How Ridiculous is this!

[mdwatt]

Check out this link regarding playing radios in public.

BBC NEWS | UK | England | Beds/Bucks/Herts | Customers have no rights to music

and


BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | Edinburgh, East and Fife | Kwik-Fit sued over staff radios


This has stooped to a new low, when you can't even play a stinkin' radio in public without getting sued by the record companies.

 

[hoky]

That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. I always thought that the radio was a way for artists to have their music heard so people can go out to the stores and buy their albums. I thought that's why singles are released so radio stations can play a song off an album and if the listener likes they can go buy it. Isn't that how it works?

SO what I'm trying to understand is why are they double dipping? Why are they charging the radio stations a license fee to be able to play the music in the first place and still go ahead and charge the listener or better yet small companies that may have their workers listen to music while they work if a customer comes in and hears it?

I don't understand it. It's not like they using the music as part of the business to get people to come into the shop so they can turn more profits.

 

[mdwatt]

I think the deal is that since it's being played in a business, then it's not actually considered being used for personal use but rather for business purposes, and for the entertainment of a large group, in which case, additional royalties are required. But that's still bull crap. What's the difference between that, or if you're playing a radio in the city park? Or if you're driving thru town with your car stereo blasting the latest hit from Linkin Park, and it can be heard by other people. Where does the line get drawn?

 

[Pepper]

So, now they can use copyright law to get rid of the noisy boomboxes driving down the streets.

the ultimate end is a recurring license fee per set of headphones, and illegal to listen outside your own home without them.

 

[mdwatt]

The ultimate end is corporate and government control driving us into a fascist or communist society instead of a democracy. Freedom and democracy in this country are already tainted. It isn't just this radio thing, it's gun control, free speech issues, election procedures, the list goes on. Big business gets rich while everyone else struggles, the governemnt knows what's best for us, who we vote for isn't who gets put in office, and we all accept it. George Washington would roll in his grave.....

 

[Foxbat]

You do realize the BBC is over in the United Kingdom, right?

 

[Pepper]

Duh, freedom is under attack everywhere.

 

[mdwatt]

It makes little difference. If they get away with it over there, it's only a matter of time before it makes it's way over seas.