[asterisk-users] Royalty for On Hold Music ?

[Ronan Mullally]

On Tue, 31 Jul 2007, Steve Kennedy wrote:

> > What if the radio is on in the background when I make a call ? is that
> > rebroadcasting ? kind of gets blurry on the definitions there.
>
> That's not as you're listening to it and not "trying" to rebroadcast.

I've not been following this thread closely, so apologies if this has
already been covered.

I had a summer job many years ago (early '90s) for the organisation
responsible for collecting royalties in Ireland (IMRO).  My recollection
is probably a bit off, but the situation was that:

 - if you played copyrighted music on your phone system you needed
   a license which was scaled on the number of external channels on
   your phone system

 - if you had copyrighted music playing in the background in your
   office/shop/workplace then you needed a license which was scaled
   on the number of people working in your office/shop/workplace

The reasoning behind both was that the employer was making (or allowing)
the music available to third parties which was classed as a performance in
a public place, which incurs a royalty fee (public == anything that's not
domestic).  It didn't matter whether the music came from TV, radio or a
recording (and royalties were also levied on the TV, radio and recording
companies).

IIRC The licenses were typically an annual fee on the order of (back then)
about IEP 100-200 (now EUR 127-254).

AFAIR the situation was similar in the UK, where the Performing Rights
Organisation (PRO) were the equivalent body.


-Ronan