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Copyright Help...

Hello, I am a bedroom DJ. I purchase all my MP3s legally from download sites like these. I use these purchased tracks in my mixes which are usually 70-80 mins long. I then upload them to my webspace and put links to them on various trance DJ forums. My question is am I breaking any copyright laws?...because my host has shut me down telling me that my mixes are breaking copyright laws.

All help would be appreciated

Thanks Paul

To the best of my knowledge you should be okay, as that is what all of us who have posted in the amateur DJ section do. There's usually some legal note on every release stating against unauthorized distribution/public performance, so it may be technically a copyright violation without expressed permission, but I've never heard of a label taking action against a DJ for a simple demo or set using purchased and released tracks. The only thing I've heard to the contrary is Tiesto was asked to use only his own material for the Olympics because they didn't want to try to get everything cleared in a short amount of time. Your webhost may see a demo as a technical copyright infringement, but most other webhosting shouldn't have a problem with it and of course the vast majority of DJs don't seek clearance for every track they play out for non-commercial purposes.

dont see too much wrong with that, how are songs supposed to be heard if people like you arent spinning them in various places, you bought them legally, so no issues afaic

from what i understand your only in violation if your charging for a compilation/mix cd or download. as long as its free its considered artistic expression. by the way whats your web addy so we can listen to them.

Re: Copyright Help...

quote:

Originally posted by DJ PSYCHOTRANCE Hello, I am a bedroom DJ. I purchase all my MP3s legally from download sites like these. I use these purchased tracks in my mixes which are usually 70-80 mins long. I then upload them to my webspace and put links to them on various trance DJ forums. My question is am I breaking any copyright laws?...because my host has shut me down telling me that my mixes are breaking copyright laws. All help would be appreciated Thanks Paul

it's against Uk law to offer DJ mixes for download. It doesnt matter wether you have mixed from CD's vinyl, legal mp3 or otherwise. You own a right to listen to the music, play the music, but not distribute it in any form including DJ mixes. so yes you are breaking the law technically.

having said that, your hosts are probably a bunch of gimps and dont really know what you are sharing. even if all the tracks in the set were your own, they wouldnt know and shut you off anyway.

best way round it would be to put the mix inside a zip file, and then that inside another, all passworded, then give it an obscure name.

on another note, dj mixes aren't really frowned upon by artists etc so it's not a big no-no. i think the host is probably just covering his/her arse as they could be held responsible to etc. host companys got into trouble with the eminem album being offered for download etc, although i doubt this would ever happen in the EDM world.

hope this helps,

Nell

Re: Re: Copyright Help...

quote:

Originally posted by Nell it's against Uk law to offer DJ mixes for download. It doesnt matter wether you have mixed from CD's vinyl, legal mp3 or otherwise. You own a right to listen to the music, play the music, but not distribute it in any form including DJ mixes. so yes you are breaking the law technically. Nell

well here is where everyone gets away with it because there is a huge grey area in all of this. I'm pre-law right now and we have had a million talks about this topic in class. For one, even if it is illegal in the U.K. it wouldn't make what hes doing illegal. The U.K. cannot set international guidelines on internet material meant to be viewed by more than just the U.K. Meaning, the person at fault in your scenario could only be prosecuted as the download-er and he'd have to be English, not the hosting or host-er. So... what you are doing is not illegal as long as your hosting company is not U.K. based (although I do not know anything about UK law so maybe its ok even if it is UK based... i'm curious).

Re: Re: Re: Copyright Help...

quote:

Originally posted by Zombie0729 well here is where everyone gets away with it because there is a huge grey area in all of this. I'm pre-law right now and we have had a million talks about this topic in class. For one, even if it is illegal in the U.K. it wouldn't make what hes doing illegal. The U.K. cannot set international guidelines on internet material meant to be viewed by more than just the U.K....

what he said.

and btw. mcprogressive = american progressive? don't be a snob jordy! what the hell ever came out of newcastle other than a terrible accent that nobody can understand (yeah i read your profile). besides your point is mute. american beer ownes all... including germany. oregon's the new world beer capital. respect! haha

oi, dont slag off geordies u cheeky coont :S

quote:

Originally posted by Simcut oi, dont slag off geordies u cheeky coont :S

hahaaaaaaaaaa!

yep. oregon! best beer in the world.

