the LEGALITIES of DJing

[RefRAin]

Hey ADJF crew, great site & forums!

I've read through "DJ RhemyD's guide to Going Legit" (sticky under beginners!) and have a couple of questions you might be able to help me out with.

In compiling a "Promo Mixtape/CD" to get my name out there in the clubs, what licenses / authorisations do i require?

Some of my songs (purchased through beatport.com legally) are from Axtone Records, or Big Fish Recordings - who are not listed on the ARIA Members List so I'm not sure how to get their approval? or is it covered under an ARIA blanket license? The likes of Vicious etc. are ARIA members so shouldn't be any probs there.

Secondly, as a Laptop DJ (with some 12" vinyl also) how does this whole "format shifting" come into play? By playing music, i'm covered by the PPCA license Tarrif "F" no problem. But what if I record my 12" tracks onto the laptop and then play that in public. Do I need this $800 p.a. Format Shift license also, or does that come under the ARIA blanket license anyway?

Thanks, I'm very confused and want to do the right thing - $60k fine per track and 5 years imprisonment doesn't sound appealing...

RefRAin.

Melbourne AU

[RefRAin]

Lots of clicks, no responses - it's clearly a tricky subject.

Or something no-one wants to put their name against?!

Never mind, I've received conflicting responses from the authorities (APRA/AMCOS/PPCA/MIPI but still waiting on ARIA?!) so will just do my best to abide by these "confusing laws" we have here in AU.

Thanks anyway,

R.

[Tomy]

so alot of dj's that record a demo cd and put PROMO ONLY on it are still in the shit or is this some sort of loop hole?

[Skank]

its all shit i replied to the other post

[Tomy]

sadly i dont think it is, Remyd is right as far as i can tell so far from my research. which makes me sad

i know there is a lot of loop holes so maybe it would be good to explore that side of things in simple dot point form. if any one know any?

Tekstepa in your other post you said there were loop hole, what sort of things are you talking about i'm interested to find out.

I was of the belife that if the club / pub had the apra license that would cover dj's playing in there.

[Cupe]

ARIA REPRODUCTION LICENCE

FOR FORMAT SHIFTING BY DISC JOCKEYS

What is this licence for and why do I need it?

The Copyright Act provides that the making of reproductions of copyright sound recordings must be

licensed. This includes the reproduction of music from a CD or LP into electronic form (also called

format shifting).

While the Copyright Act was amended in 2006 to permit format shifting for private and domestic use,

format shifting for commercial purposes still requires a licence from the copyright owner or someone

authorised by them.

If you are a professional DJ and you want to copy all your legitimately purchased CDs and LPs for the

purpose of storing them in electronic form on a central hard drive database from which they can be

played, you can now purchase a licence from ARIA which covers all sound recordings of ARIA

licensors as listed on the ARIA website.

What does the licence permit?

The licence permits you, for its duration, to make copies of legitimately purchased music on one

central hard drive and one back up hard drive or back up CD for the purpose of providing DJ

services.

Once you have maintained a licence for at least two years, you are permitted to keep the music

copied during your licence period on your hard drive even if you cancel your licence. If you cancel

your licence within two years, you must remove all copies of the music made under this licence from

your central hard drive and your backup hard drive.

Do I need this licence if I buy my music in electronic form?

This will depend on the terms and conditions of the supplier of the electronic form of music.

For example, suppliers such as iTunes and Bigpond music have terms and conditions on their website

which indicate that music bought from those services can only be used for non-commercial, personal

use. Even if you have legitimately purchased music from these services, you will still require a licence

to use the reproduction for commercial purposes.

What about music that I have already put on my computer?

ARIA recognises that many DJs have already copied music onto their portable hard drives without an

appropriate licence. By purchasing an ARIA licence, all those copies will be deemed to have been

made under this licence as long you provide a report of these recordings.

How much is the licence fee?

The licence fee is a flat fee of $800 per annum plus GST, payable in equal quarterly instalments.

How long is the licence term?

Each licence will be for a minimum term of 1 year following which, you can cancel your licence by

giving notice in which case your licence will terminate at the end of quarter after which you cancelled

it. You will only be required to pay quarterly fees until the end of your licence period.

Do I have to report under this licence?

Yes, there are some basic reporting obligations under this licence including providing a list of tracks

you have copied under this licence and a list of customers to whom you have supplied DJ services.

You are required to provide your reports quarterly.

Do I require any other licences?

