This was an unusual one. My northern correspondent Dr Glyn Reece rang to tell me that the Daily Mail was running a promotion via cover-mounted Christmas CDs. There was a different one every day: Nat King Cole, Andy Williams, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin and so on.
Glyn never plays music in his wife Judith’s store (Penny’s in Chester) and therefore has neither a PPL or PRS licence. He rang up the Mail to ask them if they knew whether he could play one each day (only on the day it was being used to promote DM sales) and the Mail said it didn’t know, but that it had paid copyright.
I put the point to both the licensing bodies and it looks like DM’s purchase of copyright doesn’t cover it in-store. It’s still a public performance.
The media relations manager for PRS says: “We offer a special tariff to customers who want to use Christmas music over the festive period on a short-term basis. The minimum cost of these Christmas permits is £42.”
For a bespoke quote you can call PRS on 0800 068 4828. Or you can call the PPL licensing team on 020 7534 1070.
