I actually had a GF who worked for the PRS back in the '80s.
It always has been that restaurants, shops and other businesses where radio/music add to the ambiance had to pay a license fee. And imo thats not unreasonable since the artists work is adding value to the business. You might chose to shop at Tesco instead of Sainsbury's if the music there sucked.
But charging a fee at a business where the public rarely if ever visit is ridiculous.
Oh and personal radios/MP3 players are OK ...
http://www.prsformusic.com/users/bus...licence.aspx#5
Quote:
Personal Portable Devices - Where music is only used in the workplace by individual employees or workers solely by means of Personal Portable Devices (such as MP3 players) with headphones. Any music must only be audible to the employee or worker to whom the Personal Portable Device belongs through a headset attached to that device and not to any other individual in the workplace.
So everyone can listen to the same radio station on their own personal radio, but put a boombox in the corner of the workshop and you owe a fee