You will also be required to obtain a licence from AMCOS for the reproduction of the musical works.

AMCOS can be contacted on (02) 9935 7900.

The reproduction licences offered by ARIA and AMCOS do not cover the public performance of sound

recordings. Any public performance of sound recordings will still require a licence.

[RefRAin]

Thanks Caleupe - this format shifting license explains itself (backup only license) but is still a ridiculous concept. It doesn't cover off making a "promo mix cd" for distribution (not for sale).

A quote I received yesterday from APRA states: "...whether you are using the song as a demo or making it available to buy, does not change the need to get "approval" to use aspects of song, in any circumstance...."

so the word "PROMO ONLY" doesn't get you out of trouble.

They go on to say "You are required to obtain permission from the original record labels to use their "sound recording" in your mix CD. You will also need to pay a "mechanical royalty" to the original composers. For works we represent you can take out a licence called an Audio Manufacture Licence to facilitate the royalty process. The application is downloadable from our website -> http://www.apra-amcos.com.au/musicconsu ... lsale.aspx "

It's calculated as 6% of the retail sale price.. but for a promotional cd there is NO retail sale price.. hence my confusion. The other thing is they only represent a handful of composers - any international bodies (Axwell, Sebastien Leger, Prydz etc. aren't on their list).

They also acknowledge the difficult situation us DJ's are in: "I can't comment about the practices of all DJ's but I do know for a fact that there are numerous cases where DJ's have been investigated & held accountable for illegally made remixes & mix tapes. I do realise the culture of dance music works very differently, but legally you are obligated to obtain the appropriate licenses & clearances for any use of music, whether promotional, demo or for sale.

"

As far as I'm concerned, I have gone down the path of obtaining the individual Record Companies' permission and so far, out of 20 tracks, I have 2 x approval to put on my promo CD and zero rejections (fingers crossed!).

Thanks for the discussion and I know it's a touchy topic, and if I get any other updates (STILL WAITING ON ARIA!!) will let you know.

RefRAIn.

[Tomy]

public performance of sound recordings will still require a licence

what license is that?

what if a dj comes from the UK to australia does this mean to tour the country for 2 weeks he needs to pay $800 plus plus for 3 different licenses?

[Cupe]

It's calculated as 6% of the retail sale price.. but for a promotional cd there is NO retail sale price..

6% of $0.00 = $0.00

[tubby]

public performance of sound recordings will still require a licence

what license is that?

what if a dj comes from the UK to australia does this mean to tour the country for 2 weeks he needs to pay $800 plus plus for 3 different licenses?

the venue normally has the licence for public performance, though if you are a mobile dj and play in venues without this licence you need to get somewthing to cover it.

I've yet to hear of anyone getting the format shift licence or being chased because they do not have it. I honestly wonder if it would stand up in court. it's a pretty pathetic cash grab from an industry with it's head firmly in the sand. I thought they tried this in uk and everyone ignored it?

[Tomy]

Well i haven't heard of anyone with all of these things covered.... werid.

i've only ever heard one rumor of some one being fined 70,000 and i think it was peewee ferris? opened for prodigy at BDO this year? how ever i think its total bullshit

[Cupe]

i've only ever heard one rumor of some one being fined 70,000 and i think it was peewee ferris?

i just done a bit of a search, didn't find anything about something like that.

Check all this shit though:

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q ... usic&meta=

A "well known" Italian DJ has been ordered to cough up Europe's biggest fine ever for music downloading after being found in possession of and using thousands of illegally copied music files.

The DJ must pay a record €1.4m ($1.8m), the Italian financial police have ruled. He also faces criminal prosecution, law enforcement officials said.

The fine follows a raid mounted by Italian police earlier this week on a popular nightclub in Rieti, a town between Rome and Assisi. During the investigation, officers seized over 2,000 MP3 files and 500 music videos.

[Tomy]

Glad i pay for my music

[Skank]

loop holes i was talking about,

1. the venues licence covers you

2. if the venue is paying you cash in hand (which a few do) all bets are off and you are not liable for a thing

3. they have to prove beyond reasonable doubt that you knew you were breaking all the apra bylaws

4. i dont know any pro dj in sydney that has a licence, most have ABN's

5. everywhere iv ever played have never asked if i had permission to play the music ive had

[tubby]

not sure if it was peewee, might have been him who got busted with chris cross?? ,that was for selling cd's with unlicenced tracks on them, not promos or format shifting.

