In the shop where i work, we have just been told that we can no longer play music in our shop, because we do not have a license.
We put the radio on because it helps us, if there is a big queue, you get a very awkward silence, and customers feel like they are waiting for a long time.
I was just wonderin what license you have to get to play the radio in the shop, and how much it costs etc.

Also, is there any exception to this rule, for instance if we played a cd with open-souce music on it, would we still require a license?

Thanks for your help
James

You don't need a license to play music. As long as it isn't a "public performance", which it sounds like it isn't. Having the radio on for employees and customers is perfectly legal. I go to a local pizza place regularly, that has broadcast and cable television playing the whole time they're open, in fact I watched game 1 of the finals there. I'm sure it would be different if you were charging a fee for radio listening. Sorry that your bosses are being such asses.

Oh rite, we have been told that you require a license to play the radio, which i have heard before at school too.

I should just mention that we are in the uk if that makes a difference.

I don't know the situaition in the UK, except you need a government license for a radio even in your home the fees of which go to pay for BBC.

In the US you do need a license to play a radio (or CD's etc) in a store, restaurant, etc if the program material has the usual copyright restrictions. If ASCAP (the usual licensing agent in the US) finds out they generally start out with a fairly freindly notice that you need to pay a license fee, and I don't think it is much.

The reasoning is that even if you aren't charging admission, you are creating an atmosphere that makes your customers more pleased to be in the store and thus gain a commercial benefit.

With that reasoning, a gas station I occasionally use plays music I don't like at the pumps so ascap should pay the station for my desire to buy gas at a silent station.

edit: update! In 1999, the (again, US) copyright law was changed to allow restaurants and stores to (with some restrictions) play radio stations without paying a license fee. They still have to pay for playing CD's, tapes, etc , even if taped from the radio. See here:

ASCAP FAQ

thanks for all of your replies, so would it be ok to play open-source music in the shop?

Not really sure theres such a thing as open-source music, that really applies to software. I think that artists can release music under the creative commons license which *probably* allows this kind of use. Checkout www.garageband.com for some such tracks

There's a lot of demoscene related music that could be called open-source (.mod, .s3m, .it, .xm etc. files you can freely download and use how you please). Almost any demoscene music would be free to play wherever you like too. You might end up in a fight if you ran into someone that was skeptical at the existance of free music.

Well, that changes everything. I was talking about the US.

I'm not sure about the laws concerning this but I came across this article that related to this subject that I thought I'd share.