Legal Music for Pubs and Bars: Everything you need to know about playing background music without breaking the law. Everyone agrees that music is an integral element in the success of a venue. It helps to create the ambience you want and attracts the audience you are targeting. Just like the furniture you choose, the colour of your walls, your artwork, lighting and audio systems, the music you play becomes part of your venue signature. Research shows that correctly matched music enhances the customer’s experience, extends their stay and encourages them to spend (so long as it’s carefully selected, scheduled and played at consistent and appropriate volume levels). With so much riding on it, it’s important that you know what can and can’t be legally played in your venue. With so much music around and so readily available, it's easy to think you can just play a few CDs compiled by a mate with a great collection, or just plug in your iPod….even if you’re vaguely aware that this might not be legal, "who's gonna come to MY venue and catch ME out?" Copyright is complex and there are lawyers who specialise in how it affects consumers and businesses. To regular people like us it’s actually pretty boring and it’s easy to push it aside as something that doesn’t affect you directly or is simply too hard to understand. But you’re running a professional business and you owe it to yourself to understand if what you’re doing is legal, fair and has repercussions if you don’t do the right thing. That’s why we’ve created this simple guide to tell you the do’s and don'ts of using music in a restaurant, pub, bar, hotel or other public commercial space. Copyright law distinguishes between a business and an individual consumer! Of course individuals are free to use legally obtained music on any device for their personal use and entertainment; they may also copy legally obtained music for use on another device. Businesses may not! The difference is that individuals are not publicly broadcasting their music nor are they making money from it in any way. What music sources can and can’t a business legally use? CDs: you can use legitimate CDs in your business. However, you can’t use burnt copies or burnt compilation CDs and you can’t transfer music from CDs onto iPods or computers for using in your business. This means that you must buy an original CD for each venue that the CD is playing in. Digital tracks: You are not entitled to use tracks that are illegally shared through peer-to-peer (P2P) software such as Limewire or from any other illegal download sites for use in your business. You may not even be entitled to use tracks that you have purchased from legitimate sites such as iTunes and Bigpond Music – that’s because many of these sites are licensed only for individual consumer use and not for business use. If in doubt, check the terms and conditions. (You should also be aware that downloaded files are of low and inconsistent bit rate quality, compromising your environment). There are two types of licenses that businesses must understand and comply with: Reproduction License Reproduction means the process of copying music either from a CD or a digital source. A reproduction license to copy music must be obtained from the owners of the copyright –from ARIA – the Australian Recording Industry Association or directly from the record companies for copying the sound recording; and through AMCOS for copying the musical and literary works. A reproduction license is needed every time that you want to copy a CD e.g. copying CDs onto iPods, computers or other CDs. Holding a reproduction license entails complying with strict reporting requirements set forth by the licensing entities, and the license holder must pay royalties based on their usage. Public Performance Licenses Any venue which plays music needs a public performance license from two separate bodies. One is PPCA and the other is APRA. PPCA licenses the rights for public performance of the sound recording and APRA licenses the rights for public performance of the musical and literary works. No matter whether you use CDs, an iPod or a background music supplier in your business to play music both these licenses are required! Public performance license costs vary according to the kind of business you operate, but the fees are very modest. To obtain these licenses, please use the links at the bottom of the page. Doing the right thing the easy way With the development of technology new ways of delivering music have become prevalent. Hard drive based computerised systems have become the new standard in commercial music delivery. Using an appropriately licensed background music supplier is the easiest way to do the right thing because they pay the various licensing entities in order to reproduce and distribute copies of music. They provide jobs for many people including DJ’s and musicians and they spend a huge amount of time and resources doing the right thing including supplying complex and accurate reports to the record companies & licensing bodies (APRA, AMCOS, ARIA, PPCA) for example, with information about what tracks have been copied and how many times it has been copied and for what venues. They do this so that record companies can pay the artists. What can happen if I do not comply? Some businesses who copy and play music illegally try to rationalize their behavior by thinking of music as being free. It’s not! The people who make that music simply need to be and deserve to be paid for it. Using music in your business that is not paid for or from a legitimate source is stealing. In music it’s called piracy. Music pirates can be fined up to $60,500 and up to 5 years imprisonment for each offence. For companies the fines are up to 5 times as much. Under recent changes to the Copyright Act the police can also issue an on-the-spot fine of $1230 and seize pirate music. Anything that is used in a business has to be paid for. The furniture, the paint for the walls, the stuff you sell AND the music. Right across the music industry you can expect to see a crackdown on illegitimate uses of music. This is because an artist’s livelihood is their music. And music doesn’t just happen – it takes great risk, commitment and effort to write a song, record it and release it. And usually there are long years where artists earn nothing or very little. So imagine how an artist feels when a business steals their work for commercial gain. Stealing music is the same as stealing anything else. It is illegal, immoral and the consequences are real, for artists, songwriters, you, and for the future of music. You wouldn’t sit by and let somebody steal from your venue, don’t do it to others. UNDERSTAND YOUR LEGAL OBLIGATIONS AND DO THE RIGHT THING! Links ARIA Australian Recording Industry Association www.aria.com.au APRA/AMCOS Australasian Performing Right Association Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners' Society www.amcos.com.au MIPI Music Industry Piracy Investigations www.mipi.com.au PPCA Phonographic Performance Company of Australia Limited www.ppca.com.au