[RefRAin]

Hey all,

Just got a response from Aria.

You won't like what they say, but it is what it is...

"

· By way of background, ARIA has been granted non-exclusive rights by specific record companies to grant such this licence. You should note that this licence would only cover sound recordings controlled by those specific record companies. A list of the record companies and labels covered by the ARIA licence can also be found at: http://www.aria.com.au/pages/documents/ ... l_list.pdf "

So International labels not represented by ARIA are not covered..

"

· Also, as ARIA’s rights are non-exclusive, you also have the option of obtaining a licence to format shift sound recordings from each of the copyright owners directly rather than obtaining a licence from ARIA. "

· The ARIA licence does not provide you with the right to make promotional CDs or to make remixes. Permission to do so should be obtained from the copyright owners directly.

The above one is the scary one but straight from the horses' mouth. As said before, no-one's ever been publically "nicked" by handing out promo-only CD's. the Pee Wee Ferris issue was because he was SELLING the cd's so maybe we can take some comfort in that...

Hope you all have a good weekend!! I'll be working on my mix!!

RefRAin.

[Tomy]

yeh.. well in short. no matter what you do. your fucked.

so if its an internation label thats not on there list doe this mean they cant police trcks of those labels

[Cupe]

Ok, I found some info on peewee ferris:

As reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, Chris Kross (realname Chris Fraser-Smith – not to be confused with Chris Fraser / Fresh from Canberra) and Pee Wee Ferris have been ordered by the court to pay damages and costs in excess of $800,000.

Chris Kross’ company Tower Records produces the popular DJ series ‘Downunderground’. Federal Court judge Peter Jacobson on Friday, found that Tower Records has released eight copyright infringing CDs, including ‘Happy Valley 1991 To 2001 – A Decade Of Dance and Hard Trance.’

The lion’s share of the damages have been put onto Chris Kross, with Pee Wee Ferris being required to pay around $120,000 of the total in relation to the release ‘peeweeferris.com digital domination’.

In their defence, both claimed to have gained permission to use the works in their releases, however, the judge in his decision stated “Mr Smith and Tower [Records] knew that they did not hold the copyright licences for any of the infringing tracks and that they deliberately exploited the infringing works for their own commercial benefit.”

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/DJs ... 53511.html

[Genetic]

this is how i look at it; unitl there is an international governing body they won't be able to do anything for international copyright, they wouldn't start deporting dj's left right and centre

[Tomy]

what about for local guy playing track from an internation label

[tubby]

kind of left field, but was just reading an article that the federal government wants to introduce a new royalty scheme for artists (the paint and canvas type), so they get paid every time their work is sold, not just what they get the first time they sell it. so you buy it from the artist, you pay. You sell it later, even if you lose money, you pay 5% of that sale price to the artist.

Imagine if you had to do that when selling records.

sounds like the sort of utter drivel peter garret is pushing since he got elected.

[Cupe]

what the fuck

where does it end

[Tomy]

Yeh it's rubbish has any of the government bodies ever sat down with a group of Dj's pro & am. And figured out stuff cause that's what I reckon they need to do

[RefRAin]

I reckon it won't end until someone DOES sit down and map it all out in a "real world" scenario.

Until then, we go about it as usual and let the loopholes figure themselves out.

Just got an email from Flamingo Records, Netherlands (who manage Fedde Le Grand). They wish me well and say no problem, but Ministry of Sound hold the rights for Fedde's work in Australia. I ask MoS and what do they say??

"We have considered your request below but we cannot approve this. Please do not use any MoS recordings in your DJ demo. Also be advised that if you wish to include any recordings in a DJ demo, you are required to obtain licences for both the recording and the publishing rights."

So MoS say "do not use ANY...." then say "if you wish to include.." huh?!?

Then as per my previous post, ARIA say they cannot license Promo Mix-CD's.

It's full of holes.

I'd say as long as you're seen to do the right thing (not using illegally downloaded / ripped tracks) and not on-selling for profit (like Pee Wee Ferris etc.) then you're pretty much covered. In te case of MoS saying not to use ANY of their recordings - what are THEIR recordings? this was purchased with Flamingo Records as the owner...

Anyway, onwards & upwards!!!!!

Have a great wkend all!!

[Skank]

the ARIA licence does not provide you with the right to make promotional CDs or to make remixes. Permission to do so should be obtained from the copyright owners directly.

RefRAin.

thats what we call bootlegs