James Delahunty
31 Mar 2009 4:14
The Performing Right Society (PRS) in the UK is literally looking and listening, anywhere and everywhere it can to find fresh new sources of license fees for "public performance" of music. It's no secret that typical business premises like grocery stores, restaurants, clothing outlets and everything else must pay a yearly fee if they have the radio playing for their staff and customers.
Fresh from hunting down new businesses in towns and cities, the PRS is expanding to anywhere it can that technically is required to get a license. Rosemary Greenway is a perfect example. For over 20 years, she has played classical music for the animals at her stables because she believes it helps to keep them calm.
One day she received a telephone call from the Performing Right Society informing her that she must pay a £99 annual fee, as playing Classic FM at the stables where there are more than two on staff apparently constitutes a "performance", regardless of the fact that the staff don't really care for, or listen to the music at all.
Rosemary claims from observation that the music soothes the animals, making for better working conditions for all. The stables are also located next to the RAF Lyneham air base, so the music helps to drown out the excess noise. "You would have thought that playing music to your own horses was allowable but apparently not," she said. "Especially on windy days I try to play it - it gives them a nice quiet atmosphere, you can only exercise one horse at a time so it helps the others to stay calm."
The PRS on the other hand are trying to clear up confusion about the fee. "Of course, we don't ask people to pay for music played to animals," said a spokesperson. "Mrs Greenway was only asked to pay for music played for staff, like any other workplace." Rosemary doesn't agree, and won't be paying any fees. Instead the horses will just have to put up with music just one day a week - on Sunday when there are no staff around but Rosemary.
It is not just Rosemary's stable either - the British Horse Society is reporting a surge in calls from stables who received the same demand, but were unsure whether it was a hoax. The PRS is doing its job however, as its goal is to simply get money wherever it can. Last year, the organization told charity shops run by the mental health group "Mind" to switch off all the radios in the charity stores until both organizations discussed license fees.