5:16
Is it legal to play other people's music?
On YouTube this video is called Is it legal to play other peoples music, Mr DJ?
What this lesson teaches
An email question, answered reassuringly. The reassurance is broadly right and the reasoning needs one correction, so both are set out here.
Nothing on this page is legal advice, and the rules differ by country.
The question
I have a pile of records and CDs. Am I legally entitled to play them in front of people? Should I be paying the artist?
His answer
No, do not panic, you are entitled to play them.
His reasoning
When you buy a piece of music, the money is divided up. Out of ten pounds, a share goes to the artist or producer, a share to the manufacturer, a share to the distributor, a share to the shop, and a share to the tax authorities.
Everybody in the chain has been paid. So what you do with the copy is up to you - including making a plant pot out of it.
And then the positive case, which is entirely true: the people who made the record want you to play it to a crowd. That is how a record is discovered. Out of a hundred people, if two like it enough to go and buy it, that is two more sales and everybody is happy.
It is why he asks DJs sending in mixes to list the tracks: it shows the producers and remixers that you are passing the information on so that people who like it can go and buy it.
The correction
Buying a copy does not, by itself, give you the right to play it in public. Ownership of the disc and the right to perform the recording publicly are two different things, and the second is what a venue pays for.
Which he gets to himself, and it is the important half of the answer.
The licence - how it really works
In the UK, places that play music to the public - nightclubs, pubs, hotels, function rooms - hold a music licence, paid annually. The collecting societies then distribute that money to the writers, publishers and rights holders.
And the reason the DJ does not need to worry: the manager does not have to ring every DJ and ask what they owe. The venue's licence covers the music played on the premises.
So the practical position for a DJ playing at a licensed venue is the one he describes - you turn up and play, and the permission is already in place because somebody else bought it.
Two things follow that are worth knowing and that he does not cover:
Ask, at an unusual venue. A hotel or a club certainly has a licence. A marquee in a field, a village hall or a private house may not, and the responsibility for that sits with whoever is running the event. It is a fair question to ask when taking the booking.
Your own copies may need their own licence. Where a DJ has copied music from discs onto a laptop, some jurisdictions - the UK among them - have required a separate licence covering that copying. It has changed over the years, so check what currently applies where you work.
Radio, and the scale of it
His other example is a good illustration of how the system pays out: commercial radio pays each time a record is played. A tiny amount - but applied to an artist whose catalogue is played constantly around the world, it adds up to a great deal every day.
And the question he did not answer
The email actually asked about playing somebody else's records - they're not mine, they're another DJ's - and he notes in passing that if you bought them from someone this does not apply, then moves on.
The honest answer is that it makes no difference to the venue's licence, which covers the music played there regardless of whose copies they are. Whether you should be using another DJ's collection is a question about them, not about copyright.
The spirit of it
His closing point is the one to carry: the artists want their music heard as widely as possible, because that is how it sells. Playing records to people is the thing the whole system is built to encourage.
The licensing exists so that happens and the people who made it get paid. Both halves are the point.
Contents of the video
0:00 Am I legally entitled to play those CDs, alright, in front of people?
Folks, had an email from someone, very bizarre question, but then again, okay, out of let's say 100%, it's probably 95% of you would be able to answer this question yourself anyway. 5% wouldn't, right? Basically, without going into depth with the question, what they've said is, right, I've got loads of records, loads of CDs and they're not mine, they're another DJ's. Am I legally entitled to play those CDs, alright, in front of people? Do I have to pay? Should I have to pay someone, the artist, for playing that music in front of a crowd of people? Well, the answer, 99% of the time, is no. Now then, I will explain. When you buy a piece of music from a shop, from online, anywhere, when you pay money for that piece of music and you've had that piece of music for the first time, it's very important. If you buy it off someone, then this doesn't apply.
1:26 The manufacturer will get a certain amount
But if you go into a shop and you buy some music, let's say hypothetically you pay UK £10. The reason I'm saying £10 is it's a round number. It could be £100, it could be £1000. Let's say £10. What will happen is if you put that £10 into a percentage, the DJ or the artist or the producer or the singer who made that music will get a certain percentage. Let's say they'll get £1 or £2. That CD, that record will get a certain amount. The manufacturer will get a certain amount. The distributor will get a certain amount. The shop will get a certain amount. The taxman will get a certain amount. The vat man will get a certain amount. Everyone really has been paid so when you buy that piece of music it's up to you what you want to do with it. If you want to like throw it away and make a plant pot with it, it's fine, it's your choice, alright? Now then, when you then play that music in front of people
What's happening is those other people are listening to that. Now, that's really what the producers and the artists want. They don't want you... Alright, they don't mind. Maybe you can just sit in your bedroom and play it to yourself. That's fine. Because at the end of the day, you've paid for the music so whatever you do with it is entirely up to you. But, more so, the producers, the remixers, the distributors, whoever, want you to play that music in front of people. Because if you do, that means other people are going to listen to that music If they like it, they're going to ask for the artist, title etc. This is why we ask you, when you do your 10 minute mixes or your DJ mag micro mixes, put the track listing on the one side because what we're doing there is we're just showing people, showing the artists, showing the remixers that we're not just throwing it out, we don't care about them, we're showing them that we're giving, passing that information on so if people like that music, they'll go and buy it.
Alright, so digressing slightly. So really what we're doing then is then you're playing that to a crowd of people, the crowd of people maybe like it, maybe out of 100 people, maybe even 1 or 2%, only means two people out of every 100 to think I like that song, then they'll go and buy it and then that DJ has sold another two copies or that whoever, you know, the remixer or the singer, whatever, they bought another two copies so everyone's happy. Now then, there is another facet and that is this. In the UK, especially, I'm not sure about other countries, let me know, post comments underneath please. We have something whereby places like nightclubs and pubs etc. have to pay a licence fee to play music. Now then, what happens there is that particular person, the manager of that nightclub, they don't all of a sudden have to phone every DJ and say how much do we owe you? What they do, I think it's PRS, not exactly sure, let me know.
3:45 Let me know as well what it stands for, okay?
Let me know as well what it stands for, okay? Public something, something, whatever, okay? And what happens is they will pay a certain amount of money per year, I think it is, to a company. That company will then distribute that money accordingly. Some people agree with that. Some people disagree with that, okay? Alright? Again, you know, let's have a talk about that if you want to. But there you go, there's another way of the artist getting money. Another way of the artist getting money is a lot of big commercial radio stations have to pay every time they play, say, a record or something from a certain artist. It's only a very tiny amount, but if you think, for example, say some big artists, say like Queen, Prince, Michael Jackson, just think how many times his music has been playing around the world. Even if Michael Jackson got one penny...
The DJ Tutor has been in the UK for every single time his music was played around the world. He would be earning thousands probably every single day, alright? So the answer to your question is don't panic. It's not illegal. You are entitled to play that music, alright? Because that's what the DJs want. That's what the artists want. They want their music heard as much as possible because the more it's heard... The more people get to like the songs, the more people like the songs, the more people will want to buy it, the more people buy it, the more people like it. It's an ongoing vicious circle and of course the more they get ka-ching. Thank you for watching. Practice and enjoy.
This transcript was produced automatically from the audio of the video and may contain mistakes.
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