MUSIC shop boss Steve Kowalski has been told he will have to pay up if his customers want to try out an instrument before they buy.

The Performing Rights Society claims he needs a licence if he, or any customer, wants to have a go on anything from a harmonica to a harpsichord.

Officials have told him he will have to pay £114 - but Steve, 53, said: "Has anyone used their common sense here?"

Steve took over the 78-year-old Jones Music store on Charlotte Street, in Macclesfield, a year ago.

A call out of the blue from PRS told him that if anyone played an identifiable piece of music he was in breach of copyright and was breaking the law.

"They said it constituted a public performance," he said. "I thought someone was winding me up.

"I have never heard anything so ridiculous in my life.

"It means customers will have to try an instrument without the piece sounding melodious, or they will have to buy it untried."

Steve, who lives in Macclesfield with his partner Sally and who plays lead guitar in a band said the cost of the licence was determined by the size of the shop.

"It's not the money," he said. "It's the principal. I'm certainly not going to pay for a licence."

Keith Gilbert, sales director of the PRS said: "Royalties are crucial, they keep songwriters and musicians writing more music. And they are paid by everyone who plays music in public.

"Music shops pay like everyone else, but get a 30 per cent discount if their only music is for demonstration purposes."