There is a supermarket chain in Northern Jersey called "Kings" and the locations I have been in (Midland Park, Ridgewood & Hillsdale) all have had SiriusXM on....I haven't been there in awhile but I believe they either have The Blend or 80's on 8 on.....There is also a fast food restruant in Paramus called "The Fireplace" and they have been playing 60's on 6 for years.....Before that it was always WCBS-FM 101.1
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Hearing Many Local Businesses Using Satellite Radio
- Thread starter Barry
- Start date
+1 Barry. it's a legal thing.
local stores would play local radio except for the legalities.
Sirius handles that. one stop shopping. no muss no fuss.
ASCAP and BMI have killed the Golden Goose.
local stores would play local radio except for the legalities.
Sirius handles that. one stop shopping. no muss no fuss.
ASCAP and BMI have killed the Golden Goose.
I remember a brochure being given out to establishments about music licensing back around year 1999 that said you could legally play ota radio on no more than 2 speakers per 2000 square feet or something like that. I.e. 8 speakers for a 8000 squarefoot store ect. ect.
SXM did not kill store carriage of local radio stations, it killed business specialty services such as these guys.
Other than the smallest of operations, I have never known any large retailer to run either an inhouse loop recording, a satellite delivered corporate feed with constant reminders of "specials in the produce aisle", or a service such as the one to which I linked.
I will never forget the time I was food shopping in the early/mid 1970's. There was some dead air on the store's canned music feed which I knew was delivered on a local 67KHz SCA. Horrendous splattering could not be missed. Got back to my car, put 96.5 on, and what were they playing? Shaft, by Isaak Hayes!
Other than the smallest of operations, I have never known any large retailer to run either an inhouse loop recording, a satellite delivered corporate feed with constant reminders of "specials in the produce aisle", or a service such as the one to which I linked.
I will never forget the time I was food shopping in the early/mid 1970's. There was some dead air on the store's canned music feed which I knew was delivered on a local 67KHz SCA. Horrendous splattering could not be missed. Got back to my car, put 96.5 on, and what were they playing? Shaft, by Isaak Hayes!
Fieldtech1 said:
I believe it was Sonny Bono who was the lead sponsor of that law, and, if I remember correctly, it's no more than 2 speakers and no more than 2,000 square feet. So, an 8,000 square foot store would not be covered.
I've also been told that, if you're selling a radio, you can legally play it as a demonstration without having to worry about royalty fees.
When I was a kid my neighbor's family owned a nightclub that featured live entertainment, some acts later well known, and I remember stories of the ASCAP or BMI auditors coming around, doing audits and really annoying the club owners especially when the bill was presented. They also wanted paper records of any sheet music used for each song played all week.
Later when I started in radio, I remember doing the semi-annual royalty logs where we had to copy the names of the song writers listed on the record labels for each 2-or-3 minute record we played. It was a hassle I hated. And then the music licensing auditors would come in and set up shop in the record library for a few days, and never speak to any of the employees or management. It seemed a real adversarial situation.
But the worst music licensing story I remember came from a local newspaper probably sometime in the 80s. Apparently, these music auditors were going to all the local shops to listen to whatever music they had playing, and demanding royalty fees from some small businesses just because they had a radio on.
One of the businesses was a barber shop and the owner was quoted in the story as saying that he had switched his FM to the local non-commercial classical station, which only played music composed so long ago that it was in the public domain. The guy was furious by the licensing threats and it gave him something to talk to his customers about. But he was sufficiently intimidated by the licensing rep that he actually checked with a lawyer, and vowed not to play any modern music in his barber shop ever again.
Later when I started in radio, I remember doing the semi-annual royalty logs where we had to copy the names of the song writers listed on the record labels for each 2-or-3 minute record we played. It was a hassle I hated. And then the music licensing auditors would come in and set up shop in the record library for a few days, and never speak to any of the employees or management. It seemed a real adversarial situation.
But the worst music licensing story I remember came from a local newspaper probably sometime in the 80s. Apparently, these music auditors were going to all the local shops to listen to whatever music they had playing, and demanding royalty fees from some small businesses just because they had a radio on.
One of the businesses was a barber shop and the owner was quoted in the story as saying that he had switched his FM to the local non-commercial classical station, which only played music composed so long ago that it was in the public domain. The guy was furious by the licensing threats and it gave him something to talk to his customers about. But he was sufficiently intimidated by the licensing rep that he actually checked with a lawyer, and vowed not to play any modern music in his barber shop ever again.
