body: When I was on a cruise ship, the song "Hungry Heart" was played on a daily, almost hourly basis on the ship over its p.a. system. Does the ship need to get a license/pay royalties for the right to do this? Or is this "fair use?" Put another way, does a DJ need to pay royalties every time s/he plays a song over e.g. the radio? Or can they get a "pass" by claiming that they are not earning money on the song itself, only the advertising that the radio sells? (It could be any song, but the Bruce Springsteen song was the one I remembered.)
  
  
  Is there a legal mechanism whereby the cruise ship can "escape" paying royalties? Theory 1 is that the cruise is in international waters. 2) Theory 2 is that the cruise ship is merely "rebroadcastng" a radio or TV show that contained the song. Obviously, the radio or TV show had to pay for the original song use, but does that apply to viewers/listeners of a TV show? 
  
  
  My understanding is that the cruise ship has to pay royalties on "live" performances on the ship, so my question is about "canned" performances. For example, does a bar have to pay directly for the playing of say, songs on a jukebox, or is that the responsibility of the jukebox lessor? Put another way, does the responsibility for paying for "canned" music fall on the "canner", (radio/TV/jukebox provider), or on the "can opener," (ship or bar)?
  
  
  
title: Source of permission/license to use song on a cruise ship?