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Digital DJs Unaware of Copyright Law
CookieJago74 writes "The BBC reports that if you're a DJ, playing your digital copies of files off a laptop or mp3 player is illegal. The UK royalty collection agency, PPL, demands that such DJs pay £200 for a license in order to do so. From the article, 'Many DJs are still unwittingly breaking the law by playing unlicensed digital copies of tracks months after a new permit scheme began, the BBC has found. This includes legally-purchased downloads, which are normally licensed only for personal use, as well as copies of tracks from records or CDs.'"
I think the article summary is a touch misleading. My reading was that the public performance of songs whose copyright the DJ doesn't hold is what's illegal, and the £200 is for a licsence that remedies the situation. Nobody is telling anybody they can't play music on their laptops, and I'm sure the submitter didn't intend this, but I think it's important to point out that this only relates to public performance. Additionally, DJs do not need to pay the liscence if they are playing from CD or vinyl.
I find it hard to believe a professional DJ wouldn't know about this already. They probably know the law and either 1. disagree with it or 2. don't care.
If you buy a CD through the normal channels, you have no right to do public performances. So the situation is the same for CDs and MP3s here.
Patrick Doyle
I mod down every jackass who puts his moderation policy in his sig. Oh, wait a sec....
In the US, the venue (bar, banquet hall, whatever) usually (is supposed to) have an ASCAP (or BMI) license to play recorded music. I would think this would cover whatever would be getting played off a laptop or ipod.
The laws are getting unrealistic and IMHO most are just a cash grab. How else would you explain having to buy a CD and then having to pay to play that cd as a DJ from a computer?
In Ontario it's illegal to play music in a public place without a licence, live or otherwise
Performances of music in public, i.e. offices, stores, etc., require a licence. This licence is necessary whether the music is performed by live or recorded means.
Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN)
I love the smell of Karma in the morning
[QUOTE]I've always been under the impression that it would be fine to perform this live and play it for an audience but once you try to sell it as a record, you're going to face some serious liabilities. I've been in bands that have covered Coldplay, Radiohead, The Beatles, Beck, The Pixies, etc. and we've never got in trouble for playing them live at crowded bars. In fact, when you start out, it's advised to include about 50% originals and 50% covers so that the music is accessible to anyone who might be there just for a drink.[/QUOTE]
In the US the bar/restraunt/etc. is supposed to pay an annual licensing fee based on seating etc. to ASCAP. Your performace rights are being paid by someone else (and if they are not licensed they can and will likely be sued for it...).
LetterRip
Before people go off half-cocked (I know, too late), public performance is the reason ASCAP and BMI (in the states) exist. You play registered music in public, the artist gets a royalty. It's as simple as that. (BTW, it has NADA to do with copyright - you can copyright a song without registering it with a rights organization.)
Radio stations, nightclubs, independent DJs, and even mom-and-pop stores with a stereo pay a flat license fee which is distributed to the songwriters.
Record companies - and even the performing artists, if they didn't write the song - get no cut, unless the writer explicitly signs over a cut of their songwriting, or the artist takes an arrangement credit. ASCAP in particular is a non-profit, run by songwriters.
It doesn't matter if the song is on CD, MP3, LP or 8-track tapes, if it's registered and you're playing it in public, you're supposed to pay. Only way around it is to play nothing but unregistered songs (such as "pod-safe" music).
I DJ'd while in college and have recently (within the last year) started DJing again and I can tell you that I went through the hoops and have tried to do everything as legit as possible. I contacted the major licensing agents (ASCAP, BMI, etc) and asked what I would need to do as a DJ to make sure I'm as compliant as possible and paid the appropriately royalties under license. What was explained to me by all of those agencies was that I didn't need to aquire my own license as the venues that I was playing in would be required to have their own licenses. I specifically asked, "Well, what about small weddings, house parties, etc.?" Their reply was that since those are generally small, private venues that were not open to the "public", I didn't need a license. Basically, the only license I need to get paid to be a DJ, under those guidelines, is a city/county occupational license. That's it. Pay the appropriate taxes and you're done.
