If your office is made up of 4 or fewer workers, you qualify for a single flat rate.
PRS for Music may phone your workplace to check if you should be paying for a licence. If anything about the call is confusing or worrying - let us know and we will make the bodies aware at a senior level. PRS for Music has a Code of Practice which you can find on their website.

PRS For Music has conducted some work into the business benefits of playing music in the workplace, so if your boss is considering stopping the playing of radio in your workplace following PRS For Music charges, you might want to point them in the direction of the Music Works website.

Visit the PRS for Music website if you want more information on music copyright.

Interesting ... Didn't know that.

[jim]

Personally, I think they should sod off.

Some of the rights they try to assert are just ridiculous.

[dave87]

Surely this should all be charged to the radio stations rather than worrying about where the end user is listening to it?

[Lucio]

This fee is on top of what the radio stations pay for the music in royalties...

I'm surprised people haven't heard of this, there was a radio advertising campaign about 18 months back in light of the court case where Kwik Fit got sued for having the radio where the customer's could hear it.