Digital DJ license - an absolute farce! Read this!!

[aejaz]

Perhaps one day we'll be able to buy all digital music (and the rights to play them) straight from the artists themselves and won't need to go through the record companies' greedy scamming lawyers and other such talentless middle-men. These leeches always say that they're doing it in the artist's interest but I think they're only out there to squeeze every drop of money they can by creating these artificial legal constructs. When you look at what proportion of the money collected actually goes to the artist and what goes to running these mammoth bureaucratic processes (i.e. the leeches' salaries) the extent of the scam becomes obvious!

[Sartori]

Stuff like this will always be an issue as long as DJs do anything with other people's music. At varying levels of the industry you'll have:

- Artists with different views on whether you can use their tracks or not, and if so how you can use them, and how you licence them, and how much (if anything) you should pay.

- Labels (made up of Artists) with different views on the same things.

- Associations (made up of Artists, Labels, or both) with different views on the same things.

With the net taking off as a means for distribution, the number of Artists without Labels or Associations is going to increase rapidly. So, you'll find yourself in the situation of tracking down the relevant Artist, Label or Association you need to licence stuff from. It's all gonna get complicated. The alternative is to ignore licensing issues and just enjoy the music, and run the risk of getting busted for it.

My solution? Make my own music with instruments and royalty-free samples, so there's no licence problems. If I ever learn to DJ, I'll DJ my own stuff

[shredded]

It is tricky now, with entire genres (especially electronic) like techno, drum and bass (epecially) which rely heavily on use of many, many artists material in any given set, usually at least 80% not created by the DJ. These track constitute "secret weapons" and you are right, the time and money spent keeping track of and paying royalties will most likely kill off these styles soon. Everybody knows the much of the electronic "dance-music" scene is and has been forever what is now considered "piracy" and copyright violation. Even a snare or bass kick downloaded from almost any sample site could possibly be violation of copyright. It can go forever.................................................................................until the music dies...............................................will there be record company/royalty people digitally recording your song one day and doing frequency analysis on your highhats to see if they were from a James Brown beat....?

[hambone1]

We really are in a digital era where the artist can do everything himself. Writing, performing, marketing, website, graphic design, video, lighting, on-line distribution, etc. These 'digital skills' are all related. It's just a bunch of ones and zeros. Speaking of zeroes, cut the middlemen out altogether.

I've run across a few 'Renaissaince Men' in the graphic design world, those who can do anything digitally. They're hugely successful and are able to control their own destinities without relying on others, and at the same time keeping fat, grubby, greasy, talentless fingers out of the pie.

With inexpensive equipment and software, this 'revolution' has now hit the music industry. Do you own tracks. Market them yourself. Write your own contract. Get out there and DJ your own stuff.

I'm modeling my current business on this principle. It's a shitload of work and I may not get there. But if I don't, I've only got myself to blame.

[shredded]

Sure, that's great. I'm not trying to make a business out of music, myself. I don't look at things that are spiritual, like artistic expression, in such concrete material terms and I never will. I do understand a desire to get paid for what one does, but there IS, as with ALL things in life, a BALANCE. Once excessive greed infects the mind, it creates imbalance. Look at how many great artists became very commercial and SUCK now. Once you put all of these rules and limitations on abstract artistic expression, it kills the muse. You get garbage like we hear so much of these days. Bland, mundane, uninspired, unoriginal disposable DATA: entertainment.
Picasso said art is not meant for hanging on your living room walls, it is a weapon and should be bristling with razorblades.
One form of music is expression, and another is hype, created to SUCK you in, like bait on a hook, and take your vital life essence, because that is what vampires do.
"Every man, and every woman is a star..."
we shine, selflessly, by nature, and burn brightly for eternities, unless we are lured into the path of Greed and insane Lust; we then rufuse to shine without compensation, and thereby collapse upon ourselves and become Black Holes, wandering in hunger forever trying desperately to convert all energy into food to be consumed, as we are no longer able to generate our own sustenance from within.
The human race is halfway to fallen, yet guided by the angels.
Be careful, remember that this is spiritual warfare and the forces of darkness want your souls, so that you will become their slaves in their hellish dimensions after you leave this body.
HAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[aejaz]

Shredded I totally agree with your spiritual view of artistic expression and the intrinsic value it holds that shouldn't be devalued with a price tag. However, on a pragmatic level I also understand very well that artists also need to eat and pay bills. So if we were to just talk business for a second; I also believe that DJs do a lot to promote artists, which is something that these leeches in suits are quick to forget. How many tunes have you gone out and bought because you heard them for the first time in a set by one of your favourite DJs? I've bought tons and so have many, many people who listen to my sets! So, if one were to think like these leeches one could easily turn the argument on its head and ask the PPL/PRS/MCPS to PAY the DJs instead for promoting the artist's music!

[shredded]

BAAAAAARRRRFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Blah!!!

[Chris J]

That is very true. Pity so few people realise this, attaching their ego to their creations.

This whole topic reminds me why I enjoy being part of the underground scene i'm involved in. No-one makes a living out of it. Most tunes played are dubplates/cd-r's, and slowly but surely stuff is getting released. But we all do it for the love ... Producers, DJ's, label owners, promoters. I think it keeps music real, and healthy, and allows for true artistic expression.

yeah, when you spend one hour doing an electronic track, no need to attach your ego.
When you spend one month on a track, trying this and that, playing different real instruments that you've taken years to learn, strangely your ego is more attached than when you put a random sequence, turning a knob up and down on a ready-made loop.

