76|Retail News|September 2013|www.retailnews.ie
Music Use In-Store
Brendan Griffin, Director of Licensing, IMRO
Striking the Right Note with Customers If you play music in your store via radio, TV etc, you need an IMRO licence, according to Brendan Griffin, Director of Licensing, IMRO. IF you are playing music in your store, you need a licence from IMRO (Irish Music Rights Organisation) to do so. Just like any other input into your business, musical compositions have to be paid for. When you use copyright music in your business, you must first obtain permission from the copyright owners to do so. You do this by obtaining and paying for an IMRO licence. “It is a legal requirement,” explains Brendan Griffin, Director of Licensing, IMRO. “If you perform copyrighted music in public, and that copyrighted music is within IMRO’s repertoire, you need a licence from the copyright owner to perform that music.” IMRO is a national organisation that administers the performing right in copyright music in Ireland on behalf of its members - songwriters, composers and music publishers - and on be-
half of the songwriters, composers and music publishers of the international overseas societies that are affiliated to it. IMRO’s function is to collect and distribute royalties arising from the public performance of copyright music. IMRO exists to help businesses and community groups to legally access the worldwide repertoire of music in a cost effective and efficient manner, while making sure that songwriters, composers and publishers are rightly rewarded for the public use of their music. Music Adds Value “If you want to use music in your business, you are using it for a reason: it is there to add value to your business,” Brendan notes. “It hopefully will help you to obtain customers and to retain them. It is just like any other aspect of your store, from the façade at the front,
the ambience inside or the product offering on the shelf: it is all geared towards bringing customers through the doors and retaining them. Music can help you to do that and an IMRO licence ensures that you get access to the best repertoire in the world, with every major songwriter and every major song, 365 days a year.” So how much does it cost? The licence fee for retail premises varies, depending on the size of the store. Brendan explains, “For a store that is 100 square metres, the fee is €143 for the second year of the licence onwards – the first year’s fee is slightly higher – which is less than 50c per day. As the store size increases, so does the fee. For a store that is 500 square metres, the cost is €358 per annum, and a 1000 square metre store would expect to
Retail News|September 2013|www.retailnews.ie|77
Music Use In-Store
The Power of Song pay €498. However, if a premises just has a transistor radio on the counter, regardless of store size, the cost is €95 per year.” All the money collected goes to the songwriters, once IMRO has deducted its administration costs, which are approximately 13% of money collected. “So 87% of the money goes back to the songwriters. The way we do that is by using logs from radio stations, who are required to tell us all the music they play, alongside the charts, which let us know what music is popular in a particular year. We use these criteria to determine which songwriters get the money.” IMRO also regularly run songwriting workshops at their premises, as well as sponsoring the IMRO Showcase Tour each year, encouraging up-andcoming songwriters and artists to perform in venues throughout Ireland. Some retailers will argue that if they are playing their own CDs, which they bought, they should not have to pay a licence fee. This, however, is not the case. “If you are performing music in public, which is anywhere outside the home, the owner of that song (the songwriter) is entitled to be recognised and recompensed for their endeavours,” Brendan notes. “If you look at the small print on a CD, for example, you will see that the CD is sold for use in a private or domestic setting and not for public performance.” The Fee Structure Given the straitened nature of our economy and the pressures on businesses, particularly those in the retail sector, who have seen margins
90% of people would select a shop that was playing music over one that was not. 60% of customers agree they would spend more time in a shop if they hear music they like. 55% would be more likely to return to a store that plays music they like. 23% would be prepared to pay 5% more for goods if music was being played while they shopped. 84% of shoppers like shops that play in-store music. 63% agree that playing music encourages customers to spend longer in-store. 79% say music helps create a better atmosphere for customers. (Source: www.musicworksforyou.com)
squeezed relentlessly, many retailers argue that there are too many licences needed to operate in Ireland and that the cost of these licences is disproportionately high. Have IMRO looked at their fee structure, given the difficult trading environment? “All our fees are linked to inflation,” Brendan says, “so when we had deflation a few years back, our fees fell. Inflation is very small at the moment, so our fee increases will be minimal. We are very aware that all sectors of the Irish economy are struggling. We’re all aware of the amount of retail businesses who have closed. If you walk down any main street around the country, you can see vacant units, so we have lost that business. Hopefully, these retailers will come back as the
economy turns. “If the economy goes up, we rise with it, as we did during the Celtic Tiger years: if it falls, we fall, which we have done over the last five years.” Reducing the Administrative Burden When it comes to music, a store must have an IMRO licence and also a licence from the PPI (Phonographic Performance Ireland), who represent the owners of the recordings (i.e. the record companies). IMRO are part of the steering group of licensing authorities established by Minister of State for Small Business John Perry TD, which aims to rationalise the amount of licences retail outlets need to operate in Ireland. “We are delighted to contribute to that system, to reduce the administrative burden on retailers,” Brendan explains. “If we can help in that regard, we will do so.” The Director of Licensing concludes by stressing the value of music to a store owner: “Music can help to retain customers in a store for longer, so they are browsing for longer and thus, it increases potential sales. There is no doubt that music brings value to the owner of the premises. If it brings value, there is a value to it, and that is why we represent songwriters in a fair, transparent and reasonably priced manner.”
IF you have any query regarding your need to hold an IMRO licence, please contact the IMRO licensing department at 01 6614844, email licensing@imro.ie or see www.imro.ie/music-users/