Quote:
Originally Posted by Northerner52
Whats a local FM station with instrumental music?
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There are many companies that provide instrumental or vocal music of various sorts to places like doctor’s offices and dentist’s offices and stores. There is also Sirius-XM or whatever it is called which has many channels. I think that to be legal, commercial enterprises are supposed to make yearly royalty payments to either BMI or ASCAP that get distributed to the copyright holders in some unfair way. Even churches are required to pay these fees. If they don’t, they can be fined. A doctor’s office playing a local radio station without paying the fee is breaking the law. It’s possible for a company to record its own “mix tape” of favorites to be played over and over, but they are still supposed to play the fees.
(The Bible says, “The worker is worthy of his hire.” That means, “Don’t try to get out of paying a worker what you owe.” I used to have a friend who Was an NYC entertainment lawyer. Among his clients was Andrew Lloyd Webber. For years, he would often fly out on weekends to various mid-western churches, show up just before their illegal, non-fee-paying production of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” and shut down sold-out shows. The pastor would say, “But this is for Jesus! This is money for doing God’s work!” My friend would say, “Jesus would say ‘Thou shalt not steal.’” The churches then had to pay his large lawyer fees by the hour and his air fare. Churches can of course perform “Jesus Christ Superstar,” but they have to pay the fees, based on attendance. It might be a couple thousand for a weekend. Just charge an extra dollar per head. All churches that play or sing Contemporary Christian Music are also required to pay. If they are caught not paying, they are fined. A church I attended fifteen years ago was paying about a hundred dollars a year for the use of praise songs.)
Some restaurants, such as Carabba’s and Boca di Beppo, play Sinatra-style swing all the time. I LOVE that! But you can be sure they are paying royalties every year. It’s not that expensive. Say, a couple hundred dollars for a doctor’s office, I think.
(Fees are paid on all music played on SiriusXM. Actually, if you have a subscription, you help pay those fees.)