Alameda Brewery
Amnesia Brewing
Barley Brown's Brewpub
Bend Brewing Co.
Big Horn Brewing
Bill's Tavern & Brewhouse
BJ's Brewery
BridgePort Brewing Company
Caldera Brewing Co.
Cascade Lakes Brewing Company
Seventh Street Brewhouse
Deschutes Brewery
Deschutes Brewery
Elliot Glacier
Fearless Brewing
Full Sail Brewery
Golden Valley Brewery
Hair Of The Dog Brewing Company
Hawks Brewery
Laurelwood Brewery
Liberator Brewery
Lucky Labrador Brewing Company
Main Street Ale House
McMenamins Brewery
Mia & Pia's
Mount Hood Brewing
New Old Lompoc Brewery
Oregon Trader Brewery
Oregon Trail Brewery
Pacific Rim Brewing Co.
Pelican Pub & Brewery
Philadelphia' s
Portland Brewing (MacTarnahans)
Raccoon Lodge
Rock Bottom Brewery
Rogue Ales
Siletz Ales
Standing Stone Brewing Co.
Steelhead Brewing Co.
Terminal Gravity Brewery
Tuck's Brewery
Walkabout Brewery
Widmer Brothers Brewing Company
Wild River Brewing

Did you think i was kidding? dam i sure highjacked this thread. sorry everybody. good luck with the uh... copyright... thing. going to bed now.

yeah it's illegal, you're not allowed to broadcast the tracks publically
which means every DJ thats ever played in a club is breaking the law

quote:

Originally posted by Az yeah it's illegal, you're not allowed to broadcast the tracks publically which means every DJ thats ever played in a club is breaking the law

no, because the clubs have "bought" permission to play music from some copyright agencies or something like that.


dunno what the law is in every country in the worl, but i'd expect it to be similar to the one in UK in most non-3rd-world countries. at least it's about the same here in finland.
so sharing mixes is illegal unless you have the permission to do so (which you surely don't have), but no one cares about them anyway.

quote:

Originally posted by Az yeah it's illegal, you're not allowed to broadcast the tracks publically which means every DJ thats ever played in a club is breaking the law

honk, wrong mate.

clubs (and all public places that play music e.g. pubs, bars, burger king, clothes shops etc etc) are required by law to purchase a PRS license allowing them to play music to a public audience. this money is (supposedly) distributed to people via royalties. unfortunatly for this part of the music business, you rarely get royalties for your track being played because no fucker does setlists to be sent in to the PRS.

on topic: you will be fine. you are technically breaking the law, but people usually turn a blind eye to sets because of 2 main reasons; a) it is promotional use, its not as if it is being broadcast to millions of people, b) they are not full rips, they are mixed, meaning that technically it is a sample of a track. c) people can not get full versions of the original track from a live set, not for want of trying though (see case study: retards who 'reconstruct' tracks)

basically, sling the set in a zip or rar file (or even rename it so they can't actually open it) and link to that instead of a straight mp3. some ISP's will delete any mp3 on a server. just make sure you post the mix in the right places, hell mine is in my sig

thanks tu_face, someone who actualyl knows what they're talkign about.

antonyross, people have been conviceted here of it, so your wrong. fin.

quote:

Originally posted by Nell thanks tu_face, someone who actualyl knows what they're talkign about. antonyross, people have been conviceted here of it, so your wrong. fin.

can you believe that bastard slagged off geordies!!! :S

Yeah, tu_face nailed it pretty good there.

However, although most artists seems to have no problem with this practice, some labels definetly do. Labels view downloadable mix sets as a threat to their compilation CDs. Even if you are making them available for free they still don't like it. Because they fear they are loosing money. Especially if you make the sets to fit a single CD.

