A local newspaper in the UK recently did an expose on a jaw-dropping $350,000 spent by the City of Derby on music that plays in the background for government employees while they work. Let’s stick a pin in the most obvious question (“Why would they spend that much?”) because that answer will reveal itself when we explore the second-most obvious question (“Who could possibly charge that much?”).
PRS could charge that much. Think of PRS as a union. Any musician in the world can join this union. And whenever a composition written 
by said member is used anywhere in public, PRS has the right to send a bill to that establishment, whether it be a coffee shop, grocery store or a government office. ASCAP and BMI work exactly the same way. The conversation probably went something like this:
PRS: “One of our representatives visited your building and saw an informational video. The music in that informational video was written by one of our members and according to Parliamentary Act blah-blah-blah you owe that musician a royalty. Shame on you for stealing money from musicians.”
City Employee: “We had no idea. How do we pay this musician?”
PRS: “We’ll take care of the pesky musician. Just keep paying the annual bills we send you, which are calculated based on your number of locations. You’ll never hear from us again.”
City Employee: “Great!”
PRS Musician Who Actually Wrote the Song: “I got a $4.00 royalty check!”
Here’s what the Derby City officials need to know: There is a music library that contains thousands of music tracks created by professional 
musicians who are NOT members of PRS (or ASCAP, BMI, etc) and are therefore NOT bound by government regulations. And these excellent tracks are available for streaming – in a business or government environment – for just $129.99 a year.
Just listen to live strings in Early Sunrise – #00236654 as they soar over a simple guitar ostinato.
Or the meandering jazz piano solo in Cool Night – #00110692 as it sits on a bed of electronica with a sprinkling of live horns on top.
Using this wonderful music (created by musicians who are NOT members of PRS or any other Performing Rights Organization) in your government facility will eliminate at least one zero – if not two – zeros off your current bill. Because organizations such as PRS cannot bill you for music they do not control. Call us at 1-678-900-9228 or fill out this form to get NonPRO music for your store:
Sources:
http://www.prsformusic.com/users/businessesandliveevents/Pages/DoIneedalicence.aspx
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Mike Bielenberg is a professional musician and co-founder of http://www.musicrevolution.com, a production music marketplace with over 45,000 tracks online where media producers, video producers, filmmakers, game developers, businesses and other music buyers can license high-quality, affordable royalty-free music from an online community of musicians. mbielenberg@musicrevolution.com. 
