Finnish Taxi Drivers Must Pay Music Royalties 588
jonerik writes "According to this story from Ananova, Finland's Supreme Court has ruled that taxi drivers must pay royalty fees of about $20 annually if they play music in their car while a customer is in the backseat. According to the article, 'Lauri Luotonen, chairman of the Helsinki Taxi Drivers' Association, says the ruling is likely to force most drivers to keep their radios off.'" This includes if they play the radio, which ostensibly already pays such fees.
For listening..... (Score:5, Funny)
That is all.
What if... (Score:5, Funny)
pay up taco (Score:5, Funny)
Duh ... (Score:3, Funny)
not again! :( (Score:4, Funny)
Re:For listening..... (Score:3, Funny)
This is a public performance (Score:5, Funny)
It's the same thing as running a TV or radio in the waiting room of a business. The business is getting a benefit from the music, so they have to pay a cut.
There's also a group of old ladies who go to restraunts and pretend that one of them is having a birthday. If one of the employees sings "Happy Birthday" a copywrited song, they sue. This apparently keeps them in bingo money.
I hate it too, but that's the law. If you don't like it, get filthy stinking rich, and buy new ones.
In SOVIET RUSSIA (Score:5, Funny)
Re:pay up taco (Score:3, Funny)
bend over...
Winky added for the humor impaired.
Re:What if... (Score:5, Funny)
Oh great! Now we will have to pay them extra NOT to sing. Either way, the cost of taxi rides will go up.
Phew! (Score:5, Funny)
-jag
Re:pay up taco (Score:2, Funny)
Oh really? I thought your comment just worth 2c.
Now imagine... (Score:2, Funny)
Probably (Score:2, Funny)
If you sing badly you'll still get sued by RIAA, but then your customer will probably sue you as well for emotional duress.
Maybe if you just humm the music out-loud... no, thats probably patented somewhere.
IN SOVIET RUSSIA (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Bjork (Score:1, Funny)
In the latest news (Score:5, Funny)
Re:pay up taco (Score:3, Funny)
More like Slashdot owes me $200 for every comment on the site as it is presumably protected by me, plus a buck per every 'Post Comment' page with a 'Comment' text box served, as it will most likely be used to copy comments presumably protected by me (again, that means all comments ever posted on Slashdot) for karma whoring purposes.
Re:For listening..... (Score:5, Funny)
Blatant IP Violation! (Score:5, Funny)
So the Finns think they can just make ridiculous legal decisions like this and get away with it? Only the U.S. court system is allowed to make rulings as cockeyed as this. What is going to happen when just any old roomful of judges can sit down and issue rulings as hilarious as this one? Why it's just not right I tell you! Here's hoping that the U.S. Supreme Court doesn't let this one slip by and gets in touch with the folks at The Hague, ASAP. I mean, after all, this is a matter of national pride.
Re:Duh ... (Score:5, Funny)
Thank You,
Sen. Disney
If a tree falls in the woods... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:pay up taco (Score:5, Funny)
BOOM...BOOM...BOOM (Score:2, Funny)
ASCAP sues for 'God Bless America' (Score:3, Funny)
You know, seeing the U.S. Congress struggle through a spontaneous rendition of 'God Bless America' on TV while downtown Manhattan went up in flames outside my window last September really disturbed me. the idea of ASCAP suing Congress for royalties actually gives me a strange sense of justice.
In The Near Future....... (Score:2, Funny)
In the near future, our world has become unlivable because of the fleet of lawyers unleashed by the music industry. Ever since ASCAP published the sheet music for the aleatoric masterpiece "Circadian Rhythms," every man, woman, and child...heck, every multicellular organism on Earth has been subject to paying royalties.
Earth cries out for a savior...
...and finds one in the Church of Latter Day Saints, who raises up an elite force of commandos from within their priesthood. These LDS clergy, later referred to as the Clerics, wage a holy war to wrest control of humanity from the minions of the music industry, and, against overwhelming odds, succeeds!
In the aftermath, it is agreed than not only must lawyers be banished from the earth, so must artists, musicians, authors, and scupltors. Enforcement of the prohibition is handed over to the Clerics. Any form of art deemed to promote the the practice of law is to be purged. Humanity achieves an...equilibrium...that it had long thought lost forever.
What happens next? Wait until December 6th to find out! Oh, wait...I'm in Cleveland. Goddam! Well, move to LA, New York, or one of the top 20 markets and find out on December 6th.
In SOVIET RUSSIA (Score:2, Funny)
Copyright is evil! (Score:3, Funny)
Never Fear... (Score:5, Funny)
By mid 2003, I'll be ready to sue the bejesus out of the RIAA and MPAA and any other abusive company that's been pissing us off along the way. On that note, any
Noise Pollution (Score:2, Funny)
Anytime your neighbor keeps you up with the radio, what do you do, call the police, yes. And the police should charge the RIAA with $200 bucks for it, since its their system, their fault. Same with television. But don't stop there, get a lawyer, and sue them for sleep deprivation, and get workmanship compensation, payment for psychologist visits, etc.
Hear a song you hate, drive you crazy, and can't get what you need done? Do the same damn thing.
Your children listening to music with cussing and violence, and they start it to, it the RIAA's fault! Get yourself a lawyer, these are the people promoting it and making money, why should you be the parent. The RIAA should have been the ones there to make sure kids aren't listening to it, like they monitor everything else.
The point of all this is the golden rule, Do unto others as they do unto you, the RIAA should not have it both ways when they start slithering this low.
Maybe (Score:3, Funny)
Maybe I should invoice the song writer for promoting the meme that is his song.
Maybe I could point this out to the next obnoxious git that sits next to me on a train with a zzz zzzz zzzzz coming out of his walkman -- peace at last.
Maybe this isn't in the long term interest of the song writers. If guides/scouts don't sing the songs, then the kids won't learn them but will learn other ones. These are the ones that they will remember in later life and want to buy the records/....
Maybe we ought to organise a public rally/demonstration
Maybe we ought to write Open songs and publicise them.
Maybe we ought to get RMS to write the GNU Public Song Licence.
Maybe this could lead to a resurgance in classical music, most of which is out of copyright. There are performers who allow their interpretation to be played without fee.
Maybe cab drivers should include a 'hire of radio' as part of their fee. It is then up to the passenger to choose to play the radio that is (for a few minutes) theirs.
Maybe cab drivers should invoice the local radio station for increasing their audience figures and thus what they can charge their advertisers.
Maybe this sort of thing is a good thing. People will become so fed up with it that the politicians will see lost votes in it.