Musicians to businesses: Pay for our music

Jim Paredes, FILSCAP vice president, says music is mood-altering. If used right, he says “it can get people on stream with your business.” (CDN/CHRISTIAN MANINGO)

The Filipino Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, Inc. (FILSCAP) has urged owners of business establishments to secure a license for playing music in public.

Licensing agent Ian Zafra said they were willing to talk to businesses in order to heighten awareness about the need for establishments to ask for permission to play their music.

“People are becoming more and more aware of the need to ask permission from the music owner to use the song. But there are still some who do not know and we have to educate them,” Zafra said in a forum that is part of a series of activities celebrating Cebu Business Month.

Music copyright is protected by Republic Act 8293, which prescribes the Intellectual Property Code.

Under the copyright law, FILSCAP general manager Thursday Alciso said a copyrighted song cannot be played publicly without the permission of the copyright owner.

“Music users will incur civil and criminal liability for doing this,” Alciso said.

However, he said both enforcement and compliance can be a problem.

While businesses may truly want to support the artists, he said it may be hard to identify, contact and seek the permission of each of the copyright owners, especially if the businesses play a wide array of music.

“This is where FILSCAP comes in,” he said. FILSCAP operates as a government-accredited collective management association that has acquired and collectively administers the authorization rights of music copyright owners.

FILSCAP offers two types of licensing. Event-based blanket license is the unlimited playing of any work in the repertoire at a licensed event, while time-based blanket license is the unlimited playing of any work in the repertoire during a specific period of time.

Exemptions to music licensing include using the music for charitable events or in a charitable organization, religious organization and for teaching purposes.

Jim Paredes, FILSCAP vice president, said playing the right kind of music in any establishment at any given time affects not only the productivity of workers, but also influences customers to be more receptive to the products offered by the business.

He said many businesses use music in their establishments and know of the economic benefits of doing so, but not as many know that music is still intellectual property. It belongs to specific persons who have rights to their property, he added.

“The world has changed. Now we recognize that everything has an owner and you have to respect that owner’s rights,” Paredes said.
FILSCAP has over 20 million local and foreign songs in its repertoire, which accounts for around 90 percent of all the songs played in the country.