Aargh, matey -- Singing clerk is a music pirate
Filed under: Extracurriculars, Shopping
Scot Sandra Burt was singing to herself to pass the time as she stocked shelves at the grocery store where she works, in Clackmannashire, Scotland. Imagine her surprise when the UK's Performing Right Society (PRS), sent her a letter warning that she could be fined for singing songs written by its clients without paying a royalty. Apparently, PRS and the store owners had already tangled once over unlicensed music broadcast in the store. PRS has since come to its senses and sent Burt a letter of apology.
However, the question reminded me of a fact I came across recently; the rights to the song "Happy Birthday To You" are privately owned, and every time it is performed in public, such as at a local restaurant, money is due the owners of the song. I heard this sung by the staff of a restaurant to honor a customer just two days ago, and I'm betting I witnessed an act of piracy.
"Happy Birthday To You" was copyrighted in 1935 by the Summy Company, and the current owner, Warner Chappell, paid $15 million for the rights in 1990. He claims that his copyright is valid until 2030, although scholar Robert Brauneis of the Law School at George Washington University called this into question in a paper about this issue, citing "... a lack of evidence about who wrote the words; defective copyright notice; and a failure to file a proper renewal applications."
The issue is no laughing matter, as witnessed by the recent controversy started by The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), over whether the playing of a song as a ring tone when you receive a call in a public place can be considered a public performance. If so, we are all pirates. Aargh.
In the United States ASCAP and the Broadcast Music Inc. employ representatives who cruise restaurants and other venues checking for unlicensed use of radio feeds and other rights-retained entertainment. Perhaps, before you go out for the night, you should put your phone on "vibrate" and overcome the urge to hum a few bars of your fav to a friend.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-25-2009 @ 8:45PM
Linda said...
CARAAZZY!!
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10-25-2009 @ 9:02PM
Sam said...
How stupid! It's free advertising.
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10-26-2009 @ 3:58AM
EAL said...
Try usuing your REPORT button on these free advertizers.
10-25-2009 @ 9:03PM
traci said...
so does this mean that everytime your singing along with the radio or in the shower or karoeke that i you can get fined? wow...yet another reason the world is going to hell.
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10-25-2009 @ 9:40PM
Billabong said...
What a bummer. If you play really bumping music in your car does that count as a "public performance"?
If so, my neighbor's kid is screwed.
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10-25-2009 @ 10:03PM
fiddler said...
Yea, imagine, people who write music actually want to be paid for it. I mean, it's not like they have to pay for food, clothing, transportation or housing, that's all free, right?
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10-26-2009 @ 4:49AM
Anne said...
Seriously, we all realize how important it is to be paid for your work, but singing along to the radio? Or singing a song you like while you are working? Do you seriously believe these are infringements on royalties? If people can't sing along to their favorite songs, we might as well forget public radio, television, Muzak, etc. And while we are at it, let's just ban CD's, tapes, MP3's, basically any kind of recorded music and make everyone who wishes to hear an artist pay for a ticket to see them and only see them in a public performance venue. Oh, and don't even think about singing a song you just heard in that performance when you leave the venue, because you will be broadcasting a song that someone else wrote and performed, in public, and that will be illegal! Get serious. But I guess, we can't have these performers getting too rich or famous, so this is one way to keep them from making any money, because in this scenario, no one will ever become well known because the music they come up with will not be broadcast......sad day when the music dies......
10-25-2009 @ 10:08PM
Jorge said...
Not only fined, but she can also get fired.
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10-25-2009 @ 11:10PM
Lyn said...
As a teenager, my son was reprimanded for singing on the job at Wendy's. He was singing, to keep up his spirits, while he was cleaning the bathroom!
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10-26-2009 @ 12:12AM
mckenz707 said...
THIS WORLD IS GETTING CRAZIER AND CRAZIER! MAYBE WE SHOULD JUST GO AROUND LIKE ROBOTS, OR LIKE THEY DID IN GEORGE ORWELL'S 1984 AND JUST GO THROUGH THE MOTIONS, NOT SMILING, NOT TALKING UNTIL WE HAVE TO. IT GETTING PRETTY PC AND STUPIDIER ALL THE TIME. FIRE THE BOSS!
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10-26-2009 @ 12:32AM
basman1234 said...
This is ridiculous. I own an Indie Label and a person singing a song while working - stocking shelves - is not piracy, even in a record store. If they are not generating income by singing a song, they cannot be charged with piracy. It's business-wise stupid to sue over something like this... even if she sang poorly. I'd say they have reached someone with the music (which IS the goal of every artist) and she sang it because she liked the music. Illegal broadcast? So, if I buy the song and play it while driving my car with the window down.... they could sue for illegal broadcast? Or, if my neighbor hears me sing along with the window in my house open, that's illegal broadcast? See how utterly stupid this is? How old is the agent from the PRS? New on the job maybe? Kind of like the new cop that writes the first speeding ticket for one mile an hour over. Somebody's "undies" seem like they might be a smidge tight.
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10-26-2009 @ 12:43AM
MARGIE said...
Does this mean I could call the music cops on some of the stores that play terrible music so loud I can't stand it? Wow, somebody tell me how I can do it!
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10-26-2009 @ 1:07AM
Candie said...
Don't you people know, that when you are in a resterant and the servers sing a song for people having a birthday, they DO NOT sing the song as it was written. They, in my neck of the woods, make up their own version, therefore not stamping on anyone else's rights.
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10-26-2009 @ 2:49AM
mezl said...
uh, excuse me... but when some one writes and sings a song, isn't it for entertainment purposes? and if you entertain people with your song, shouldn't they be allowed to enjoy it and sing it and play it with out having to "pay" for it? while we're at it, may be people who coined the common phrases we use- like, "no such thing as a free lunch", "if you lie with dogs, you get up with fleas", should recieve compensation every time people repeat these phrases. or their estates or living heirs if the people who came up with them are dead. may be the people who first came up with language should be compensated.... after all, we use every word they made up with out paying them for it. oh, wait, that's right- they're all DEAD. guess we can all get safely away with stealing the words they all made up for us to use to this day.... what a bunch of idiots the people of modern times have but then i guess since people can no longer go out conquering other towns and villages any more, like in medieval times, all that pent up warring energy has to be spent some how...
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