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Re:Justice at Spotify by wilde on Tuesday March 16, 2021 @10:25AM (#26477072)
Spotify doesn’t want to take the risk, but there’s probably money on the table from all the small gyms, coffee shops, etc that should be paying commercial rates.
Re:Justice at Spotify by jsiepkes on Tuesday March 16, 2021 @11:54AM (#26478466)
I don't know about other countries but in the Netherlands companies already pay an additional fee which ends-up with the royalty holders [1]. Meaning you have to pay a special license fee when playing music in venue's such as stores, cafe's and even a common office work space.

[1] https://www.bumastemra.nl/en/everything-for-music-users/type...

Re:Justice at Spotify by m000 on Tuesday March 16, 2021 @05:18PM (#26483109)
They're everywhere in Europe I believe.

In Greece there was the notorious AEPI [1] that was collecting fees from both stores, as well as subscriptions from artists so they can "represent" them. They were demanding fees even when a store owner was listening privately in their shop (e.g. they had a radio behind the counter). They were dismantled after a corruption scandal: most of the collected money ended up as exorbitant salaries for the board of directors, with the artists again receiving pennies.

[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20170128110611/http://www.aepi.g...

Re:Justice at Spotify by aksss on Tuesday March 16, 2021 @12:13PM (#26478759)
I think that technically one is supposed to do that in commercial spaces in the US as well, but there’s an enforcement issue. Small businesses aren’t really at the mercy of roaming enforcement agents, but there are services businesses can subscribe to that cover the costs of royalties for playing in commercial spaces.