After living in lawless land in the Caribbean for a couple of years, I feel like I have totally forgotten that in other countries there are a lot of rules and regulations. Some of them we can call good, and some of them are a bit over the top. But it is good finding out about them again.

So what happened

I was at the gas station and went inside to pay. While waiting for a bit in line it occured to me that it was super silent inside. This is like the exact opposite of Sint Martin where gas stations are like half hangout spots with hiphop blasting through the speakers. I asked the guy in the gas station if it was always this silent, or if he didnt have any radio on or so.

Pexels, Anthony


He replied: “Yeah, we could, but it would cost us a lot because of the music rights.”

We chatted a bit about it, and I decided to look this up at home. Because I was aware of that for instance bars and clubs have to pay music rights for having the music on. But is was not aware at all that having the radio on in a working space also applies to this. So I went hunting

Buma Stemra

On the website of Buma Stemra this was quite easy to find. Here is what they say in Dutch and the translation of it.

Bij veel bedrijven staat een radio aan of speelt een pc tracks af. Voor het gebruik van die muziek bent u een vergoeding verschuldigd. Hier leest u wat de vergoeding is voor muziek op de werkvloer. Daaronder verstaan wij niet-publiek toegankelijke ruimtes in fabrieken en kantoren.

In a lot of companies a radio is playing or a pc is playing track. For using this service of music you owe us a fee. Here you can read the fees for music in working spaces. Working spaces are defined as non-public areas in factories and offices.

The prices are defined on amount of employees listening to it. I find that it is not cheap.

This got me thinking

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Because for starters, how is this checked? Do they have a control unit for it that busts into office spaces to see if there is any music on?

And second of all, I am not sure what I find of this.

Yes, musicians should make a living of of their music

That is something we all agree on. Or at least should agree on, because this is talent being sold, and time and effort.

But having the radio on? Isnt the radio paying for these rights then, before they cast music into the great wide open. Im not sure how that this works. How is this taken care of in your country? Or is this only part of the over regulated system in the Netherlands?

And how does this apply to our blockchain?

How does it work when a Steemit artist makes a song and puts it on the blockchain? And somebody decides to play it at work in a public office. Should that also be payed?

How does this apply to Discord channel with radio stations on it? #msp-waves uses it, #SMA is built on music. Does this also fall under peoples music rights?

Lets talk people!

How is this taken care of in your country?

What is your opinion about it?

What can we do as a community with this?

No judgement, just open discussion!

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