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Bin Police, Thought Police and now Music Police.
Get a load of this.
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Music police have told a grandmother to stop singing behind the counter of the corner shop where she works - or pay for a licence.
Sandra Burt began serenading customers at the A & T Food Store in Clackmannan, near Stirling, after the owners were contacted by The Performing Right Society and told they would have to pay an £80 annual fee to keep the radio on in the shop.
They decided not to bother and now 56-year-old Sandra sings as she stocks the shelves and weighs customers' purchases.
However, the PRS, which collects royalties on behalf of music industry bosses and artists, has told her that her 'spontaneous outbursts of joy' constitute live public performance, and she could have to pay for a licence.
The PRS said that Mrs Burt could be judged to be giving daily performances, which would require individual daily licences, taking the annual cost up to 'four figures'.
'She could be fined for not having a live performance licence, and if the fine isn't paid, then she could potentially be taken to court.'
Mrs Burt said, “I sing all the time, and I often don't even know I'm doing it. It's just a spontaneous, happy thing.”
“They'd have to put tape over my mouth to stop me singing these songs. Even if they threatened to take me to court, I don't think I could stop singing. I'm just a naturally happy person.”
The Performing Right Society said it was within its rights to charge for all copyright music played or performed outside of the home.
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So here we go…No Carol Singers. No whistling. No humming. Do not tap your fingers to a well known tune and should you break wind or belch, it could constitute music regardless of what key it is in!
I wonder what would happen if the PRS had gone onto a building site and demanded that a bricklayer stop singing, I bet his next stop would have been A&E to have the builders’ trowel surgically removed.
Of course Sandra could stick to singing tunes out of copyright, like Gilbert & Sullivan and other old songs in the public domain.
The PRS is simply a soulless, joyless organisation that has hit upon a money making scam and they are determined to squeeze as much as they can from anyone.
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I thought it was organised singers/carollers that had to pay and that spontaneous breaking out into song was just that spontaneous...
ReplyDeleteToo many rules and not enought enjoyment...
I'm astounded by this. It's about time the public ganged up on these soul destroying people.
ReplyDeleteWould it be a breach of the rules if I sing in my workshop but nobody hears me? What if they accidentally hear me and I am unaware. This is all bonkers! Kath
ReplyDeleteI hope they don't come along to my office then, one girl bursts into song all the time!
ReplyDeleteWell, we're all agreed on one thing and that is it's all getting very stupid. I knew about the radio bit, because I used to go to a little engineering shop to buy my bits & pieces. Burt used to sit there with the radio on for company. When I went into the shop he would turn it off. I used to say "Oh don't bother" but he explained that he had to, as he had not paid for a £80 licence!
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of this bit about singing in a public place....I wonder if it's true.....maybe for buskers or street entertainers but surely not for everyone.
And to think...my father was fighting in 1942...for freedom???
Thanks for dropping in and commenting.
Bernard.
If she writes her own songs or makes them up as she goes along,what then? Oh Shame! What has it come to?!
ReplyDeleteYou are right Liz, it should only be copyright material. Old folk songs, opera, all church music, G&S and anything over 70 years old is exempt.
ReplyDeleteI think if you stand in the High St. and start singing Beetles hits, you're in for trouble!!
Shouldn't be....but you are.
That's just reminded me..at the local dog shelter, where we volunteer, they played music in the dogs kennels. Research has found that it can be soothing as well as entertaining to the canine residents. They had to stop doing this, as they didnt have the necessary licence! Kath
ReplyDeleteThey should have played Mozart, Bach or Beethoven....the doggies would have love Bach! ...don't you think?
ReplyDeleteAnd all out of copyright so no licence.
I've only known a couple of British people in my life, and they were both pretty hard-headed, do-it-their-own-way sort of folks. If the rest of you are like that, how in the world do these rules ever get enforced?
ReplyDeleteHi Jan.
ReplyDeleteThis country unfortunately, no longer makes anything. So to prevent large scale unemployment, the government has created lots of non-jobs. They just monitor, check, record and if they don't like what you are doing, they fine you. If you don't pay up, they take you to court. There, you end up with a bigger fine!
It's all pretty grim. There will be a change of government next year, but will there be a change of policy? The public are angry, very angry about all these rules and regulations. We can't really have civil war, we have to do it through the ballot box.
Cheers.....Bernard