Copyright license and Public Performance mandatory for DJs ?? Let Discuss…

Hey Paramor,

I moved your post to the appropriate forum, clearly not a mix, music or show.
I removed all the caps from your post title and actual post. We don’t mind the occassional emphasis (I do it too), but so much caps is still considered shouting and not something we want here at the forums.

On topic:

Yes, you don’t buy a song outright, you buy the right to listen to that song, in private. In order to publicly play music the artist needs to be paid. Fortunately for us DJs, in most countries it’s the venue owner that pays that bill.

You are allowed to use the track as a DJ to play/mix it in public. And in general you’ll get a lot of leeway in remixing/re-editing, especially if done live. If you record it and start distributing it without consent from the original artist, that’s another story.

Again, it’s important to understand that you don’t OWN anything when you buy a track, other than the right to play it in private. Just like you want to be paid to play tunes as a DJ, the artist that created the material you use would like to be paid for that public use as well.

So no matter what you do 30% of the royalty fee that is not sucked up by those agencies (which is roughly 50%) gets to the trust funds of Michael Jackson, Beatles, Rolling Stones,… it is highly doubtful that even names like Guetta or Tiesto get much output from those general play fees.
The rest of the few cent goes to everyone who ever had a #1 US hit and a few microcent might reach you if you have a song that was Top 20 in your country…
The royalty system is total bogus and makes rich famous artists richer and mostly labels and royalty companies suck up the rest of the money.

Now where you do get royalties is air play or festivals (bigger ones) as they have no general fee put have to deliver a playlist and royalties go to the artists played.

I disagree, you do NOT need to rely on your luck.

In about 90% of the worlds countries (only exceptions I know are known “funky” countries like North Korea) the venue owner is responsible BY LAW.
But to be on the safe side I simply have a passage in my DJ contract that states that in good faith I am pushing all legal issues to live performance of my legally obtained tracks to the hiring party. If a policeman or whatever asks me I simply point out my contract signed by the hiring party and NEVER in 20+ years had any issues.
The only issue I had once was in Italy where they wanted to see receipts of the music on my laptop and I simply agreed that they could come home with me (2 hour flight) and check my invoices at any time of their convenience.

@DJ Akash

I wouldn’t worry too much about it. The police in India most likely won’t know that you have to BUY the music and not rip it off youtube. I doubt you’ll get into trouble because of that. I buy all my music through Beatport. End of story.

You have to let go of the thought of being able to get the first “gig” in that way. Start out doing house parties for friends, birthdays, backyard BBQs. Anything really to get you playing in front of actual people. Because if you haven’t played in front of real people, you just are not ready to go out and “gig”, imho.

You won’t make any money and probably be happy if the guys/gals giving the party are willing to pay for a rental PA if you don’t have one yourself. And you can try getting gas money out of it (just to get used to not being a “freejay”). But at the end of the day, you need to get out there and play. This will give you the Experience of Live Performance, it will give you the self-confidence you need to talk to people that CAN actually get you paid gigs and … not unimportant … people will actually see you behind the decks. Make sure you have cards, wear a t-shirt with your DJ name and telephone number, hang up and hand out flyers at the parties you play. You will start putting your name out. If one person likes what you are doing they might ask you to play their next party. Which you will gladly do, for a modest amount of money of course! And see, your first paid gig!

May I ask where in India are you from, DJ Aakash?