GP practices have been warned that playing music or TV in waiting rooms could cost thousands of pounds as companies collecting royalties crack down on the unlicenced playing of music.
Although the laws regarding royalties have been in place since 2003, royalties companies have been on a crackdown since September last year according to music royalties company PPL.
Business owners are required by law to pay for a music licence should they play music in their public offices – and this also applies to waiting rooms.
The cost of a license depends on a number of factors including where in the surgery music is being played, how large the surgery it and whether it is being played via a listening device or on the television.
The news comes after GPs were recently advised by a study in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) to only supply ‘older’ and ‘serious’ magazines because recent magazines focusing on light entertainment and celebrity gossip were often stolen.
