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It's A Fiddle!


SandTiger

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Published: 14th December 2005

http://www.macclesfield-express.co.uk/news...s_a_fiddle.html

 

 

MUSIC shop boss Steve Kowalski has been told he will have to pay to

play if his customers want to try out his instruments before they buy.

 

And that, he says, is a fiddle.

 

The Performing Rights Society claims he needs a licence if he, or any

of his punters, want to "have a go" on anything from a harmonica to a

harpsichord or castanets to clarinets.

 

And officers have told him that if he doesn't stump up cash to the

tune of £114 he will have to face the music.

 

But Steve, 53, who is gob-smacked by the order, said: "They can go whistle!"

 

He says he wants the threat removing – no strings attached!

 

Talking from his shop, the well-established Jones Music on Charlotte

Street in Macclesfield, he asked: "Has anyone used their common sense

here?"

 

Steve, who took over the 78-year-old established business a year ago,

received a call out of the blue from PRS who asked if he or his

customers tried out musical instruments.

 

He said: "I thought, what a daft question, of course we do."

 

When he said they did, they told him that if anyone played a riff – an

identifiable piece of music – he was in breach of copyright and was

breaking the law.

 

"They said it constituted a public performance!" he gasped. "I thought

someone was winding me up.

 

"I have never heard anything so ridiculous in my life. It means that

customers will either have to try something out without the piece

sounding melodious or they will have to buy it untried.

 

"I am certainly not going to pay for a licence. I am making a stand

for all musical instrument shops who are just going about their

business."

 

When Steve, who lives in Macclesfield with partner Sally, asked PRS

what they were going to do about it, they told him they would send in

their copyright protection squad.

 

"I could tell that meant trouble," he said.

 

Steve, who himself plays lead guitar in a band, ironically called

"Rough Trade", said the cost of the licence was determined by the size

of the shop and since Jones Music was 1,500 square feet he would be in

for a £114 bill.

 

"It's not the money," he said. "It is the principal. I don't intend to

rock over this one."

 

Keith Gilbert, PRS Performance Sales Director said: "Royalties are

crucial – they keep songwriters and musicians writing more music. And

royalties are paid by everyone that plays music in public.

 

"Music shops pay like everyone else, but get a 30 per cent discount if

their only music use is for demonstration purposes."

Pat Hills

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make them pay AND those poxy street beggars who appear every christmas outside your supermarket put on a 30 year old 8 track and demand money with menaces ,maybe if they actually shelled out a few quid for a new tape and decent speakers people would be more generous ,i hate them :angry::angry::angry::angry::angry::angry::angry::angry:

Believe NOTHING anyones says or writes unless you witness it yourself and even then your eyes can deceive you

None of this "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" crap it just means i have at least two enemies!

 

There is only one opinion i listen to ,its mine and its ALWAYS right even when its wrong

 

Its far easier to curse the darkness than light one candle

 

Mathew 4:19

Grangers law : anything i say will  turn out the opposite or not happen at all!

Life insurance? you wont enjoy a penny!

"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical." Thomas Jefferson

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got no problem with donating to lifeboats or poppy day at least they dont broadcast crap music at high volume through crap speakers ,had the sally army outside sainsbury sat before last ,get with it sally chuck out those screetching brass horns and get synths :rolleyes: they got bugger all from me

Edited by chesters1

Believe NOTHING anyones says or writes unless you witness it yourself and even then your eyes can deceive you

None of this "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" crap it just means i have at least two enemies!

 

There is only one opinion i listen to ,its mine and its ALWAYS right even when its wrong

 

Its far easier to curse the darkness than light one candle

 

Mathew 4:19

Grangers law : anything i say will  turn out the opposite or not happen at all!

Life insurance? you wont enjoy a penny!

"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical." Thomas Jefferson

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Ridiculous - of course. Solution? A semi-noise proof room? No noise, no copyright infringement and no public performance. Or is that too simple? Sometimes if you can't beat 'em, you work your way around 'em..... :huh:

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Have a friend that ran a hairdressers. While his customers were going through the mill, they could listen to music being played in the background. He was told he needed an entertainment license to do this. He refused to pay for one.

Last i heard, he was issued a court summons.

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What he had been playing a radio? Does the same law apply.

 

And what about these rust buckets with 1000 watt speakers entertaining the whole town as they pass through.

 

It is a joke.

I fish, I catches a few, I lose a few, BUT I enjoys. Anglers Trust PM

 

eat.gif

 

http://www.petalsgardencenter.com

 

Petals Florist

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Hi all

 

ken your spot on about the 1000watt cars creaping about a town near you all:)

what they gonna take a license plate and book em:)

 

i bet they are training noise haters as we speak(opps was i humming to loud oraficer):)

 

right son im arresting you for breech of copyright under the WAF law

 

W/hat / A / F/arce

 

and for headbutting me after i tried to conviscate your tongue:)

 

what a load of tosh

 

whats with this crap

 

we should be paying the audio editers as if it wernt for them we wouldnt buy cd`s cos most artist sound crap live.

 

pc brigade and softies find a cliff and keep walking

 

sg

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Ridiculous - of course. Solution? A semi-noise proof room? No noise

 

 

One just big enough for chesters would do.

Edited by argyll

'I've got a mind like a steel wassitsname'

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