[asterisk-users] Royalty for On Hold Music ?

[John Novack]

Stephen Bosch wrote:
> John Novack wrote:
>   
>> Stephen Bosch wrote:
>>     
>>> Well, this is approaching the absurd.
>>>
>>> Do you know how many Meridian systems have radios plugged into them for "on-hold" background sound? Nobody pays royalties on those.
>>>   
>>>       
>> IF they are discovered by ASCAP and receive a letter demanding payment 
>> they will. Not absurd at all.
>> Simply because many do it in ignorance doesn't make it legal
>> ASCAP goes on campaigns on a regular basis. Home residential users are 
>> probably safe though not legal. Business users have a greater visibility 
>> though
>> There are all sorts of royalty free music sources  available. No excuse 
>> not to use it.
>> Or simply pay the yearly fee to ASCAP ( in the US )
>>     
>
> The fact that ASCAP goes on "campaigns" doesn't make it any less absurd
> (or, for that matter, any more likely that the average business is going
> to be taken to task); the reality is that thousands upon thousands of
> interconnects install PBX systems with radio ports on them that are
> plugged into cheap transistor radios bought at Wal-Mart and similar
> places, and nobody -- not the client, nor the interconnect -- has any
> clue about any royalty obligations that entails. People do it, think
> nothing of it (not least because the PBX vendors promote it as a
> feature!) and I think neither ASCAP nor any other royalty agency has the
> necessary resources to make even a dent in this kind of use.
>   
Simply put - tell it to the judge.
Drivers speed , change lanes, cut others off every day and MOSTLY get 
away with it.
Doesn't make it legal, does it?
Not any different than stealing software is it?

> It's one thing if you're Dell or Microsoft and you are using music for your call centre, and another if you're the neighbourhood dental practice.
>   
In the eyes of the law, it makes NO difference.

Do it until you are caught, you say?
> I'd be interested in getting in touch with any small businesses which have been given a "cease and desist" letter or demand for payment because they piped radio into their phone systems.
Not only their phone systems but their waiting rooms

Next time you go into an office or store and you see the yellow ASCAP 
label on the door, you know they probably have gotten a letter.

MANY interconnects now have discovered they can make extra by selling a 
message on hold system that not only hawks the wares of the firm but 
escapes the clutches of ASCAP.

You remind me of a friend who enjoys a good argument with a tree stump.

John Novack

-- 
Dog is my co-pilot