Playing Music in Public Places

[Arkadin]

I’m beginning a job and have thought about playing my own music CDs in a discount book store soon.

Now, I decided to check to see if it is violating copyrights to play music in a public place (such as a store) and I came across this website.

Now, this would be in violation of copyrights, however, unlike downloading music…this is not what I consider stealing. Would it be immoral and a sin if I decided to play one of my music CDs (where content of music is not immoral) in the store public for others to hear?

We don’t have a store music radio since we are a temporary store for the season.

 

[challam2010]

If YOU wrote the lyrics and the music, you would not be violating any copyright law or stealing anything.

If YOU didn’t write either lyrics or music, then you need written permission from the publisher to play the music, which may or may not involve payment. If you play the music without permission, it’s illegal and you can determine the morality of that.

Just because you’re not selling what someone else has written doesn’t count as a “freebie” – ask all the churches who were prosecuted for copyright violations for self-copied songbooks years ago, and all the companies who have been investigated and prosecuted for illegally-obtained software.

The instant someone creates a picture, photo, poem, article, story, novel, lyric, music, program or anything else of that type, it is automatically copyrighted and falls under the protection of the US copyright laws. You don’t have to file anything for this magic to happen – if it’s yours, it’s copyrighted, therefore, if someone else has created any part of it, it is not free to use.

 

[GEddie]

Why not just bring in a “jambox” with radio and use that?

ICXC NIKA

 

[Arkadin]

I want to listen to music I like and not stuff played on the radio.

I’m just trying to figure out if one would consider this a sin, or a serious sin…

 

[JimG]

Quoting from the website you linked: “Playing Music in Public. The right to perform or play a song in public is one of the exclusive rights of the copyright holder.”