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Canadian Music Industry Drills Dentists
hereisnowhy writes "CBC reports that the tranquil music that wafts through many dental offices to soothe patients and mask the sounds of the drill may soon be silenced. The music industry is putting the bite on dentists -- demanding that they pay for the right to play it. The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada would also like to extend this policy to 'coffee shops, clothing stores, lounges, elevators -- even radio tunes that people hear on the telephone while on hold.' Are any composers and authors actually in favour of this, or just the publishers?"
VANCOUVER - The tranquil music that wafts through many dental offices to soothe patients and mask the sounds of the drill may soon be silenced. The music industry is putting the bite on dentists - demanding that they pay for the right to play it.
... don't even hear the music."
The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada, which collects royalties for musicians, has targeted dental offices in its latest campaign. The group is asking them to cough up a yearly fee if they use copyrighted music to entertain patients.
The fee, a minimum charge of $100, has enraged some dentists.
"I just feel it's a money grab," said Vancouver dentist Kerstin Conn, who recently received a letter from SOCAN at her office. "We paid for our CD and we're using it to listen to, and half the time my patients
Bruce Wilde, licensing manager for SOCAN, said people can listen to CDs for personal enjoyment but infringe copyright if they play them for other purposes.
"The distinction is that the music is not their property," he said. "And if it's being used in a public fashion or any kind of commercial fashion, then [musicians] deserve to be compensated for its use."
SOCAN has battled for years to get commercial and retail outlets to pay for the use of copyrighted music. Under legislation, the music played in coffee shops, clothing stores, lounges, elevators - even radio tunes that people hear on the telephone while on hold - is fair game.
The copyright laws do offer some wiggle room, one legal expert said. "The gray area, I think, is where it's overheard inadvertently," said Robert Howell, a professor at the University of Victoria Law School, "when it is really intended to be private but it is overheard inadvertently by a customer."
SOCAN said it has successfully collected the fees so far, but if someone refuses to pay, it could sue for copyright infringement. Things rarely go that far, the group said.
Conn said she intends to keep playing CDs in her Vancouver office - at least for now. "Well, no, I'm not going to turn off the music. It's wrong."
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Time for the dentists who haven't to switch over to using the radio. http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/music-royal ties7.htm
The radio stations pay the royalties...
Muzak's been in that business for years.
Why should government be a debt collector for the music industry anyway? Why should the music industry get paid several times for one product?
That's all very nice, but I'm also guessing that you don't make your living selling your music. People feel the same way about other things they create. Hobbyists are happy just to have someone use their creation, which is fine for them, but professionals have to eat somehow.
I once read that the Boy Scouts in the US have a list of copyrighted campfire songs they are forbidden from singing because ASCAP took them to court over it.
THAT is scraping the bottom of the litigious barrel. Seriously.
TOO MANY LAWYERS.
Does it make you happy you're so strange?
With the rest of your comment I definately agree.
When opening your own business that are invariably unforseen costs. Imagine our surprise when we get a letter only a few weeks after getting our federal tax id. And the costs turn out to be $3000, that's a real drain when opening a business on a shoestring. I think they scan the SIC codes for new businesses and attack right away.
I'm a law student, and something stood out in one of my text books:
In the section "Playing music in a store or business", it lists that a fee must be paid in restaurants and bars 3,750 square feet or under and retail outlets of 2,000 square feet or under. Or the establishment must not have any more than six speakers throughout, and not more than four per room.
It's funny, my post probably just violated fair use, as I very nearly copied the sections without quotes. Fortunately, in my case, my intent is education not profit, and the base material is federal law, which isn't copyrighted. Though it'd still be worth an argument, as, both fortunately and unfortunately, fair use is subjective, and therefore victim to the interpretation of a judge of the week.
The Political Programmer
Actually this sort of reminds me of this story about Finnish Taxi Drivers having to pay royalties.
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http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/12/03/216
They wanted to lend me a discman, but since I had my own MP3 player with me, I used it instead.
I did notice that they had a cd holder full of CDRs though. But that's ok, since this is in Canada and we pay fees on blank CDRs for that, eh.
I've read about this a few week ago and here it what I understood from it:
This only applies to "purchased" music not music being played on the radio. The radio stations already pay membership fees to be able to play music to public.
This only applies if you are using it in public areas for business purposed.
This is the same if a bar has a satellite subscription. The fees are different for private viewing and for public display or business purposes.
Now I understand why but this is taking it a bit far. C'mon dentists?
Yes you are correct. APRA (Australian Performing Right Association) issues licenses to play music in public for your business. This includes shops and waiting rooms. Also the licence needs to be obtained to play the radio and/or to have a television on (even though the radio and television stations also pay for their own licences). The cost of these licences varies dependant on how the music is used, from memory the basic waiting room type licence is about $65AUD p.a. They have a whole section that is dedicated to hunting down those businesses that do not comply.
