PRS Demands License Fee To Play Music To Horses

Posted by samzenpus on Monday March 30, 2009 @05:12PM from the horses-prefer-country dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A woman in Bushton, Wilts, has been told by the Performing Rights Society (PRS for Music) that she needs to pay an annual fee in order to play classical music from the radio to the horses in her stable, something that she has been doing for the past 20 years. The PRS claims that it's not about the horses — rather, it's about her staff of over two people, which puts Mrs. Greenway in the same category as shops, bars and cafes. 'The staff are not bothered whether they have the radio on or not, in fact they don't particularly like my music and turn if off when I'm not around,' said Mrs. Greenway, 62. 'Especially on windy days I try to play it — it gives [the horses] a nice quiet atmosphere, you can only exercise one horse at a time so it helps the others to stay calm. We are right next to the RAF Lyneham air base so it dulls the noise from the aircraft as well.'"

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Simple by spike1 · 2009-03-30 21:41 · Score: 1, Redundant

Sound recordings in the 1950s were adequate quality so invest in some vintage vinyl.
Rip it, run it through a scratch and pop removal program, mp3 it and play that to the horses.
50 years, then copyright expires, so she can go and get any old record published before 1959 and play that without hindrance.
They take her to court, she screws them for libel. :)