Do I play from my laptop? You bet your ass. When I need to go to the bathroom, or if I'm playing something I mixed myself, or if I get an obscure request to play something that I don't carry in my CD crates... I have digitized my CD collection onto my laptop for a backup. You never know when your CD that you've played 400 times is going to crap out on you -- even if it is the Electric Slide. *chokes self*
Sounds like a double-licensing scheme to me. Hmm How would they say it overseas, "Blimey! That's bloody awful!"
Xserv
"I love lamp."
I've owned a Tavern for over 20 years now and those scum-sucking bastards have been trying to get me to buy a license in order to "legally" play the radio in my joint.
h t/
As I tell them ever year when they show up at my doorstep with a "bill", threatening to take me to court: "Blow Me"
The songs are sent out over the radio for free. If they don't want me using the radio, then they had better come here with a bigger gun than the one I have, or stop broadcasting their songs over the free airwaves.
Or they can blow me.
In any case, nothing has happened in 20 years. The license thing is a bloody joke.
US law provides for certain exemptions to licensing:
the Music Licensing Act [Copyright Term Extension and Music Licensing Act 17 USC 110] draws the line between private and public in terms of the type of public establishment, the size, and the stereo equipment used. Restaurants and bars under 3,750 square feet or retail establishments under 2,000 square feet are exempt from paying fees for playing radio or TV broadcasts for their customers. Public places of any size that play radio or TV broadcasts are exempt from paying fees if they use no more than six external speakers (not more than four speakers in each room) for playing music. Public places that play CDs or hire live musicians (that play cover songs or copy songs) are still subject to being licensed for fees.
From http://publishing.wsu.edu/copyright/music_copyrig
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
They tell me I'm not even allowed to put my songs on an Ipod.. even though the law says it's my right.
That may be the case where you are, but technically here in the UK (which the story is about) I believe that actually is illegal. As I read the relevant statute, we have no right to format shift or even to create a backup of a purchased copyrighted work. Specifically, there is no "fair use" clause; there is something about "reasonable use", but it's rather poorly defined. I don't suppose that anyone's ever going to be sued over it (let alone successfully sued), but there it is.
If there are any lawyers reading this who know UK law and who can settle this one way or the other, I'd be grateful. Either way, it isn't going to stop me ripping everything to my IRiver, but it would be nice not to be breaking the law...
Hey DJs.. just play your damn music and FIGHT it in court if you get 'caught'.
No offence, but that's easy to say when it's not you that'll be up in court.
It's official. Most of you are morons.
I help run a large dancing club in the UK that regularly deals with PPL and such. Sorry, but the parent post is completely wrong on several counts.
Even to play the original media at public classes and special events requires a licence here if you don't hold the copyright. We submit a form to PPL each year, basically describing the number of hours of music we'll be playing that year, the venues we'll be using, and what the tracks we'll be playing are. (These are necessarily approximations, and FWIW this has never caused us a problem, not that that means much these days.) We then get told how much we have to pay for the rights to play the music as requested. This is not a flat rate, so I have no idea where the figures quoted by others in this discussion have come from.
This is a wholly separate issue to format-shifting, which is illegal by default under UK copyright law. Just because you've bought an MP3 player or your laptop has media playing software doesn't actually give you the right to put any of your CD collection on it, and copying a CD onto tape to play in your old car cassette deck is against the rules. No, I'm not kidding. I haven't read the latest PPL guidelines that apply here yet, but I'm guessing (as in, check it yourself before you rely on it!) that this licence actually covers the format-shifting required to get the material onto the other system. It may or may not cover the same things as the regular PPL licence as well, but I'm guessing not if it's a flat rate or everyone would be doing it (our PPL "contribution" is well over £200 per year).
If you're in the UK and think that charging for a CD, charging for the right to use it in public performances, and charging a significant amount to play the music you've already paid for to an audience you've already paid for, then you might like to consider contributing to the Gowers review of UK IP law when it starts consulting in Febuary 2006.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.