This post patent pending.
Here are some of the other tariffs charged by SOCAN.
Strolling Musicians and Buskers; Recorded Music - Fee per day: $32.55 for each day on which music is performed
Skating Rinks (Roller & Ice Skating) - 1.2% of gross receipts from admissions exclusive of sales and amusement taxes
Comedy Shows and Magic Shows - Fee per show: $36.60 where use of music is incidental.
Aircraft - Fee per quarter, based on seating capacity:
a) Take-off and landing music - ranging from $40.50 to $82.50 per aircraft
b) In-flight music - ranging from $162.00 to $330.00 per aircraft
Telephone Music on Hold - Fee for one trunk line: $94.51, plus $2.09 for each additional trunk line.
Background Music - Annual fee: $1.23 per square metre or 11.46 per square foot; half the annual rate for establishments operating less than six months per year. (In all cases, minimum fee of $94.51)
yup, in Australia people are expected to pay to put customers on hold. The Australian music monopolists have decided that even a phone call deserves a usage tax.
-AD
That depends, are you in Canada? If you are, then yes, you must pay. See the press release from SOCAN here.
This sig is umop apisdn.
How could the parent be modded troll? His "Full Metal Jacket" reference (or is that a standard Marine Corps statement?) is absolutely brilliant and should be rewarded with +1 Funnies and +1 underrateds. As for me, I'm prepared to be modded down mercilessly to fight for what I feel is right, so let it begin.
One solution would be to get your music from Magnatune.
http://magnatune.com
All Magnatune music is licensed under the Creative Commons license with terms of Attribution, NonCommercial, and ShareAlike.
http://magnatune.com/info/openmusic
I just studied the "Licensing" page, and I think that playing music for your customers is a "commercial" use and you would need a commercial license from Magnatune. But they offer their whole catalog for commercial use, and if you license from them, you know that 50% of whatever you pay goes straight to the artist.
I'm not sure how much they would charge for a dentist to play music for customers, but the "Public Space" license (e.g. for playing music in the dining room of a restaurant) is $45 per year for one album.
P.S. I'm a happy customer of Magnatune; I admire what they are doing and I hope they succeed. I have no other ties of any sort to them.
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
I used to work in a bar in a college town. I knew the owner from a previous job and so he contacted me when he needed people to open the place. The ASCAP guy came in while they were still setting the place up and gave his speech. The owner listened and at the end ASCAP man said, "We'll get you some forms and get you set up..." to which the owner replied, "Thanks but we don't need to bother with that. The stereo is Music Choice and the bands play originals. Good day."
Music Choice, btw, is the music stations piped in by the cable company. The fees for that are paid up front by the business owners. ASCAP man wasn't very happy, but as far as I know there was never any trouble over it.
A restaurant I once worked at subscribed to a commercial music service (satellite, I think) specifically for businesses which play music for it's customers. Fees to the music industry were collected in some fashion as part of the cost of this service.
It's not too hard to get a music student to play a few classical pieces for you with a specifically stipulated one-time fee type contract.
oops i messed up the link here is it
Snowden and Manning are heroes.
So wouldn't you think music publishers would be happy that the licensed stations are playing in stores where a lot of people walk in and out?
The catch is, publishers don't make a dime more if the radio is blaring through every possible radio within broadcast range than they do if the deejay's mom is the only human listening. The local advertisers pay the radio station--not the publishers--for airtime. In fact, the publishers are probably NOT happy about it, since they are less likely to sell a record that you already feel like you hear everywhere you go.
The fee for playing a radio broadcast in your business is paid to the radio station as well, just like a bar that has televisions tuned to a football game or pay-per-view boxing match. The original broadcast is meant for private viewing, that's why they read the copyright notice somewhere during every NFL game. It can easily be argued that the advertising is now reaching more potential customers, but the broadcast is being used by a third party business to draw more money into the bar. If a bar owner makes $50 extra with the radio, I see no problem with giving the station $5.
To tangent a bit more, Lars Ulrich was right when he said radio isn't free. I saw him at a press conference during the entire Napster thing (I think he's an ass and Metallica handled it very poorly) where someone asked a question that ended in "...but radio is free?" He disagreed, but the footage I saw cut before he gave his explanation. Radio is free only from the perspective that you don't pay the radio station money. To use an old pun in a serious context, you pay attention. That was the only thing I heard him say that made any sense. And I'm a musician too. It's a good thing this is three days old, because Napster is still good for spawning a huge debate.
I heard a statement regarding TV once that really clicked, and it applies to broadcast radio as well:
Television doesn't exist to bring programs to the viewer; it exists to bring client base to the advertisers.
It's truer than we want to admit. Music isn't free when you get it over the airwaves, because you listen to all the crap in between.
You're right about the music industry corporate greed tho.
Mom says my