Do we need a license from the performance rights groups to play radio music over our telephone system while callers are on hold?
Yes. Such a broadcast would be considered “open to the public” and would not fall under any exemption. 3. We show movies about once a month in a conference room for the entertainment of our employees. We do not charge an admission price; we serve popcorn; we advertise the event in an in-house newsletter; and about 20 to 30 people come each month. Do we need permission? Yes. Even though the performance is in a place not open to the public, the number of people you indicate is “a substantial number of persons outside of a normal circle of a family and its acquaintances.” Therefore, the performance is a public performance. The face-to-face teaching activities exemption does not apply because this is not a teaching activity; the educational broadcast and the nonprofit public performance exemptions do not apply because a movie is a dramatic audiovisual work and these two exemptions only apply to non-dramatic literary or musical works. As a result, the performance infringes the copyright own
Related Questions
- Why would I ever want to license music performance rights directly from composers and publishers or through my program suppliers?
- Do we need a license from the performance rights groups to play radio music over our telephone system while callers are on hold?
- If I have a SiBee license and normally play only SiBee music, am I ok to occasionally play the radio?
