The party's over for Wolverhampton pub caught by the 'music police'
A Wolverhampton pub has had an expensive brush with the 'music police' at the High Court in London – where it ended up facing a music ban and a hefty legal bill.
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One of the country's top judges, Mr Justice Warren hit Siresh Patel, proprietor of the Bruford Arms, in Bruford Road, with the music ban.
Mr Justice Warren also ordered him to foot the lawyers' bills run up by the Performing Rights Society (PRS). Patel must now pay £1,953 by November 10.
The judge made the order after hearing that the venue was caught playing copyrighted music without a (PRS) licence.
Tracks including 'Sax,' Sexy Lady' and 'Worth It' were heard when the inspector attended the Penn Fields premises on July 1.
Patel was also ordered not to play any more music at any other premises he runs until he brings his music licence up to date.
Failure to obey the order and turn any premises he runs into a music-free zone until all licence fees are brought up to date would be regarded as contempt of court, the penalties for which can be fines of up to £10,000 and up to six months prison.
The pay-up or shut-up order was imposed after the judge heard that Patel was caught by an inspector playing music on the premises, when he did not hold a PRS licence.
The PRS is a society of songwriters, composers and music publishers.
It licenses organisations to play, perform or make available copyright music on behalf of its members and overseas societies, and distributes the resulting royalties to them.
Earlier this year PRS for Music has reported record revenues for 2015 with royalty income rising seven percent year-on-year on a constant currency basis to total £537 million ($778 million).
International receipts were up 3.9 percent year-on-year to total £196 million ($284 million).
Public performance collections amounted to £175 million ($253 million), up 4.1 percent on the previous year's total.
Broadcast revenues climbed to £124 million ($180 million), a spike of almost £5 million ($7 million) on 2014.