PPL music License

babycham222

No I have already told them this and they say if I work from home that it is classed as a workplace.
Have now rec'd a debt collectors letter from them for £400!!!

sarahg1969

And how do they know that you are playing music in your workplace?

prowla

babycham222 wrote: »

No I have already told them this and they say if I work from home that it is classed as a workplace.
Have now rec'd a debt collectors letter from them for £400!!!

Classed as a workplace by whom?

arcon5

babycham222 wrote: »

No I have already told them this and they say if I work from home that it is classed as a workplace.
Have now rec'd a debt collectors letter from them for £400!!!

If you work from home then I would say its a fair assumption your home is also your place of work.

You mistake was telling them this... you should have said , this is my home... get stuffed.

Now they likely have telephone recordings with your admission you listen to the radio in your workplace.

bod1467

prowla wrote: »

Classed as a workplace by whom?

Indeed. Is there a legal (or accepted) definition of what classes as a "workplace"? I sometimes "work from home", but that doesn't make it my "workplace" (in my eyes) - it is my "home".

peachyprice

arcon5 wrote: »

If you work from home then I would say its a fair assumption your home is also your place of work.

You mistake was telling them this... you should have said , this is my home... get stuffed.

Now they likely have telephone recordings with your admission you listen to the radio in your workplace.

But surely the clue is in the name, Public Performance Licence?

Just because you are working from home does not necessarily mean that you interact with the Public, so why would you need to have a licence to play music to the public you are not interacting with?

Unless of course they are including family pets as 'public';)

halibut2209

I'd assume you'd also have to pay Sky TV's business rates?

And playing DVDs would get you 6 months minimum...

peachyprice

And BT business rates, not to mention the local council business rates

arcon5

peachyprice wrote: »

But surely the clue is in the name, Public Performance Licence?

Just because you are working from home does not necessarily mean that you interact with the Public, so why would you need to have a licence to play music to the public you are not interacting with?

Unless of course they are including family pets as 'public';)

You don't need to interact with the public to require it:

A public performance occurs whenever music recordings are played outside the domestic or family circle. Whenever a music recording is played in a commercial environment, even if only one person can hear it, it becomes a public performance and a fee is payable to PPL.

So would be required if you was in an office also -- even if that office is in your home.


I don't agree with it though and I think op should have told them to 'get stuffed, I work in silence/listen to RF music' in the first place.

fluffnutter

I thought the whole point about needing a licence to play music in the workplace is that it can be overhead by members of the public - this is what makes it a licence for public, and not private use.

This is clearly nonsense if you work from home, and any company (remember they're just a company no doubt trying to make money) that insisted I pay spurious 'fines' and debt collection agency fees for playing the radio in my own home would be told to stick their demands up their backside. Let them take you to court (which they wouldn't because they'd lose).