Canadian musicians want doctors to cough ...

A Canadian group is taking aim not only at dentists, but also doctors and opticians and in fact any kind of office that plays CDs.

SOCAN, the Canadian copyright collective for the public performance of musical works, administers the performing rights of composers, lyricists, songwriters and their publishers.

And, it says, every time a dentist or other health care practitioner plays music for its patients, he or she is stealing. The group wants the doctors to pay up for the right to play their songs.

"This was a money grab," says Dr Jack Cotrell of the Canadian Dental Association, quoted in a CTV story here.

However, "Not only is it the right thing to do, but it's also the lawful thing to do, to pick up a licence for what amounts to a mere few pennies a day," said Andre LeBel, CEO of The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN).

This will be music to the ears of the RIAA, not to speak of UMG, BMG, EMI, Sony and Warner, who are busy with their sue 'em all campaign.

"We want people to stop engaging in the theft of music so that people can go on making it. This is a terrible thing where people are biting the hands that make the music and destroying the very music that they want to continue to be created," said RIAA president Cary Sherman.

But SOCAN isn't loooking for court cases (not that it would do much good if it were): it says it hopes businesses will voluntarily come up with the cash - so musicians can continue to make life a little more enjoyable.

(Thanks for the pointer, pepe512000 : )