How about I-pods? The Subway Sandwich Shop in Smithtown plays the Ipod of it's owner, I was told he decided not to pay the Muzak bill so they cut it off and he plugged his Ipod into the unit! Talk about cheap! 
It seems to be a terrific idea that Sirius/XM offers a version of their service to business, with all music licensing issues takn care of for their customers. What business playing music in the background would want to have to concern themselves with paying royalty fees to ASCAP etc?
Perhaps languishing HD radio could be put to use to offer some competition with in-store audio. As hardly anyone is listening to the HD side channels, what about dedicating some business-friendly formats such as A/C to business use, played without interruption? Licensing fees would be paid as they are with Sirus/XM's business service. And special radios or codes would be needed to receive them. Businesses would pay a monthly fee, which would be competitive with satellite radio's charges. I beleive the technology for this already exists. It would be an update of the old practice of businesses getting Muzak from FM SCA channels.
But I am not sure if the F.C.C. would be OK with the concept of charging fees for HD radio channels.
Perhaps languishing HD radio could be put to use to offer some competition with in-store audio. As hardly anyone is listening to the HD side channels, what about dedicating some business-friendly formats such as A/C to business use, played without interruption? Licensing fees would be paid as they are with Sirus/XM's business service. And special radios or codes would be needed to receive them. Businesses would pay a monthly fee, which would be competitive with satellite radio's charges. I beleive the technology for this already exists. It would be an update of the old practice of businesses getting Muzak from FM SCA channels.
But I am not sure if the F.C.C. would be OK with the concept of charging fees for HD radio channels.
It seems to be a terrific idea that Sirius/XM offers a version of their service to business, with all music licensing issues taken care of for their customers. What business playing music in the background would want to have to concern themselves with paying royalty fees to ASCAP etc?
Perhaps languishing HD radio could be put to use to offer some competition with in-store audio. As hardly anyone is listening to the HD side channels, what about dedicating some business-friendly formats such as A/C to business use, played without interruption? Licensing fees would be handled by the broadcaster as they are with Sirius/XM's business service. And special radios or codes would be needed to receive them. Businesses would pay a monthly fee, which would be competitive with satellite radio's charges. I believe the technology for this already exists. It would be an update of the old practice of businesses getting Muzak from FM SCA channels.
But I am not sure if the F.C.C. would be OK with the concept of charging fees for HD radio channels.
Perhaps languishing HD radio could be put to use to offer some competition with in-store audio. As hardly anyone is listening to the HD side channels, what about dedicating some business-friendly formats such as A/C to business use, played without interruption? Licensing fees would be handled by the broadcaster as they are with Sirius/XM's business service. And special radios or codes would be needed to receive them. Businesses would pay a monthly fee, which would be competitive with satellite radio's charges. I believe the technology for this already exists. It would be an update of the old practice of businesses getting Muzak from FM SCA channels.
But I am not sure if the F.C.C. would be OK with the concept of charging fees for HD radio channels.
To me, there is no difference between playing sat and terrestrial and streaming. Since the royalties are paid by the originating studio, I don't see why you can't. It is why the story in the Keys came as a surprise to me. And that was before XM or Internet.Nick said:
If the radio station streams its audio, it is using "multiple" distribution methods. I can see the argument of multiple royalties being paid, but there is only one studio. So, if you are listening to an Indiana station in New Jersey, no additional fee should be paid if they are looking at it in terms of the studio.
If Sirius/XM has paid the royalties to use the song, why would that be different from a local radio station paying the royalties and that local station piped in to the store? It then turns into an issue of Politics.
And, as we all know:
Politics trumps EVERYTHING!
Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
Royal Buffet (A Chinese American Buffet) in Waterbury, Connecticut plays one of the Oldies Channels from XM. It's the only Chinese Buffet place that I've been in that doesn't play Chinese Music.
A Rhode Island based close-out chain called Ocean State Job Lot used to play the local Classic Hits Stations such as 102.9 DRC-FM or The River 105.9 at their locations in my area. Now they're running some kind of music service with ads for the store interspersed with the music.
The Shoprite Supermarket I work at in Southington, Connecticut uses an Oldies Channel from MUZAK. I remember seeing the vans parked in the parking lot while the store was still under development.
