Don't stop the music!
Submitted by Elizabeth Chamber... on Fri, 27/11/2009 - 14:53
Following a recent Government announcement, charities and other not-for-profit organisations will no longer be exempt from paying a licence for playing recorded music within their own premises from April next year .
The Government’s own figures suggest that this will cost voluntary and community organisations up to £20 million a year. This is an incredible amount of money, which should be used to benefit the people and causes our organisations work for. Instead it will go into the pockets of recording companies.
We are very concerned about the impact that this change to the music licensing regime will have on many voluntary and community organisations.
We will be campaigning to reverse this decision, but we need your help.
You can:
- Tell us how your organisation will be affected by the new licensing requirements.
- Find out more in our briefing on the new music licensing scheme (PDF 110KB) and how it is likely to impact on our sector.
NCVO's Head of Policy has been on Radio 4's You and Yours to talk about the issue and how it will affect Charities and other groups.
You can listen here (approx 23 mins in)
I feel that the "worker is due his wage". Artists produce the music, we enjoy the music, they should enjoy the fruits of their labour.
What would be more appropriate would be for the Treasuary to have a license rebate scheme for charities, or agree a block payment to the artists, paid from the unclaimed Gift Aid tax monies received.
I agree with you Tom: musicians should receive due retribution for their work. But the cost required to pay the licenses is money that would otherwise go to good causes and to strengthening communities.
Since the beginning we have asked that, if change is necessary, the exemptions should be recast in a way to reflect the private interests of copyright owners and the public benefit provided by charities and other not-for-profit organisations. But the total repeal of the exemptions does not make any concession to VCOs working for the public benefit, and fails to recognise the valuable contribution they make to society.
Obviously we would like to see a settlement which enables fair licence fees for different organisations while treating musicians fairly – however we cannot support a decision to increase the financial and administrative burden on the community and voluntary sector, particularly at a time when its services are most needed and spending cuts are looming.
We are a Hands on Healing organisation and like to play healing music in our waiting and healing rooms as part of the healing process. We are a small charity with limited funds, so having to pay for music licences could put some pressure on our funding and not having music to help the healing process could make our healing less effective.
Read the articles about the campaign in the Sunday Telegraph: Community groups may have to turn off music - 20 Dec and the Express.‘MUSIC BAN WILL HIT BRITISH WAY OF LIFE’ - 21 dec
Please remember the money goes to the musicians as well as the record labels. Orchestras, for example, are also registered charities and the musicians, many of whom are freelance, need the crumb of extra money that comes from licence fees. We've just got a PRS licence for our office and it cost just £50. A small price to pay to support hard-pressed musicians.
Influential blogger Archbishop Cranmer has written in support of NCVO's campaign. You can see his comments here.
In reply to Mark's post, I just wanted to clarify that our concerns are also for struggling musicians, many of which currently benefit from the exemption by raising their profile and starting their careers in the thousands of community centres, village halls, churches and youth centres (to mention just a few) that can offer their premises at no cost. Arguably paying the additional licence (joint or otherwise) would inhibit many of these venues from promoting and sustaining musicians and their work. Indeed the Incorporated Society of Musicians, representing thousands of musicians, responded to the IPO’s consultation saying they favoured an exemption for small charities and community groups.
Obviously we would like to see a settlement with fair licence fees for different organisations and treats musicians fairly as well – however we cannot support increasing the financial and administrative burden on the community and voluntary sector, especially at a time when its services are most needed by people and communities.
I feel that the "worker is due his wage". Artists produce the music, we enjoy the music, they should enjoy the fruits of their labour.
What would be more appropriate would be for the Treasuary to have a license rebate scheme for charities, or agree a block payment to the artists, paid from the unclaimed Gift Aid tax monies received.
Yes I also agaree with you that we all should enjoy the music. I like the music, musiciations and especially the lyrics and scripts of good poerty.
What can you do about it? Here are NCVO full details to get involved, which include:
To get involved with the campaign you can: