PUB landlords have been warned they risk losing their licences if they try to use a new machine to play karaoke music.

All pubs need a Public Entertainments Licence for the karaoke nights, but these cost a minimum of £450, which some are not prepared to pay.

Now a company claims that its machine, known as a "Kwizoke" because it also provides quizzes, does not need a PEL because music is stored digitally and not "recorded" in the terms of the licensing law.

Bolton-based Music Machine Ltd managing director John Blackburn, himself an ex-policeman, said: "It's like a pianola. The music is created at the moment you hear it.

"It's not pre-recorded in the PEL terms which says it has to be on tape or on record." He is looking for an East Lancashire landlord to bring a test case against licensing magistrates.

"We cannot bring the case ourselves or we would.

"It has to be a landlord. We will offer them legal support and there's no doubt in my mind that we will win."

However, Sergeant Geoff Rowbottom, who is responsible for enforcing the PEL legislation in Blackburn, said any landlord staging karaoke nights without a licence took a big risk.

"It's the licensee's business that is on the line," he said.

"We've sought legal advice on this which we are still waiting on but our opinion at the moment is that you still need a PEL for this machine.

"I would argue that, at the end of the day, if you press a button and music comes out someone must have pre-recorded it."

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