Legal question regarding a remix of the band 'Muse"......

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-- Legal question regarding a remix of the band 'Muse"......

Posted by Sound O fTrance on Nov-15-2007 16:38:

Legal question regarding a remix of the band 'Muse"......

I am sure you guys have heard of the band Muse....

Well I want to remix an original track of theirs... and use it for promotional purposes (send it out to dj's, put it in my sets etc.)

Is this legal? Would i face any problems in doing such a thing...?

Thanks for any help!

Posted by Eric J on Nov-15-2007 16:39:

Strictly speaking, it is not legal without permission.

Posted by Sanguis Mortuum on Nov-15-2007 17:04:

quote:
Originally posted by Eric J
Strictly speaking, it is not legal without permission.

Yeah, technically its not legal. I think if you just play it in your sets then, although still illegal, you might be able to get away with it. If you start sending it to other DJs though, again you might be okay, but it gets a bit dodgier. And of course, if you actually try to sell it or make money from it, you'll get fucked

Posted by Mr.Mystery on Nov-15-2007 17:13:

It's legal for strictly personal use.

Posted by iammesol on Nov-15-2007 19:29:

Just don't sell it/a mix cd it is on.

Posted by Storyteller on Nov-15-2007 20:45:

quote:
Originally posted by Mr.Mystery
It's legal for strictly personal use.

No it isn't. It's a crime. Disrigarding copyright is a crime. Remixing a track without permission is just that.

It's exactly as Sanguis Mortuum said. Officially speaking you would need (written) permissen of the owner of the master copy/rights. This often is the record label. However, if you're not selling it, it is very unlikely to get into trouble .

Posted by the_gamemaster on Nov-15-2007 22:18:

From the point of view of the law, I dont see how it is any different to using the original in a mix cd, as what constitutes a remix? If you even use the 'original mix' on a mix CD it is no longer in its original format anyway as it will contain elements of other tracks.

Posted by mysticalninja on Nov-15-2007 22:34:

Re: Legal question regarding a remix of the band 'Muse"......

quote:
Originally posted by Sound O fTrance
I am sure you guys have heard of the band Muse....

nope.

Posted by Sanguis Mortuum on Nov-15-2007 22:57:

quote:
Originally posted by the_gamemaster
From the point of view of the law, I dont see how it is any different to using the original in a mix cd, as what constitutes a remix? If you even use the 'original mix' on a mix CD it is no longer in its original format anyway as it will contain elements of other tracks.

If you use the original in a mix CD, then you redistribute that mix CD without express consent of the original copyright holders, then you are breaking the law.

Posted by the_gamemaster on Nov-16-2007 00:22:

But thats what most people do, and I havent heard of any DJ's being arrested for giving demos to promoters, so my point is if theres no difference between the two, there shouldnt be a problem.

Posted by Eric J on Nov-16-2007 02:07:

quote:
Originally posted by the_gamemaster
But thats what most people do, and I havent heard of any DJ's being arrested for giving demos to promoters, so my point is if theres no difference between the two, there shouldnt be a problem.

Technically that IS against the law. There have been cases where publishing companies have sought royalties from club who's DJ's are playing their records. If you look at the fine print on the label of a lot of records, there will be a note on there that says something like "public performance prohibited with out the express written content of whoever publishing." There are many reasons DJ's do not get in trouble for this. Some are:

It is to the labels/publishers advange to have their music played in a club setting, therefore they do not sue. This is especially true for EDM.
The DJ is NOT making a mixed CD and making a profit off of the work
The cost of filing a lawsuit is not justified, especially for small labels.

If you were to make a mixed CD for sale in a commercial venue, such as on amazon .com or whatever, you are forced to clear the rights to every track on that mixed CD and you have to negotiate with the publishing company for each track on that mixed CD. This is also a major reason why a lot of artists who put out mixed CD's play a lot of tracks from their own labels\. John Digweed and Sasha were particularly notorious for this by playing lots of tracks off of Bedrock records, which is a label that John owns.

Just because the label does not sue, does not mean it is not against the law. If I run a red light at 3AM with no one watching, I have still broken the law, I just didn't get caught. Remember that the laws in most countries and international law also do not allow ignorance of the law as an excuse for breaking it.

Posted by Mr.Mystery on Nov-16-2007 02:46:

quote:
Originally posted by Storyteller
No it isn't. It's a crime. Disrigarding copyright is a crime. Remixing a track without permission is just that.

Sure.

Posted by Sound O fTrance on Nov-16-2007 07:05:

interesting responses, seems to me that its worth the remix and worth sending it out to dj's.

if by any chance the label were to come across the remix, see that it has been played at clubs, and that the remix done quite a nice job at representing the original track itself...

then i really doubt they will take any negative action, but rather acknowledge the exposure that they are getting via other genres/crowds

glad to have cleared my mind about it, thank you guys

Posted by Storyteller on Nov-16-2007 16:56:

quote:
Originally posted by Eric J
Technically that IS against the law. There have been cases where publishing companies have sought royalties from club who's DJ's are playing their records. If you look at the fine print on the label of a lot of records, there will be a note on there that says something like "public performance prohibited with out the express written content of whoever publishing." There are many reasons DJ's do not get in trouble for this.

They do not get in trouble because the organising company pays the fees to organisations suchs as ASCAP (USA), BMI (usa), BUMA/STEMRA (Netherlands) and SABAM (Belgium) which are required for public perfomance (parties/compilation cd's/radio/tv etc). These organisations transfer the money to their affiliated artists (or to the other organisations) minus the overhead & registration costs.

Posted by Internet TufGai on Nov-17-2007 00:48:

technically, mixing one tune into another is remixing right? so isn't that illegal? all djs do this unless you're a "high school dance" type.

Posted by Sanguis Mortuum on Nov-17-2007 00:55:

quote:
Originally posted by Internet TufGai
technically, mixing one tune into another is remixing right?

No.

Posted by Eric J on Nov-17-2007 00:58:

quote:
Originally posted by Internet TufGai
technically, mixing one tune into another is remixing right? so isn't that illegal? all djs do this unless you're a "high school dance" type.

In a roundabout sort of way I guess that is true. I think it is generally understood that a remix is definied as:

To recombine (audio tracks or channels from a recording) to produce a new or modified audio recording.

Taken in the literal sense, I guess you could call DJing remixing, but I think at that point you are just differing in semantics. Generally most people do not consider DJing "remixing".

Posted by Eric J on Nov-17-2007 00:59:

quote:
Originally posted by Storyteller
They do not get in trouble because the organising company pays the fees to organisations suchs as ASCAP (USA), BMI (usa), BUMA/STEMRA (Netherlands) and SABAM (Belgium) which are required for public perfomance (parties/compilation cd's/radio/tv etc). These organisations transfer the money to their affiliated artists (or to the other organisations) minus the overhead & registration costs.

Oh ok, that makes sense. I was not aware of that. Thanks for letting me know. I apologize if I misled anyone with my previous post. I was misinformed.

Posted by Floorfiller on Nov-17-2007 01:32:

if you want to get technical yeah probably, but honestly do whatever you want. you're not going to have any trouble. bootlegs gets played on air and passed around all the time in promotion...doesn't seem to be a problem.

just don't sell them.

Posted by Storyteller on Nov-17-2007 15:51:

quote:
Originally posted by Eric J
Oh ok, that makes sense. I was not aware of that. Thanks for letting me know. I apologize if I misled anyone with my previous post. I was misinformed.

No problem, overall the music business is way too complicated. Too many rights and money involved. For every kind of fee there is another company, for each country...