Aussie Record Labels Demand $5 p/Member Gym Tax

[p2p rules]

Also wants almost $20,000 from restaurants up from $125, as it increases fees to play background music in cafes, restaurants, gyms, and everywhere else, but some say they’ll simply switch to classical music.

The record industry seems to get more desperate by the day as music fans switch from physical media to digital, so it’s no surprise to learn that it’s trying to extort a captive audience in Australia – the businesses, large and small, that play background music for customers.

The Phonographic Performance Company of Australia, a group representing more than 750 record companies, and which is the licensing body for the “broadcast, communication or public playing of recorded music,” is demanding a huge increase in the fees businesses pay per customer for the ability to play copyrighted music. In some cases the increase will be some 2000%!

Just how much are we talking?

    Mid-sized restaurant (120 seats): from $125 to $19,344 a year.

    Small restaurant (50 seats): from $84 to $16,016.

    Cafe (50 seats): from $62 to $10,010.

    Smaller cafe (30 seats): from $124 to $5864 a year.

    Gyms: Up from 96 cents a class capped at $2600 a year to $4.54 per member a month.

zeropaid
 Greedy bastards!