Rant...Inappropriate Music at the UFC Gym

[JR 137]

I've never seen that movie, but if you mean classical music I've heard the same thing. I can't remember exactly the logic, but I think it was basically music increases your adrenaline, and when you are learning to fight you shouldn't be relying on your adrenaline for it.

What I think the post you quoted meant was a classic song, not necessarily a classical song like, say, Mozart.

A classic song is one that everyone knows and has been around seemingly forever. Like Ray Parker, Jr.'s Ghostbusters song -
When there's something strange, in the neighborhood
Who you gonna call?
Ghostbusters!
I ain't afraid of no ghosts

The classic song gets played on the radio and used in ads, etc. for decades, earning the artist a steady stream of money.

Queen's We Will Rock You, Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven, even whoever the morons are who wrote and sang Who Let the Dogs Out.

 

[Gwai Lo Dan]

I've never seen that movie, but if you mean classical music I've heard the same thing. I can't remember exactly the logic, but I think it was basically music increases your adrenaline, and when you are learning to fight you shouldn't be relying on your adrenaline for it.

I don't mean "classical" but "classic" in the sense that the song is still known and popular, even if it wasn't a number 1 song at the time.

 

[Gwai Lo Dan]

A bit of an update.

A couple more visits led to me working out during a couple more "F__" songs, even during classes, and I decided to quit. But I typically go on the weekend, and I was told only the manager can process a quit, and that's during the week.

Well I was finally in the gym on a weekday yesterday, and we I asked for the manager by name, I was told he was no longer with the gym as of yesterday.

So I talked to the new manager, he agreed with my request to keep the music PG, and I'll stay.

 

[donald1]

in my goju class people never play music. occasionally the instructor turns on weird chinese music when we practice tai chi forms but thats about it.

i don't like profanity in music either. there are too many words you can say without dropping profanity. nonetheless, how about a compromise? when they turn their music on why not simply turn it down low?

 

[JowGaWolf]

Actually, it's a licensing issue. If music is played where customers can hear it (as in this case), the site (in most cases - sometimes another party) is required to pay for licensing. It's not terribly expensive, but it is a cost.

It's not a big deal in the U.S. We literally have decades of people blasting music in their cards, boom boxes, gyms, and laborers playing music while they work. You would spend more money trying to enforce that what it's really worth.

It would make more sense to start with the radio stations that play the songs.

You will however get busted if you have an big public event and play the music without permission. The Republican Party here can share a few stories about how they played music without the permission of the artist.

 

[JowGaWolf]

A bit of an update.

A couple more visits led to me working out during a couple more "F__" songs, even during classes, and I decided to quit. But I typically go on the weekend, and I was told only the manager can process a quit, and that's during the week.

Well I was finally in the gym on a weekday yesterday, and we I asked for the manager by name, I was told he was no longer with the gym as of yesterday.

So I talked to the new manager, he agreed with my request to keep the music PG, and I'll stay.

no one likes having another person screwing up the income. It's good that they got got back to running a business.

 

[Steve]

Actually, it's a licensing issue. If music is played where customers can hear it (as in this case), the site (in most cases - sometimes another party) is required to pay for licensing. It's not terribly expensive, but it is a cost.

This is true. I don’t know if there are any others, but used to be BMI and ASCAP used to cover virtually everything.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

This is true. I don’t know if there are any others, but used to be BMI and ASCAP used to cover virtually everything.

There is a third one I forget the name of. It’s not as big as BMI or ASCAP - about a quarter their size, IIRC. And a smattering of tiny ones. But licensing with BMI and ASCAP is still enough to be safe, probably.

 

[Bino TWT]

Technically, it is illegal for the trainers to play their personally purchased music (ipod, CD's, whatever) in a business, period. There are also restrictions on public broadcasts such as TV and radio that have to be taken into consideration. A business may not broadcast copyrighted content without proper licensing.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Technically, it is illegal for the trainers to play their personally purchased music (ipod, CD's, whatever) in a business, period. There are also restrictions on public broadcasts such as TV and radio that have to be taken into consideration. A business may not broadcast copyrighted content without proper licensing.

It's not illegal if they pay the proper licensing fee. If music (broadcast or CD/MP3) is played where clients can hear it, they should be paying licensing fees.

 

[Bino TWT]

It's not illegal if they pay the proper licensing fee. If music (broadcast or CD/MP3) is played where clients can hear it, they should be paying licensing fees.

It is illegal if the trainers are playing it. Personally purchased music is not for commercial use. Even if the establishment has a license, the material can not be the personal material of the trainers. This music is licensed to the consumer for personal use when they purchase it. The trainer would be legally required to have a Public Performance License from a Performing Rights Organization to play their personal material (and I think it's safe to assume they do not), and that makes the business responsible for the violation, which has been upwards of $20k for one song in some instances. Playing your itunes playlist in a commercial setting is a violation of copyright law.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

It is illegal if the trainers are playing it. Personally purchased music is not for commercial use. Even if the establishment has a license, the material can not be the personal material of the trainers. This music is licensed to the consumer for personal use when they purchase it. The trainer would be legally required to have a Public Performance License from a Performing Rights Organization to play their personal material (and I think it's safe to assume they do not), and that makes the business responsible for the violation, which has been upwards of $20k for one song in some instances. Playing your itunes playlist in a commercial setting is a violation of copyright law.

