Small businesses criticise music licence laws

News Article - 18 June 2008
Category:

The UK's small business community has hit out at the current legislation governing playing music, claiming that it is unfair.

According to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), the law is too expensive for many small firms who must pay a fee to the Performing Rights Society (PRS).

The number of firms in Britain currently playing music illegally is thought to be around half a million, with many small and medium-sized enterprises unaware of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Businesses playing music that can be heard by multiple employees or members of the public are required to pay a licence fee to the PRS.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4, Stephen Alambritis of the FSB claimed that members of the organisation were being targeted by the PRS "out of the blue" and criticised the current system, which he called "unfair".

Firms needing to keep track of their accounts, including the payment of licence fees, can invest in accounting software in order to do so.

The PRS collects royalties on behalf of musicians and the organisation claims that its licence fees are fair, as playing music at work has been found by researchers to enhance productivity.

Article keywords: The widespread use of computer language XBRL across the Atlantic may soon extend to the UK, according to one publication.<br/><br/>Recently, the US' Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has formalised the use of XBRL, prompting Accountancy Age to state that it is only a matter of time before the computer language is used more widely in the UK.<br/><br/>Chairman of the SEC Christopher Cox said that making XBRL official formed part of the &quot;war on complexity&quot; and would help investors to find information quickly and easily, &quot;without having to pore through pages and pages of documents&quot;.<br/><br/>In November, the big six companies lobbied for the issuing of information in real time at a conference in Paris following complaints about the financial reporting situation.<br/><br/>The publication questions whether UK investors would receive such a formalisation in the same way.<br/><br/>Senior fellow of the American Enterprise Institute, Peter J Wallison, recently claimed that the more organisations or people using XBRL, the more others will be attracted to it.<br/>

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