Music Licence For Beer Bar Or Restaurant

[thecottonmill]

Hi this is on topic but slightly different.

I have a shop in the UK and I want to play Thai music. PRS got in touch and said I need to pay for their license but is GMM and RS affiliated to PRS? Does anyone know for sure? I didn't think they were.

I will certainly not be playing music from any of the international labels.

Cheers

[Chang_paarp]

Hi this is on topic but slightly different.

I have a shop in the UK and I want to play Thai music. PRS got in touch and said I need to pay for their license but is GMM and RS affiliated to PRS? Does anyone know for sure? I didn't think they were.

I will certainly not be playing music from any of the international labels.

Cheers

Might be worth starting you own thread for this, it will get better noticed.

I wonder if you bouth the licence from the Thai record company, would it be any good outside fo Thailand???

[Cuban]

Glad this thread got bumped as it is an interesting read (although I'm not affected these days).

Is the reason that some 'bars' have a PC running a 'jukebox' rather than another music source to benifit from the lower licence fee?

Link refers: http://www.1stopmusic.com/tariff.html

[keestha]

I just called the MCT ( ) about the licence to play farang music, and the procedure seems to be quite easy. For a restaurant the cost is 100 Baht per seat per annum, plus 7% VAT.

Documents you have to send to the MCT in Bangkok are:

1) The filled out application form you can download from their website

2) A document called "bai tabbian gan kha", it is a white or yellowish A4 sized paper , looks like a diploma, that every legally established restaurant or bar has.

3) The payment slip proving you paid the appropriate amount of money into MCT's account.

After receiving this documentation, they will fax you the licence, or send it by mail which takes about a week. The licence will be valid from the 1th of the next month.

[Penkoprod]

It's definitely worth getting the licenses. They are not that expensive (for a 30 seat pub it would cost 6000 Baht/year, or 500 Baht/month).

The risk of getting caught is real, fines are high (80,000 Baht, often negotiable down to maybe 30,000 with some luck) plus confiscation of equipment etc. You can pay for several years worth of licenses with 1 fine!

But that doesn't mean you can play music from pirated CDs/MP3s from hard drive though..........does it?

Penkoprod

[keestha]

But that doesn't mean you can play music from pirated CDs/MP3s from hard drive though..........does it?

Penkoprod

Obviously.

Here in Khao Lak they also raided internet cafe's, looking for illegally downloaded music, movies and so on.

[monty]

But that doesn't mean you can play music from pirated CDs/MP3s from hard drive though..........does it?

Penkoprod

Obviously not.

You actually are not even allowed to play the music from an MP3 player or a PC.

To be allowed to do that you need a so called "music box" license, which basically allows you to copy your original CD's onto a another device, be it a PC, or any other player.

With this license comes a sticker which has to physically attached to the player.

[keestha]

I just called the MCT ( ) about the licence to play farang music, and the procedure seems to be quite easy. For a restaurant the cost is 100 Baht per seat per annum, plus 7% VAT.

Documents you have to send to the MCT in Bangkok are:

1) The filled out application form you can download from their website

2) A document called "bai tabbian gan kha", it is a white or yellowish A4 sized paper , looks like a diploma, that every legally established restaurant or bar has.

3) The payment slip proving you paid the appropriate amount of money into MCT's account.

After receiving this documentation, they will fax you the licence, or send it by mail which takes about a week. The licence will be valid from the 1th of the next month.

Renewing the licence is a matter of telephoning them, they will send you an invoice by email. Pay through an ATM and fax them copies of the invoice and the payment slip, and you will receive your new licence by snail mail.

[on-on]

You actually are not even allowed to play the music from an MP3 player or a PC.

Let me ask a question here, because I had wondered about this. I go to some really long-time pubs and bars in Bangkok that have a laptop right out in the open that acts as the jukebox. I dunno if they're paid up or not on tariffs, but these guys are in really obvious locations, the owners are farangs and they'd basically be busted if they weren't doing something - but they are never, ever busted.

What's the on-the-ground story on that? I do have friends who have run bars for decades here, but I've never thought to ask them how that works. Most of the stuff, like featuring live music, staying open past hours and what not just involves greasing the right palm and knowing what's acceptable with your payees, but what about this MP3/PC thing? It can't be dramatically different, can it?

Also, they've got to be taking the piss on this one, heh:

P14 Telephone (Music on hold)

1 to 20 extension number(s) 10,000 Baht/Switchboard/annum

21 to 60 extension numbers 20,000 Baht/Switchboard/annum

over 60 extension numbers 40,000 Baht/Switchboard/annum

Edited September 18, 2009 by on-on

[raro]

theoretical question, but of academic interest:

What if I open a 50's theme bar, playing Bill Hailey and the like. The copyrights are by now expired (I think after 50 years it is), so nothing to protect anymore. Would I need any of those stickers?