CITY centre venue Bla Bla Bar has been hit with a High Court ban on playing music.
It is the second venue in Nottingham in two weeks to be penalised for playing copyrighted music without a licence.
On Friday, at the court in London, Mr Justice Arnold imposed the ban on Stephen Ellis and James Leisure Ltd, after hearing that they were caught breaking the rules at the premises in St James's Street.
The order was imposed after the judge heard that a Phonographic Performance Ltd (PPL) inspector had caught the pub playing tracks including Punkie, by Sean Paul, and Main Chick, by Kid Ink featuring Chris Brown and Tyga, without authorisation.
Solicitors sent letters to the premises informing them that playing the recordings in public without PPL's licence or permission was infringement of copyright.
The venue must pay £1,667 legal costs by December 4.
The ban also applies to any other premises the company runs. Failure to obey the order until all fees are paid would be contempt of court, with penalties including fines of up to £10,000 and up to six months in prison.
Last night, the Post visited the bar and found music being played. The manager referred us to Stephen Ellis, who said he was no longer associated with the bar.
Earlier this month, Reuben Marriott, proprietor of the White Hart pub, in Glasshouse Street, was banned after playing music without a licence.
The ban applies to all forms of mechanically recorded music – including records, tapes, and CDs.
PPL licenses recorded music on behalf of thousands of record companies and performers for broadcast, online and public performance.
Spokesman Nazneen Nawaz said: "Our 90,000 members include major record labels and independents as well as globally successful performers and session musicians, ranging from orchestral players to percussionists and singers.
"The majority are small businesses, all of whom are legally entitled to be fairly paid for the use of their recordings and performances.
"PPL issues licences to hundreds of thousands of businesses and organisations across the UK when they play recorded music to their staff or customers and therefore require a licence by law.
"After the deduction of PPL's running costs, all licence fee income is distributed to members."
