Radio signals copyrighted?

[Locutus]

This is a sure sign that society needs a swift kick in the head. :roll:

Unless of course it's that rap/hip-hop garbage. :lol:


A car repair firm has been taken to court accused of infringing musical copyright because its employees listen to radios at work.


The action against the Kwik-Fit Group has been brought by the Performing Rights Society which collects royalties for songwriters and performers.
At a procedural hearing at the Court of Session in Edinburgh a judge refused to dismiss the £200,000 damages claim.
Kwik-Fit wanted the case brought against it thrown out.
Lord Emslie ruled that the action can go ahead with evidence being heard. The PRS claimed that Kwik-Fit mechanics routinely use personal radios while working at service centres across the UK and that music, protected by copyright, could be heard by colleagues and customers.

Holy crap!

......

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7029892.stm

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

These RIAA guys are scary. They are bloodsuckers. Gotta make the millionare loser 'musicians' (with today's music I use the term very loosely) richer.

 

[Tonington]

Seriously, phuck off!

 

[shadowshiv]

So does that mean we will be getting nailed with this in the future? By this, I mean that a lot of people listen to their car radios with the windows down, and you can hear the music. So, following the same "logic" in the original post, they should be able to go after us as well.

I realize that the original case takes place in the UK, but what's to stop the parasites from targeting us next?

My scenario makes about as much sense as the original one. Therefore, I echo Tonington's assertion.

 

[TenPenny]

Actually, if you play music in your store, you are required to keep track of what you play, and forward payments. The same rules apply whether you are playing CDs or the radio.

It is because you are using the music for a commercial purpose.

 

[shadowshiv]

Actually, if you play music in your store, you are required to keep track of what you play, and forward payments. The same rules apply whether you are playing CDs or the radio.

It is because you are using the music for a commercial purpose.

How could playing music at your place of business be considered commercial? If it is a couple of people working in an office, they are listening for themselves. They are going to be opening a huge can of worms with this, of that I have no doubt.;-)

I'd like to see them make me forward payments.;-):lol:

 

[Locutus]

Actually, if you play music in your store, you are required to keep track of what you play, and forward payments. The same rules apply whether you are playing CDs or the radio.

It is because you are using the music for a commercial purpose.

Well allow me then to reiterate what Tonington said to the music police:

Phuck off and keep phucking off.

Thank you.

 

[triedit]

If the employees are listening on headsets, it shouldn't be infringement, but if there is one general source of music for all to listen to then they may have a case.

Most "legal" stores subscribe to a music service, which pays the fees--problem solved.

 

[Tonington]

That's just a slippery slope I don't wanna go near. Does that mean employees in a work vehicle are not to have the windows down while listening to the radio, or music they purchased? I don't know...

 

[shadowshiv]

If the employees are listening on headsets, it shouldn't be infringement, but if there is one general source of music for all to listen to then they may have a case.

Most "legal" stores subscribe to a music service, which pays the fees--problem solved.

If I listen to the radio at work(which I do), there is no way that I am paying those scum-sucking parasites any more money. I spend plenty of money on music CDs, and that is good enough for me.

 

[shadowshiv]

That's just a slippery slope I don't wanna go near. Does that mean employees in a work vehicle are not to have the windows down while listening to the radio, or music they purchased? I don't know...

And what if it happens to be 100 degrees out, and the vehicle's AC is broken?

 

[Tonington]

And what if it happens to be 100 degrees out, and the vehicle's AC is broken?

Better hope no music industry exec or ambulance chasers are nearby....

 

[Locutus]

What about the music blaring on the midway rides at say, the CNE?

 

[shadowshiv]

Next step will be to ban music everywhere.;-)

 

[lone wolf]

Radio station already pays a user fee. That's what chart lists are all about. Sux to realize all those years ago when I and hundreds like me used to cruise with the windows down and elbows crooked out the opening we might have been offending someone.

Wolf

 

[Locutus]

I had my room wallpapered with CFGO music charts in Ottawa as a young trouble-maker.

 

[TenPenny]

Radio station already pays a user fee. That's what chart lists are all about. Sux to realize all those years ago when I and hundreds like me used to cruise with the windows down and elbows crooked out the opening we might have been offending someone.

Wolf

If you are playing music in your store for the benefit of your customers, then you are using it for commercial purposes, and therefore you should pay the artist/rights holder for this use. There are rules about that; if you choose to ignore them, go ahead. Those rules don't apply if you are listening to the radio for your own enjoyment, or if you are listening to music that you have already paid for (ie, CDs).

I don't give a **** what you do, I was just pointing out that this isn't some wacky hateful new thing by some big bad record companies. It's been the ****ing law for years. Radio stations pay for playing music, that's what the playlists are for. You people are quick to jump to some halfassed conclusion, based on a total incomprehension of the rules and the laws.

****, what a bunch of idiots we've raised in this country. Anyone ever do even the tiniest amount of reading about anything any more? No, obviously not. Jesus H Christ.

 

[triedit]

Radio station already pays a user fee. That's what chart lists are all about. Sux to realize all those years ago when I and hundreds like me used to cruise with the windows down and elbows crooked out the opening we might have been offending someone.

Wolf

If they are listening to the radio at work, then they should be paying a fee to the station, not to the recording industry. The radio station is used to enhance to product. You're using thier service to make money. Its not a great law, but it is at least logical. I honestly don't think though that the use of a radio to make the working environment more pleasant should be an issue--especially if it's a radio station. Playing in stores though, that is intended to encourage the shopper so I could see how that should have a fee attached.

Listening for your own enjoyment is not the issue here. The issue is, is that music, provided by an outside source, enhancing your product in any way. If it is, then pay a fee.


ETA--Yeah, what tenpenny said!

 

[lone wolf]

Theoretically, all those paying advertisers on the radio are the ones who should benefit ... so it's a case that would certainly win some ambulance chaser's attention.... Not the sort of slippery slope Courts like their time wasted on

 

[Tonington]

I think there is a huge difference between playing a radio in a garage, and playing it in the office. They weren't playing it to entice customers, they were playing it in a garage and loudly apparently, probably to hear it over the sound of the impact wrench. I find it more than a coincidence that this is happening at a time when label profits are slipping and radio profits are rising. In fact radio is almost doubling the recording industry right now in profits.

Radio has been paying licensing to the publishers/song writers for years, and now that CD sales are slumping, the labels are trying to get their cut now. I say tough bananas.

Where does satellite radio fit in this, as you pay a service, and the radio stations pay the fees?