Rob Goodale raises the issue of what fees are due when mechanical music
is played in public.  I would be most surprised if no fee is due in USA
as there are two long standing systems over here in Great Britain.
Many people simply ignore these fees or think that no fee is liable for
'charity' do's but the simple fact is that everyone must pay according
to what he does with his public performance of mechanical music, or
public performance of any music, for that matter.

1.  Performing Right Society (PRS)

The PRS issues a licence for the public performance of copyright music.
For my street organ I pay an annual fee of GBP 23.  This covers me for
any number of performances in the year when I may play copyright music
to members of the public.  I would not need this licence if I only play
my organ on private property to personal guests or if I only play
non-copyright music.  Obviously, going to an organ rally or street fair
is outside these, and I challenge anybody to have a library of organ
music which includes only non-copyright music.  The simple fact is --
don't argue, just pay up.  The fee is the same whatever size your organ
is, and is this amount for non-professionals.  A professional showman
with an organ on a ride or a hi-fi system will pay many times this
amount.  Basically, a mechanical instrument playing in public is no
different to a record player in a shop or a juke box in a pub.  All
need to have a PRS licence but the cost is dependant on its use, and
status of the operator.

2.  Mechanical Copyright Protection Society (MCPS)

This organisation started in the early days of recorded music, e.g.,
piano rolls, hence the name.  A fee is payable to the MCPS whenever
a copy, arrangement or recording is made of a piece of music that is
still in copyright.  This organisation is rather go-ahead and on the
lookout for income, and recently imposed itself on the production of
organ music, card and roll, and I presume MIDI files.

I think that a fee is even payable when a recording or arrangement is
made only for personal use but this is difficult to prove so we can
ignore this here.

If you produce a tape or CD recording, for sale, of any copyright piece
of music you are liable to pay a fee to the MCPS which is equal to 6.5%
of the retail price of the recording.  Only copyright tracks are
subject to the fee but for small production runs of the specialist type
the fee is payable up front for the entire production run before any
recordings are sold.  If you don't sell all the copies, hard luck,
because you have already paid the duty on them!  This may not be as
daunting as it at first appears.  My last cassette tape comprised the
mechanical music collection of a friend but only one track on the whole
tape was of copyright music so the MCPS fee was negligible.

Professional producers of cardboard and roll music for organs and
pianos now have to be registered with the MCPS and make regular returns
and, of course, payments.  The royalty amounts to 10% of the retail
price.  A new piano roll manufactured in the USA will not incur an MCPS
fee on import to GB but will be liable for import duty and value added
tax at the appropriate rates ( usually small orders are ignored by
Customs and Excise and you get away with no fee at all! ).

There is, of course, fine detail that I have not tried to include and
there may be minor errors in the above which a copyright lawyer would
be able to correct, but the above gives a straightforward explanation
of the fees payable in Great Britain.  I'm sure there must be similar
systems in the USA.

Kind regards from a law abiding copyright fee payer,

Nicholas Simons
Great Britain