7:44pm Thursday 10th December 2009
CUSTOMERS at an Oxford bar will be greeted by the sound of silence after its owner was temporarily banned from playing music for failing to pay a controversial licence.
The Brickworks, in Cowley Road, was hit with the ban and a legal bill of £1,722 after inspectors caught the venue playing the Arctic Monkeys and Badly Drawn Boy without a Phonographic Performance Ltd (PPL) licence.
PPL pursued the matter, and at a court hearing on Tuesday, bar owner Dickon Ware, 30, was ordered to pay the organisation’s legal expenses within 14 days.
He was also told to stump up £1,155 for a PPL licence.
Mr Ware had already paid £289 for a music licence from the Performing Rights Society and said he was unaware he needed two licences in order to play recorded music.
Mr Ware said when he received a letter from PPL demanding cash he thought it was a scam and ignored it.
The Brickworks is now banned from playing music until the legal bill and licence fee are paid.
Mr Ware, who has owned the bar for two-and-a-half years, said: “This has pretty much come at the worst time.
“I have just about got enough to cover the fine but in the current economic climate things are pretty tight so it’s a bit of a shock.
“I thought the performance license I had covered it and I thought the PPL letter was a fake trying to get money from me. It’s a bit unfair.”
Mr Ware said music was vital to the ambience of his bar and he had already sent a cheque to the PPL and hopes to be playing music again this weekend.
The PPL licence has been highly controversial for pubs.
Four months ago the British Beer and Pub Association defeated the PPL in court after the organisation increased its licence prices by 400 per cent in 2005/06.
The PPL may now be forced to reduce its prices by nearly 80 per cent and refund British bars, hotels and restaurants up to £20m if it loses an appeal.
John Madden, executive officer of the Guild of Master Victuallers, said some inexperienced landlords did not know the rules.
He said: “Licensees are going through a terrible time at the moment so I have a lot of sympathy with this gentleman.”
A spokesman for PPL said: two licences were needed to play music in public.
He said: “PPL distributes its licence fees to record companies, recording artists and musicians, and the Performing Rights Society collects a separate licence fee which they distribute to composers and music publishers.”
“PPL takes infringement of its copyright very seriously and will take the necessary action to protect its rights.
cwalker@oxfordmail.co.uk
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