[BC] Public license question

[Rich Wood]

------ At 07:30 AM 7/30/2009, Bob Stroupe wrote: -------

>Larry, I thought there was an exemption from ASCAP fees (for radio; 
>TV no idea) for small businesses with areas of a certain 
>size?  Something like not more than could be covered by a single 
>radio with two speakers?  Someone on the list will know about this.

I've had friends called "listeners" whose jobs were to sit in bars 
and restaurants (all sizes) and log all songs he could hear through a 
sound system in whatever area customers were served. Without a 
license, they told me, the only legal use of music would be a radio 
or cassette/CD player in the kitchen for the personal entertainment 
of the dishwasher. If there are speakers installed in the ceiling 
they need a license. The license, at the time, was about $179 per year.

If a listener documented the "playlist" and found no membership (paid 
up) sticker on the window by the entrance, they'd be visited shortly 
thereafter by a man or men in dark suits with all the paperwork 
necessary to sign up. The option was legal action. That might cost 
more than $179.

I don't believe there was any provision for retroactive payments.

Rich