bars fined by record company..

[usual suspect]

So it was true...what my Mrs was blathering-on about.
Seems the MiB posed as record company officials eh...has it happened in
other resorts? What about Cha-Am or Samui?
Don't think they were targeting 'computer based sound systems', many
bars were threatened with confiscation of amps/ CD players.
What I did hear was the bar owners in Poolsuk Plaza bombarded the
'officials' with CDs on their departure...slinging/skimming CDs at them
+ an array of choice words...tempers flared and damn right too.

[panovtours]

Music returned in tact
No liscence issued at time of fine,
No inspection of contents (listing music ect)
No court action
No exact fine(dictated by the powers to be)
??????????
it's just pocket money. and to be seen to be doing something.

But it would have been nice if the people who were fined last week gave us the heads up.

[da]

The Thai police are merely doing their part to implement WTO mandated intellectual property rights protections.

[buksida]

The Thai police are merely doing their part to implement WTO mandated intellectual property rights protections.

Bullshit, the Thai police are merely extorting money from easy target farang run bars, using pure mafia style tactics as they have always used in Hua Hin. They have no right to prosecute for music piracy unless they check each individual MP3 file as I suggested before which is a lengthy process.

[Nereus]

The Thai police are merely doing their part to implement WTO mandated intellectual property rights protections.

Bullshit, the Thai police are merely extorting money from easy target farang run bars, using pure mafia style tactics as they have always used in Hua Hin. They have no right to prosecute for music piracy unless they check each individual MP3 file as I suggested before which is a lengthy process.

Quite right Buksi-absolutely correct. I know it was not my wife that was being threatened and intimidated, so it is easy to sit here and speculate. But if it were me I do not think that I would just be accepting the MIB, or their Gestapo tactics. There is enough of you, get together, one of you go to Bangkok, and enlist the help of a lawyer. If you let it go on like this, it will only happen again.

[HHTel]

I was in Pattaya a couple of weeks ago and this is happening a lot there. My friends computer was confiscated and the cashier arrested. The fact that there were no speakers attached to the computer was no defence when paying the fine.

I read in either the Pattaya Post or Pattaya Today that the law now exists for the police to enter any premises private or commercial without a court warrant and sieze your computer for investigation. Looking for porn, anything derogatory about Thailand and anything else which they would deem illegal.

Talk about 'Big Brother'!

[Nereus]

I read in either the Pattaya Post or Pattaya Today that the law now exists for the police to enter any premises private or commercial without a court warrant and sieze your computer for investigation. Looking for porn, anything derogatory about Thailand and anything else which they would deem illegal.

Talk about 'Big Brother'!

This may well be, but I do not believe that even the present government has given the police the right to intimidate and threaten people, and then "negotiate" an on the spot "fine". Like I wrote previously, if nobody stands up to them it will only get worse.

[JimboPSM]

From another perspective, how has this affected the atmosphere in the bars?

On my last couple of visits to HH the “musicâ€

[Norseman]

Good point Jimbo.
But instead of the implementation of the new computer pecking order they could simply raise the men in brown's salary.

[Big Boy]

[quote="JimboPSM"]From another perspective, how has this affected the atmosphere in the bars?

On my last couple of visits to HH the “musicâ€

[BaaBaa.]

The raids get a brief mention in stickman this week, about 2/3rds down.
http://www.stickmanbangkok.com/StickMar ... Phanom.htm

[hogus]

The raids get a brief mention in stickman this week, about 2/3rds down.
http://www.stickmanbangkok.com/StickMar ... Phanom.htm

Nice to read, that there is a license, which costs 3000 B or 5000 B, available from next month.
Means in my eyes, that it is/was legal to play music without any license until 1st of September...and therefore it seems that our friends in brown just brought down their self to the level of average criminals, which like to steal others property.
No wonder, that TH loses more and more of reputation worldwide.

Very sad!

[dr dave soul monsta]

The heads up on this is that it is genuine and the big fines can be avoided by purchasing a license to play music of any format in the bars, Hotels, guest houses etc.....

I think a written letter or warnings to all bars from the local authorities who may have known about this for a while and forgotten to mention it to any one in the area would have been way to go fore warning of these raids and permitting owners to get legal rather than just strolling into town in the height of low season and busting every one thus creating many bad feelings to the concerned bodies doing the deed. This is a rather trivial matter but not for the unfortunate who have been fined a small fortune for none compliance which many knew nothing of until the confiscations of equipment & demands for money in the way of huge fines (very unfair practice in my own opinion)

The following info has been provided by the owner of a bar who did her own research into this and has now passed the following Information onto us, for all to share....

Copyright license to Play Music for Bars

Thai Music:
Grammy: Tel: 026699000 approximate 9,000 Baht

Foreign Music: Sony-BMG, EMI, Universal, S.Stack, Warner
Contact Person: Panoo
Tel: 022031049 – 50
You will be charged according to the size of your bar (per square wah) and seating areas. You should mention if you’re only using CD or using the computer for playing music as it has different rates. Appx 7,000 Baht valid for one year!!! better than 50,000 Baht every time they feel like checking the place.

LOCALLY, YOU CAN GET A LICENCE TO PLAY MUSIC (not copyright) FROM TESABAN (MUNICIPAL) AROUND 150 BAHT, AND WILL BE READY IN TWO WEEKS TIME.

and i would also suspect that many who were fined were not given this information also ....

[hogus]

Good one, dr dsm...

Unfortunately, it seems the main-reason was not to protect any copyrights, but to fill up the own pockets a little bit in a comfortable way!?
If they really just had the idea to fight against the violation of copyrights, the authorities would have made suitable information or even warnings accessible, before they start playing "Blitz war".

Have they just done their job or were they cunning again to rip off others (mainly foreigners!?), that's the question!

[lomuamart]

Hogus,
My wife tells me that this is nothing new. I mentioned it earlier on this thread.
Thai run karaoke bars have been raided for many a year in HH, their systems seized and fines imposed.
My wife is saying this was happening to Thai run places about 5 years ago. The threatened fines were also about 200k, but people settled for less.
It's totally wrong that you aren't given the opportunity to rectify the situation, however I'm assured it's not just a problem that comes a farang's way.
Despite the above, some guidelines from the authorities would be welcome, I'm sure.
I had a bar here a while ago and it never ceased to amaze me how many times we were appartantly beyond the laws. Mind you, in those days, the police always did give us some leeway.