Belgian music royalty collection agency SABAM has attempted to collect money from truck drivers who listen to music in their cabs, claiming that truck driver cabs is technically a place of work, so the music the drivers listen to while in their cabs should be licensed music. Since truckers obviously don’t obtain licenses to listen to music in their vehicle–just like anyone who drives a car doesn’t buy up the licenses to anything playing through their iPhone attachment–SABAM decided to go after them.
Luckily for truck drivers, a member of the Belgian Parliament, Maggie Block, felt SABAM’s claim was “utter nonsense,” and that “the truck drivers don’t need the radio so much for playing music, but for their safety. So it is illogical that they should pay for it,” most likely referencing that truck drivers need the music to keep sane and awake. Along with Block, truckers have more support, in the form of Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne, who believes listening to the radio is essential for truckers, and most importantly, a trucker’s cab is an intimate space, which means it’s not actually part of the workplace, which is SABAM’s primary basis for attempting to claim the royalties in the first place. In response to the politicians’ disagreement with their logic, SABAM tyrannically claimed that they have the right to claim money from anyone who listens to music in the workplace, referring to an agreement they have with Quickenborne that allows them to claim money whenever they want from anyone so long as they’re in violation of copyright laws, though the disagreement here is whether or not truckers actually are in violation of copyright laws, and if so, if being in violation of said laws actually improves the safety of the profession.
(via TorrentFreak)
