MusicStream

I like music. I have a broad appreciation of various genres and can even play a little guitar and piano. Music is useful in many retail situations like shops, restaurants, bars and pubs. It's also nice in some work situations to have a bit of something to cheer the day along.

Most customers don't think about the implications of playing music in a public space. Indeed, you might work in a place where the radio is on giving nice background vibes, and not realise that your employer is faced with a little problem.

PRS and PPL are organisations that supposedly collect money for music authors, recording artists and music publishers. They feed the line that without them artists would not get paid for their work. In reality, in this bloggers view, they are money grabbing monopolies. I simply do not agree with their policies, tactics and most importantly their apparent assertion that there is no other choice available for the business owner who wishes to stay the right side of the law.

Admittedly, if you wish to play popular contemporary music, in almost any public or work situation, this might in fact be true. Almost every artist, their promoter, recording company and distribution rights are, in fact, controlled by PRS and PPL. To play most well known music you need to have a licence with each of these rather dubious organisations. I think it is wrong that you cannot avoid it if you wish to play well-known music.

What really gets me is that royalties are collected from broadcasters for airplay. If I allowed a radio in the brewery I'd have to subscribe to PRS and PPL. We currently we don't allow a radio because I do not see why I should pay for something that has already been paid for. However, the law as it stands not only allows for this double charging, but demands it. I think it is wrong to insist that if my staff wish to bring in their own radio that I have to pay for that facility.

To digress slightly, if you wish to buy my beer, you could go to Booths stores, for instance. Or you could buy it on-line from our web-shop. Or you could go to our preferred on-line retailer, Beer Ritz. Equally you might like to pop into any number of specialist off-licences. Or, you could go to a good pub or even a craft beer bar.

You see, we give you a choice as to where you buy our products. We do not believe that any sort of  monopoly is a good thing. But there is a choice with music too, provided you are happy to go with talented unsigned artists. There are various systems for alternative PRS and PPL free music. I think it's a great idea as it helps not only to provide an alternative to the dubiousness of the apparent single option, but also gives an alternative to creative music artists as a route to market.

We've got in MusicStream in Hardknott OnTrack. We like it. It sort of conforms to our non-conformist take on everything. The music is good too, with way more genres than we'll ever need. There is even jazz, if you are into that sort of thing, which I'm not, and so have banned Neil from playing, much to his disgust, and probably some of my readers too.

For our size of little bar PRS and PPL might not be any more expensive, but that's not the point. PRS and PPL phone us up and give the impression that there is no other choice. This is simply not true.

All Change

It's been something of an interesting time these last couple of months. We had a couple of staff leave, which meant a significant skills gap was staring us very firmly in the face. So firmly indeed that I wondered if we were going to survive. Our bar project was already due to take a significant amount of my time, so losing a brewer was very much a problem.

But, undaunted, we pressed ahead and advertised. We advertised on this blog, in the local press and on the SIBA website. Several great people applied. Many thanks for those that did direct from reading my blog. Another time perhaps it'll be you.

We interviewed several people. One guy seemed to me to be perhaps just too good on paper to be as good in real life. He originated from New York State, has home-brew experience, and had also worked in retail. Equally he likes the outdoors and plays guitar. You might think this is irrelevant to joining a brewing team. Possibly, but when looking to build a small team it is useful to have some common interests. Like minded people always rub along a little better I feel.

When he came to interview sporting a fine craft beard it seemed that he was the best candidate for the job.

So, we hired Scott Larrabee, an American who has married a UK citizen and has been living in Cumbria for several years. After an amazingly short length of time he has gotten used to our crazy brew-kit and can just about brew by himself. I've left him in charge of the brewery whilst we swan off to Montreal and I'm almost not in the slightest bit worried.

I mentioned guitars. Well, of course some people claim to be able to play. Sometimes I have been known to show off a little, with little sucess. Scott, it turns out, plays proper ol' fasioned acobottle neck blues on RESONATORS. And he doesn't just have one resonator, but two. And, just to put the cherry on top, he can play them with a level of confidence that, if I don't keep my emotions in check, makes me want to break his fingers<1>.

So, as we have suddenly seemed to have almost reached mid-summer, things are getting slightly more OnTrack.

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<1>I'm kidding of course.  I don't ever actually get the urge to break the fingers of people who are better at playing musical instruments than I am. However, it's the closest I can explain to the actual bizarre feeling of hearing, and seeing ones contemporaries performing and providing a complex combination of pleasure and jealousy that actually urges a determination to just bloody well get on and improve yourself.

I think a brewer tasting a really good beer, that he didn't brew himself, has a similar feeling.