SwingDJs

So you thought just ripping off copies of MP3 was our only problem. This link to the PRODJ.COM site tells us that even DJ'ing from store bought CD's is ILLEGAL. "THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING!!!!"

Attn: Digital DJ's, We are Breaking the Law!!!

I thought we already knew we were all breaking the law...

To be totally legal, a venue has to pay BMI/ASCAP a fee in order to play licensed music. I'm pretty sure no dance venues do this.

I still think you should try to obtain as much of your music as you can legally. For one thing, people do get sued by RIAA and do wind up paying thousands of dollars (it happened to someone I know, not a dancer).

I can't talk about the rules in the US but here in Australia the copying of music what so ever, in any form is illegal.
So that means that even MP3 players are braking the law.
In order to be “legal” you would have to buy all you mp3's in an mp3 format off the web, and when you transfer it to your iPod you would have to delete it off our computer.
The law has really kept up with the times.

This aside, I try to ensure I still "buy" 99% of my music.

Brian

Bob the Builder wrote:I can't talk about the rules in the US but here in Australia the copying of music what so ever, in any form is illegal.
So that means that even MP3 players are braking the law.
In order to be “legal” you would have to buy all you mp3's in an mp3 format off the web, and when you transfer it to your iPod you would have to delete it off our computer.
The law has really kept up with the times.

This aside, I try to ensure I still "buy" 99% of my music.

Brian

In the US the Digital Millenium Copyright act guantees the right to make a copy of any software (CD's and DVD's are technically software), for you're own use. You aren't allowed to modify. This has nothing to do with playback, which is proteced, as mentioned, under royalty laws.

Also, as I understand it, you can playback music publicly as long as you don't make any money off of it. So when I DJ at my venue, I"m totally legal, as the event is completely free.

My personal opinion is that the current U.S. copyright laws concerning decades-old music, and the fear those laws and their application seem to engender, are stunting cultural growth. Just my opinion.

Unfortunately, your opinion won't do you much good in a court of law. But I've yet to see a court case come out of this. Does anyone have information on actual prosecutions?

Matthew wrote:My personal opinion is that the current U.S. copyright laws concerning decades-old music, and the fear those laws and their application seem to engender, are stunting cultural growth. Just my opinion.

Yeah, God forbid there be another measure of ownership & wealth other than physical property. There's plenty of evidence in pop culture regarding America's cultural malaise, disabling copyrights and protections for old jazz standards will not spark a second Harlem Renaissance.

Kalman

well, when the artists recorded the material, they didn't expect it to be still owned by the record company almost 100 years later. i'd say that copyright extensions are dishonest to the original artists and terms of contract

Well, those are the breaks when you sign on the dotted line. I'm willing to accept that corporations are soulless automatons if you're willing to except that most artists would never have been successful and able to feed their families without them. Even Orpheus couldn't get his way all of the time.

Kalman

anyway, the ADJA guy on that forum has some very interesting comments. apparently there's no way whatsoever that any DJing can be legal... at the moment. so he says. does this mean that corporate-owned megaclubs break the law every night? even if they're paying for the broadcast rights, does MTV break the law with their DJ at Spring Break? weird.

Yakov wrote: even if they're paying for the broadcast rights, does MTV break the law with their DJ at Spring Break?

Probably not, but they do destroy the boundaries of good taste.

Tina

*rimshot!*

-FF

Bob the Builder wrote:I can't talk about the rules in the US but here in Australia the copying of music what so ever, in any form is illegal.
So that means that even MP3 players are braking the law.
In order to be “legal” you would have to buy all you mp3's in an mp3 format off the web, and when you transfer it to your iPod you would have to delete it off our computer.
The law has really kept up with the times.

This aside, I try to ensure I still "buy" 99% of my music.

Brian

Brian is absolutely right, folks... the laws here in Australia are remarkably out of date on this. It's not illegal to use MP3 players per se, but you had better have bought every one of those MP3s from somewhere like emusic.com if you want to be legal (or be using MP3s you own the copyright for -- i.e. you're a . Just copying your own CDs to your iPod is an offence. However nobody has ever been charged for doing it, as far as I know.

I was interviewed for a research project about DRM recently. I made reference to the fact that most DJs I know want to be law-abiding, but at the moment, none of them are.

This is a link to the actuial official law in Australia. Well worth a read. link

Have a look at the "last revised date". quite funny.

Brian