autoharpbob wrote:

"The little dance group - look at it the other way round. That teacher was earning money from other people's work - the people who had written the music those kids were dancing to. If there are still people in the world who think that songwriters do it for free, sorry, it ain't like that."

This is one of the daftest comments I've seen on Mudcat.   

Yes, the teacher, the kids, their parents, and the owners of the premises were all technically in breach of regulations. But the PRS's response (shutting them down) was as disproportionate as using a tactical nuke to take out a mad gunman loose in a big city. "Better a thousand innocent should perish than one guilty man escape?" I think not.

Or let's take another analogy. In the final extremity of a famine, farming communities will eventually eat their seed-corn. Sacrificing next year's harvest is preferable to starving today – but if you aren't actually starving, it's a better idea to tighten your belt and hold on to the seed-corn. And those dancing kids are the seed-corn of tomorrow's musical harvest.   

Instead of harassing them (and all the other small venues struggling to break even), the PRS should be subsidising them. A very small increase in the amount they charge the purveyors of Muzak in shopping malls and airports would more than cover the cost.

Wassail!