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 Hundreds of hairdressers and beauty centres in Barcelona, Sabadell and Lleida, Spain, are displaying a poster featuring a girl with a vinyl record and the words ‘Catalan hairdressers are ordered to pay royalties for playing the radio in their shops”.

So says the Barcelona Reporter.

Clearly, the hairdressers are suffering from the SOCAN Syndrome.

SOCAN is short for Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada and they figure virtually anyone playing anything SOCAN anywhere owes them.

Including hairdressers.

When p2pnet did a post on this we had a pic of the SOCAN logo wearing a wig.

SOCAN got all pouty, threatening p2pnet with a Cease & Desist missive.

Spanish hairdressers, faced by demands from the local version of SOCAN, the General Society of Authors of Spain (SGAE), have adopted an intriguing tactic to protest the extortion.

According to SGAE, when the hairdressers play SGAE music  for their customers, they’re breaking copyright laws.

So the clever  hairdressers have chosen an unusual way to both publicise the farce  and  get the public on their side.

They’ve launched a campaign “asking customers to come with their own music for avoid paying the tax,” says the Barcelona Reporter.

“From now on when you come to the hairdressers … do not forget to bring house music and all original Ah ¡¡¡” – they say.

“The vice president of the Catalan Federation of Beauty and Hairdressing (Fedcat), José María Figueres, explained that the posters began to be distributed among the 2,500 institutions that belong to this organization shortly before last Christmas and already hundreds have joined the campaign,” says the story, continuing:

“The campaign has been well received. Customers sympathize, and relish the idea of bringing in their own mp3 music,” said Figueras, who emphasizes that in addition to protesting about the fees, this measure avoids establishments paying the tax, since they do not play music on the radio.”

“Figueras said that the situation is amazing,” the story, quoting his as stating, “Hairdressers do not put on live music, they are just trying to ensure their salons are homely, as if our customers were guests in our own homes.”

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