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.'"

Comments

Article summary is a little misleading

[conJunk]

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 don't think so

[p3d0]

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.

Re:I'm sure it's even more restricted in the USA

[jdunlevy]

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.

Had to post about this thread...

[Xserv]

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

The situation in the UK

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

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.