Mobile DJ license

[SnakeyEyes 0]

Hi there, thinking of getting myself a mobile dj liscense (ppl) to cover me if my venue has no license. I have been on the official website but there is no mention of the cost of this liscense or if you have to pay annually?? http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/wallbash.gif Can anybody help please?

[Gary 0]

For you to buy the PPL DDJ license would be like trying to buy life assurance for a dead dog, as the licence only covers original, purchased music, but you've already mentioned elsewhere that the music on both your lappys doesnt, shall we say, fall into that category.

 

QUOTE

The music on the laptops is......well.....I may have to invest in some music is all i will say about that!! lol.

 

Once you've made that investment, and its about the largest on-going investment that Disc Jockeys make - then the current, or promised updated licenses will be of use to you. Your current, "other" music, and your use of it, will forever be out in the cold as far as licensing is involved.

[Andy Westcott 0]

A PPL license as purchased by a DJ is, as I understand it, available only for one-off events - not as an ongoing license.

 

Simpler to let the venue sort it out, putting such in your contract if you use one.

[andyw 0]

thats how i read it a one off gig for a dj is £124.17

[Andy Westcott 0]

Heck!

That's not worth bothering with!! http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/huh.gif

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QUOTE (Gary @ Oct 7 2006, 09:55 AM)

For you to buy the PPL DDJ license would be like trying to buy life assurance for a dead dog

If you know of anyone offering life assurance for a live dog please advise.

[Andy Westcott 0]

Actually, I dare say someone somewhere probably does!

(America no doubt...)

[Paul Smith 0]

The PPL Licence is for a year but where the 'one off' part comes in is because it doesn't cover you for consecutive nights at the same venue.

 

If you only do private parties to which the general public do not have access and for which an entrance fee is not charged then you do not need a PPL Licence.

[spinner 0]

QUOTE (Paul_Smith @ Oct 7 2006, 01:03 PM)

If you only do private parties to which the general public do not have access and for which an entrance fee is not charged then you do not need a PPL Licence.

But ( with no PPL licence ) you can only use files from a hard drive if they have been downloaded legally and their format has not been changed.

[Paul Smith 0]

QUOTE (spinner @ Oct 7 2006, 02:20 PM)

But ( with no PPL licence ) you can only use files from a hard drive if they have been downloaded legally and their format has not been changed.

That's not what I was told directly by a PPL employee (unfortunately it was during a phone call so I have nothing in writing)

[EdBray 0]

I think it may well be a case of different ideals by different agencies.

 

I suspect that the PPL agency are not really concerned about the legality or not of your digital music collection, that would be for the copyright owners to sort out. I believe the PPL is just a licence that allows you to play digital based music for gain in a public place (basically a tax on DJs who use digital media).

 

Now, even if you had the PPL and you were challenged and could not prove that you had purchased your digital media legally either from a legal download site or as a rip from an original CD then I suspect you would not have a leg to stand on.

 

If the situation was that once you had purchased a PPL you could have up to 20,000 digital tracks on your hard drive for public use regardless of where or how they were obtained, then there would be nothing to stop someone just downloading all the tracks they wanted from illegal sites on the Internet for free, but still be legal as they had paid for the licence. Seems a cheap way to do it to me.

 

PPL approx about £250 year or about the cost of 35 CDs (about 500 tracks).

 

Just my thoughts on this difficult subject.

[Dukesy 0]

I was told that to be fully legal one had to own both licence's because the right to copy the musical work and the right to copy the sound recording was held by MCPS: To make a legal copy of any music, permission must be granted from both sets of copyright owners....hence a partial 'reason' why MCPS was intending to issue a licence and jump onboard the 'licence' bandwagon! http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif

 

According to sources, since less than 200 PPL licences have been sold to DJs in the UK and no MCPS licences have been introduced; the question of legality was thrown into deeper confusion since the BBC reported remarks from the BPI chairman Peter Jamieson when he told the Commons select committee for culture, media and sport that he wanted to "make it unequivocally clear to the consumer that if they copy their CDs for their own private use in order to move the music from format to format, we will not pursue them".