Eblen's (a New England Based Chain Specializing in Urban Style clothing) plays KC-101.3 (CHR) or HOT 93.7 (hip-hop) at their location at The Westfield Meriden Square Mall in Meriden, Connecticut.
Before they moved to a larger location Dollar Tree in Southington, CT played LITE 100.5 then when they moved to their larger location they switched to The Dollar Tree Radio Network. Now Dollar Tree doesn't play music any more. (Like Walmart and Target). From what I remember on Dollar Tree's Facebook page when they did away with the music was that Dollar Tree Corporate believed the music was a distraction to the customers. Meanwhile their page was filled with cries from both customers and employees to bring back the music.
I haven't been there in a while, but I remember hearing LITE 100.5 on at KFC in Southington, CT.
A Rhode Island based close-out chain called Ocean State Job Lot used to play the local Classic Hits Stations such as 102.9 DRC-FM or The River 105.9 at their locations in my area. Now they're running some kind of music service with ads for the store interspersed with the music.
The Shoprite Supermarket I work at in Southington, Connecticut uses an Oldies Channel from MUZAK. I remember seeing the vans parked in the parking lot while the store was still under development.
Eblen's (a New England Based Chain Specializing in Urban Style clothing) plays KC-101.3 (CHR) or HOT 93.7 (hip-hop) at their location at The Westfield Meriden Square Mall in Meriden, Connecticut.
Before they moved to a larger location Dollar Tree in Southington, CT played LITE 100.5 then when they moved to their larger location they switched to The Dollar Tree Radio Network. Now Dollar Tree doesn't play music any more. (Like Walmart and Target). From what I remember on Dollar Tree's Facebook page when they did away with the music was that Dollar Tree Corporate believed the music was a distraction to the customers. Meanwhile their page was filled with cries from both customers and employees to bring back the music.
I haven't been there in a while, but I remember hearing LITE 100.5 on at KFC in Southington, CT.
It's not the "studio" where the programming originates, but the place where the music is "consumed" that matters.
Legally, the music composers have a copy "right" to be paid for the use of their creation. The radio station uses the music to attract a crowd of listeners so it can charge advertisers to pitch them, and pays a licensing fee for that use.
Again technically, stores are using the music as an "enhancement" to the atmosphere of their business in an attempt to increase sales and profits, and when they are playing music from an i-Pod, or CD collection, internet stream or over-the-air radio they haven't paid the proper fee for their use of the "creation."
Organizations like Muzak or General Background Music have for years provided music specifically for "in-store" use and all of the necessary fees were paid and accounting was done by that system. By the way, I haven't checked or listened in years but I suspect they are still using sub-carriers on some FM stations to feed signals, although satellites are now just as easy to use most of the time.
From a legalistic point of view, the sandwich shop in Smithtown could be sued for playing music from the i-Pod or even a CD the guy owned, as could Wal-mart and Target, which is probably why they don't use music, the costs could be huge based on square feet, revenue or any other measure.
By the way, some song composers do very well with this system, with checks coming in the mail for the rest of their lives for the little ditty that "came to them" in 15-minutes and they were smart enough to write it down. Sometimes it was a "gift" from the unaware, always remember the Manhattan appliance salesman who was mouthing off about how "we've got to move these color TVs" without knowing he was in earshot of a member of Dire Straits. Yup, you've heard the song "Money for Nothing" and those checks just keep on coming thanks to the big mouth salesman who didn't have a clue.
(Not the first time I've screwed up the words of a song...TimeIsTight said:
)If that is the case, then a person listening to a boombox on a beach or picnic in a park could be charged with having to pay royalties.
That sounds more like a lawyer suggested that fiasco since there would never be a resolution.
Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
Gee, I drive a taxi and have the radio on when requested going to a club with 6 adult beverage consuming riders with the meter running? Does that fall under the criteria?TheBigA said:
I used to drive a motorcoach, I would have WINS on, does that fit under the criteria since they were paying passengers?
Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
TimeIsTight said:
I believe they could if it's an iPod or a CD. The fair use copyright I mentioned before would likely exempt most small sandwich shops if they were simply listening to a radio and didn't have a major sound system. If I'm remember correctly, that fair use law applies to radio listening and only radio listening, not CD's or iPods. Internet radio wasn't around at the time. So, I'm not sure if that's exempted or not.
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