#Copyright Fright

the day #LBC973 got told off by the BBC.  It seemed like a good idea to play something to fill the small hours of the night when nobody called in.  It was a bad idea to pick "Hancock's Half Hour" but it had been released on record so what's the problem?

The problem was that the Producer in question decided to play a whole episode.  Three weeks later my boss Robin got a polite letter from the BBC it read something like this.

We notice that on the XX of XX you decided to play a whole episode of "Hancock's Half Hour." On this occasion we will not charge your radio station for this performance as we believe that you made a genuine error but for your reference here is a breakdown of performance cost that you will incur should you decide to broadcast again without permission.

It then went on to list every cast performer and their fees.  "The Estate of Kenneth Williams £80.05 - The Estate of Sydney James £90.05." and so it went on.  What the 5p was all about I am not sure.

So why did the BBC send us a bill for a properly released record?  I mean LBC had a PRS/MCPS licence .. aha BUT the BBC comedy releases were not signatories to BIEM (The world copyright protection society)  - This is the complicated world of copyright and how you can easily land yourself in a pile of copyright crap.