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First about copying (so in relation with cd burning, final scratch and stuff like that), if you buy a tune (or album) you are entitled to make copies for personal use (for example if you own the original vinyl, you can burn it on cd or rip it to mp3, as long as you can prove you own the original also, no problem). The real problem is distribution : if you got them from the net, or even from a friend, you don't own the original (own = you didn't pay for it, so have no rights) so you are using the illegally.
As for the rights, yes you paid for the songs so you own "some" rights. You can use it privately. So basically if you have to spin on a wedding that stays "closed to relatives" it's still considered private. No problems there.
The problem arises when using it publically. When you buy the music, you don't own the rights to broadcast it. Each time the music is broadcasted in public, the authors should be entitled to some money. That's what the organisations like RIAA are for (each country usually has it's own, like here in Belgium, it's SABAM). But usually it's the organisator that takes care of that.
Radio's, clubs, etc pay a regular fee to copyright organisations to clear the music. When it's a gig, the organisator has to arrange everything. Basically, if the dj is using legal music (so no illegally copied cd's, mp3's...) and he isn't part of the organisation, the only one that can be punished is the organisator. The authorities are not allowed to confiscate your music, only to ask you nicely to stop spinning (at least in my country).
Big parties are usually strictly controlled, smaller gigs are just a matter of luck. You can get away with not paying any fee's, but if they happen to hop by and do a surprise control, it might get messy.
White labels is a different problem. Real white labels are for promotional use, they are given away for free and can be spun freely (it's main purpose is to see how the people reacts to the track). I dunno what applies once the track gets commercially released, but I got a hunch you gotta pay for broadcast rights from then on.
Bootlegs is about the same problem. A real bootleg is done without consent of the original authors. Real bootlegs shouldn't be sold in stores, like promo copies (but yeah, we know most shops don't see the "not for sale" tag). Unless the original authors did express their desire to stop the broadcasting of the bootleg (what rarely happens) I guess it's ok to use it.
Last edited by Dj Thy on Aug-14-2003 at 18:45
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