Miniliveblog: Tony James on Today

Tony James is on the Today programme talking about Carbon Silicon's "steal this record" campaign for the new album.

They've played a snatch - it sounds like they've stolen the music themselves, from Cockey Reject.

Sarah Montague addresses her first question to "Mick Jones" - whoops.

Is this marketing? "We've always started off giving our records away for free."

Adrian Crooks from the Performing Rights Society isn't thrilled - "royalties are a vital income source for musicians..."

Tony: "Me as well."

Adrian says what's interesting is that "someone has paid, somewhere along the line... there has to be a money flow." But is that true? Won't people put stuff online without the thought of reward?

Where does the money come from, Tony? Tony suggests that the costs of making music are a lot lower now - what you're putting in is "your time and commitment." How do you get paid? "We're still able to sell CDs, if we get played on the radio, we'll get paid."

Does Crooks accept that the records will be stolen anyway? It's up to the artists, he concludes.

It still doesn't make the record any good, though.

You can't get pickier with a Kwik Fit fitter

The Performing Rights Society should, in theory, be the good guys - keeping an eye on people using music for public entertainment, making sure that people making money from using recorder works share their take with the artists.

But instead, they've started to take on the look of a cross between Percy Sugden and Tony Soprano, applying the rules with menace and pedantry.

Take, for example, the case of Kwik Fit. Now, if you were at work, and played a radio while you did your work, that's fine. Personal use. If you pump the radio into a waiting room, where the public can enjoy it (or, if it's tuned to Capital, they can at least pretend to.)

However, PRS staff who popped into a Kwik Fit heard the sound of radios bleeding through into the waiting area from where the fitters were working. The music wasn't being played to the public, but since passers-by could hear it, albeit muffled, tinny and at a distance, PRS have brought a legal claim.

Let's hope the courts do the right thing and kick this greedy money-grubbing bid out, otherwise - come next summer - you'll find yourself being hit by a demand for cash because people could hear your car radio while you were stopped at the traffic lights.