RESTAURATEURS are being targeted to pay licence fees for playing copyrighted background music.

Only 25 per cent of East Lancashire restaurants pay the annual £70 fee for playing music in public, although one restaurateur was jailed for six months last year for refusing to pay up.

"A great many people don't realise that simply owning a record, tape or compact disc doesn't give the automatic right to publicly perform it," said Paul Kay, of Phonographic Performance Limited.

"It's a legal necessity but people are often ignorant of the law rather than evasive."

He is running a public awareness campaign before PPL's staff visit East Lancashire to check restaurants' and businesses' licences later this year.

Even firms which use copyrighted music on switchboards while callers are on hold may need licences.

Anyone wishing to find out about licences can contact PPL on 0171 534 1000.

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