Thats what hes saying...that if they pay the licensing fee its legal. And we have no idea if the trainer in the OP paid a licensing fee. Whats the issue here?

 

[Steve]

It is illegal if the trainers are playing it. Personally purchased music is not for commercial use. Even if the establishment has a license, the material can not be the personal material of the trainers. This music is licensed to the consumer for personal use when they purchase it. The trainer would be legally required to have a Public Performance License from a Performing Rights Organization to play their personal material (and I think it's safe to assume they do not), and that makes the business responsible for the violation, which has been upwards of $20k for one song in some instances. Playing your itunes playlist in a commercial setting is a violation of copyright law.

The BMI or ascap license is precisely so you can play the music. Thats what you're paying for. Ascap and BMI do not provide you with the music. You get it by buying a cd or downloading it. How else would you obtain the music?

 

[pdg]

Rules may vary with location...

Here, it's the responsibility of the facility or business to obtain a public performance licence, not the individual playing (or supplying) the music.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

It is illegal if the trainers are playing it. Personally purchased music is not for commercial use. Even if the establishment has a license, the material can not be the personal material of the trainers. This music is licensed to the consumer for personal use when they purchase it. The trainer would be legally required to have a Public Performance License from a Performing Rights Organization to play their personal material (and I think it's safe to assume they do not), and that makes the business responsible for the violation, which has been upwards of $20k for one song in some instances. Playing your itunes playlist in a commercial setting is a violation of copyright law.

That's the purpose of the site license. A business with the appropriate site license can, in fact, play music from a consumer CD, iTunes playlist, etc. The site is responsible for the license, not the trainer. The same holds true for bars when a DJ plays - the bar is responsible for the site license, not the DJ.

SOURCE: Information is from discussions directly with the licensing agencies.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Rules may vary with location...

Here, it's the responsibility of the facility or business to obtain a public performance licence, not the individual playing (or supplying) the music.

The setup is the same in the US.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

The setup is the same in the US.

Do you happen to know if this is state by state, or national?

 

[Bino TWT]

There's no "pay a fee and our trainers can play whatever they want off their ipod" license. That's not the way it works. Even if the business has a PPL for the other material they normally play, this does not cover whatever other material the trainers are playing. They can not play privately purchased music commercially, period. And it doesn't matter who plays it; if it comes from the sound system of that establishment, the business is responsible and liable. As for DJ's, they *should* be commercial.

FYI, I've been in the music industry for decades, and am registered as a songwriter with ASCAP, and a publisher with both ASCAP & BMI. When I went to college for audio engineering, we had to take all of the music law classes.

Don't take my word for it though:
7 Licensing Questions on Playing Legal Music in Your Business

It's national, btw.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

There's no "pay a fee and our trainers can play whatever they want off their ipod" license. That's not the way it works. Even if the business has a PPL for the other material they normally play, this does not cover whatever other material the trainers are playing. They can not play privately purchased music commercially, period. And it doesn't matter who plays it; if it comes from the sound system of that establishment, the business is responsible and liable. As for DJ's, they *should* be commercial.

FYI, I've been in the music industry for decades, and am registered as a songwriter with ASCAP, and a publisher with both ASCAP & BMI. When I went to college for audio engineering, we had to take all of the music law classes.

Don't take my word for it though:
7 Licensing Questions on Playing Legal Music in Your Business

It's national, btw.

Just read through that-as far as i can tell, as long as they are paying the license that the music is covered under theyre good. But just for the music that license covers. Which sounds like what everyone here is saying.
Also read, looking through it and another article quickly, noticed 2 things. If you get a bmi, ascap and sesac license, youre probably in the clear for whatever you play, and that if the business is less than 2000 square feet and have less than 6 speakers, you dont have to worry at all.

 

[Bino TWT]

The BMI or ascap license is precisely so you can play the music. Thats what you're paying for. Ascap and BMI do not provide you with the music. You get it by buying a cd or downloading it. How else would you obtain the music?

From the licensing company:
"Is it legal to play purchased iTunes music on my iPod/iPad/iPhone, CDs, MP3s or digital files for background music?
It is common in our digital age to be confused as to whether we own our digital content.

When you pay to download music or even movies for that matter, you are essentially purchasing a license; you are leasing the content. Furthermore, you may only play this music in a non-commercial setting. You can listen to the songs to yourself as much as you like, but it is illegal to play in public.

Playing the downloaded music in your business, however, would violate copyright law because the act is now considered a public performance. Public performances require a Public Performance License (PPL) from performing rights organizations (PROs)."

If you could just play whatever you wanted, it would be IMPOSSIBLE to track royalties for the artists/songwriters/publishers, which is the sole purpose of ASCAP & BMI.