I've been contacted by a certain big european label complaining about my mixes so do expect some friction here and there if you pursue this. However, if you get contacted, remember they are mostly out to scare you and it have to be pretty serious until they really go for the law suit (It costs them a lot of money and time do this so they want to avoid that just as much as you do).

quote:

Originally posted by Dj_Irish Yeah, tu_face nailed it pretty good there. However, although most artists seems to have no problem with this practice, some labels definetly do. Labels view downloadable mix sets as a threat to their compilation CDs. Even if you are making them available for free they still don't like it. Because they fear they are loosing money. Especially if you make the sets to fit a single CD. I've been contacted by a certain big european label complaining about my mixes so do expect some friction here and there if you pursue this. However, if you get contacted, remember they are mostly out to scare you and it have to be pretty serious until they really go for the law suit (It costs them a lot of money and time do this so they want to avoid that just as much as you do).

those tend to be the labels that release utter shit or have poor management if u ask me, livesets do no harm whatsoever, actually gets tunes heard, what the fuck is the problem with that I ask? someone needs to give some labels a slapping

quote:

Originally posted by Dj_Irish I've been contacted by a certain big european label complaining about my mixes so do expect some friction here and there if you pursue this.

that's pathetic

quote:

Originally posted by paranoik0 that's pathetic

very much so!

most labels realise that livesets are as much promotion for them as it is for the DJ. people hear their tracks, then like them so much they go and buy them. the ones who don't are bleedin idiots, but unfortunatly there are always idiots in this world.

quote:

Originally posted by tu_face very much so! most labels realise that livesets are as much promotion for them as it is for the DJ. people hear their tracks, then like them so much they go and buy them. the ones who don't are bleedin idiots, but unfortunatly there are always idiots in this world.

This couldn't be more true! Obviously it doesn't change what the laws may be, but mixes are by far the greatest form of promotion for a producer and a label. If people know U2 and listen to one of their songs, it promotes U2, but to people who had enough interest in them to listen to one of their songs in the first place. On the other hand, how many new listeners of EDM have heard to Involver or Creamfields this year since they're by big names and gotten into the Youngsters or Luke Chable, etc.? Plus the songs aren't in their full, pure form in mixes. I doubt personally I'd have bought 75% of my collection had I not heard those tracks in mixes first.

Ye i was auctually on your site yesterday Psychotrance and read your post about u guys being pulled by your host i was surprised,i hope you didnt shell out to much cash in advance or a least are due a refund..anyway bummer..website looks nice..good luck in sorting it out

Hey thanks to all that replied to this thread.
the most annoying thing is, before i bought the web space i e-mailed the hosting company and told them that i was going to use it for hosting dj mixes, they sent me an e-mail back saying that if you have purchased all the tracks in your mixes then technically they are your mixes and yes it would be alright to host the mixes.
then 1 month later they terminate my account.
i have still got the e-mail from them admitting that they said it was alright to host mixes. but they say that i cannot get a refund. and that they will reinstate the web space if i do not host mixes again. btw i bought the web space through e-bay uk. and it is 99gig for 5 years

paul

p.s
i have done a thorough search on the copyright subject, and there is nothing to suggest that dj's cannot put mixes up for download, it only says that you require a licence for public performances, and these should be obtain by club owners and publicans under an entertainments licence dj's only need to prove that they have purchased the tracks they play. also broadcasting rights if you are a radio station you also need a licence.
copyright laws only affect us cyber dj's if we are charging money for mixes or downloads.

quote:

Originally posted by tu_face honk, wrong mate.

you have sex with children
I win

Re: Re: Copyright Help...

quote:

Originally posted by Nell it's against Uk law to offer DJ mixes for download. It doesnt matter wether you have mixed from CD's vinyl, legal mp3 or otherwise. You own a right to listen to the music, play the music, but not distribute it in any form including DJ mixes. so yes you are breaking the law technically. having said that, your hosts are probably a bunch of gimps and dont really know what you are sharing. even if all the tracks in the set were your own, they wouldnt know and shut you off anyway. best way round it would be to put the mix inside a zip file, and then that inside another, all passworded, then give it an obscure name. on another note, dj mixes aren't really frowned upon by artists etc so it's not a big no-no. i think the host is probably just covering his/her arse as they could be held responsible to etc. host companys got into trouble with the eminem album being offered for download etc, although i doubt this would ever happen in the EDM world. hope this helps, Nell

Yeah the bastards, just shut off the site, its like everything thats starts slowly to work then somebody grab it and its fucked ...

imo, sets are a very good way to promote artist, and trance in general. Ive discovered all my favorite tracks and artists by sets, and actually bought all my albums and vinyls by discovering artist in Sets.

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