[elemental]

That is very true. Pity so few people realise this, attaching their ego to their creations.

This whole topic reminds me why I enjoy being part of the underground scene i'm involved in. No-one makes a living out of it. Most tunes played are dubplates/cd-r's, and slowly but surely stuff is getting released. But we all do it for the love ... Producers, DJ's, label owners, promoters. I think it keeps music real, and healthy, and allows for true artistic expression.

yeah, when you spend one hour doing an electronic track, no need to attach your ego.
When you spend one month on a track, trying this and that, playing different real instruments that you've taken years to learn, strangely your ego is more attached than when you put a random sequence, turning a knob up and down on a ready-made loop.

True say ... I am talking idealistically of course. Don't assume I never attach my ego to my tracks ... when i hear my tunes on the radio, getting rewinds, out at a club etc, sure my ego gets a massage and a boost... but I see that as a weakness. Because, it is not only 'me' who created that music.

[edit] and yeah I get ur point about amount of time and energy spent on a tune and egotistical investment in it... a track i spent 2 days on compared to one I spent 2 months on, I will feel more emotionally attached to the one I put more time+energy into. BUT the point was that at the end of the day it doesnt matter. Music is music, it is not its creator(s) .. as shredded suggests we are just a medium through which creative forces express themselves.

[synthpopkid]

This is all over the news again in the UK.

I DJ 2 hours a month. I get paid £30, after we've paid for the promotional costs such as posters, of which I pay my income tax on that. I use either Beatport MP3s (which the FAQ says I'm allowed to DJ with) or WAV copies of promos sent to me. The money I earn buys the MP3s so buying a licence means it'll cost me money to DJ.

So what we're saying is that I'll be out of pocket by £200 a year to play the minimal techno promo I got sent, in Ableton Live?

This is madness.

[radeon]

I am in dispute with the PPL in uk. They are very bad compnay to dealsings with

I sign to ppl two years past so I can collect radion and tv perfromance money. TODAY they still no pay me one pence. They send me different forms to fill out and tell me different things everytime I talk to people at pppl. The money for dj licence will go to old pop star as it always did.

Try an experimentation. Phone up ppl with a question that might be complex. Then phone up again with same questions but talking to another people on the phone. DIFFERENT ANSWRS EACH PHONE CALL i explains the stor another again again again They are very bad company and criminal. I wish my englsih was better so I could tell the story from two years and still goes on. They accuse me of liar and put my works in wrong accounts''' and then tell me i am to blame. The problem with the ppl is its run by people and lawyer whoc could not make the life in the real world in labels and other things. That is true. A jpob with ppl is an easy job so you can hide and dont need to impress. No one ever get fired from ppl. Bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad companie the ppl

[supster]

would any electronic producer that has ever recieved a check either directly or indirectly (through thier label) from one of these organizations, please raise your hand?

thanks
.

[ciw]

can't be bothered to get into the whole artist compensation argument right now, but...

DRM

This one is a no-brainer. It will never completely work. There will *always* be a way to get around it (see if you can find anything to read on the subject by Bruce Schneier or Ross Anderson for example). So basically the diehard pirates will circumvent DRM anyway, while the honest paying consumer gets pissed off.

Aside from that the music industry model needs reworking but that's another story. Buying music (and performing rights) direct from artists would be great. You still need some kind of 'industry' for the purpose of filtering out good artists from crap. But we need to pay them to do exactly that, rather than letting them own (ie exploit, monopolize) the whole process of music creation, distribution and performance.

garageband.com has an interesting business model for this - not much good as a dance music site but anyone interested should check it out. to upload a song you have to (blindly, honestly, impartially) rate 30 other songs. so charts are automatically created with the 'better' (ok, well more popular) songs at the top. needs lots of work still but a nice idea, maybe a glimpse of the future.

[synthpopkid]

I don't mind doing things legitimately. I love music and I wanted to DJ so:

I saved and bought an ibook (£700), a midi controller (£100) and a legitimate copy of Ableton Live 4 (250). Then I bought new tracks - around $150 at Beatport alone.

Now they say I have to spend another £200. But the guy I run the night with can play the same tracks from CD for no extra cost?

I don't earn a lot, and I work long hours. Now I'm told that I can't even enjoy the one thing I like doing, the one thing creative outlet I have, unless I pay this company £200.

This whole world has gone f*cking mental. You can see why people lose the plot.

Is it just me?

[robin]

Now they say I have to spend another £200. But the guy I run the night with can play the same tracks from CD for no extra cost?

I don't earn a lot, and I work long hours. Now I'm told that I can't even enjoy the one thing I like doing, the one thing creative outlet I have, unless I pay this company £200.

woah woah woah with the creative bit there, from the FAQ:

"Does the licence allow me to create mixes?
All that the Digital DJ Licence allows you to do is copy onto, and store on, the DJ Database (and Back-up Database) sound recordings in their original form (that is, the version that you downloaded or that was on the record that purchased from the shop). You are not entitled to edit or alter the track (including combining two or more tracks to create a new track).
This does not stop you creating a mix from different tracks when you are performing as a DJ. However, neither you nor anyone else will be able to record this mix."

S'ok if you've got it on CD though...you can do wtf you like then. I'm not gonbna waste another second thinking about this farce.