"We believe that we now need to make a clear and public distinction between copying for your own use and copying for dissemination to third parties..."

 

A Licence Working Party made up of representatives of NADJ and SEDA have been negotiating with both the PPL and the MCPS to amend and re-package existing and new intended licences for DJs. Having recently attended meetings with the BPI to garner further clarification on the above statements from the Chairman and ways for venues to "only use properly licensed DJs", LWP reported that the BPI were pleased that the LWP was working with the PPL to resolve problems and finalise licences (PDF download)

PPL Rights Negotiation Executive Richard Stewart suggested that once the 'licence issue' has been fully resolved, 'new' agents may be approved to sell on behalf of the issuer since the controversy of the Mastermix selling tactics was raised in direct meetings by LWP with PPL.

Look out for vested interests and website URLs which may contain 'dj licence' in the title, etc http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/whistling.gif

 

To date, no mobile DJ in the UK has been prosecuted for using a laptop in a public environment.

Nothing has been fully acknowledged by the 'collection agencies' on diversity within the DJ industry let alone announced incentives (let alone negotiated) for the betterment of the DJ, e.g. to help raise the public perception, discounts, etc

 

Incidentally, musicians, vocalists, bands, duos, etc appear to be 'exempt' from the PPL licence even if they play ripped CD music from a digital storage device in the same venues DJs perform. The MU have been asked several times to clarify this but decline to reply to questions.

 

I was told recently that the PPL have used very low 'tactics' to get DJs to re-apply for a form of licence, bordering extortion!!!

 

Go figure!

 

[ChrisPointon 0]

Also the digital Dj licence does not have any validity or jurisdiction for private functions whatsoever. So even if you have legally converted your legal CD's to MP3 you still can't get a licence to use 'em!.

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QUOTE (Chris_Pointon @ Oct 7 2006, 06:01 PM)

Also the digital Dj licence does not have any validity or jurisdiction for private functions whatsoever. So even if you have legally converted your legal CD's to MP3 you still can't get a licence to use 'em!.

This is another bit of nonsense.

 

It's perfectly legal to use bought CDs or bought downloads at a private function with no licence but not if you've ( legally ) ripped your bought CDs to mp3.

 

I'll bet there are a lot of DJs ( like me ) who want to comply with the various regulations

in oder to "go digital" but are awaiting proper clarification.

[andyw 0]

QUOTE (Andy Westcott @ Oct 7 2006, 11:31 AM)

Heck! That's not worth bothering with!! http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/huh.gif

if you charge£130 for a gig and pay £124 for a license it leaves you £6 profit.not bad for 6 hrs work is it.the whole situation is crazy why dont they make a simple one off license that is easy to understand and fair to all,that way we can all stay legal and they can route out the cowboys and make life easier for everybody.

[SnakeyEyes 0]

Ok, here is the situation, i was going to use my laptops to play my music at gigs (private and pub based) with music that lets say, has lost it's license if you know what i mean!! and wanted to know if it was worth getting the ppl, i looked at the cost of the digital license and decided it was cheaper to get a set of double numark cd decks!!. Now people are saying that only public venues (such as pubs) need the license, that they probably have them themselves (my experience from teh past) and that it is not worth having either as nobody has been checked (if they want to check, i got hundreds of cds here, good luck in them sorting through them all to check each file lololololol), so, is it worth the outlay for the licences??? I am more confused now then when i origionally asked the question lololol!!!

[Dukesy 0]

OK, bottom line.

No one should encourage you to break the law because that is acting in an irresponsible fashion.

Just because the majority of the country's DJs are evidently not interested in purchasing the Digital Licence doesn't mean that we are all above the law.

 

Until there is further clarification about the licence, you may wish to only use CDs in a public gig...

 

[SnakeyEyes 0]

thankyou, a simple reply lololol, that is my intention now thanks !!!! http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/tongue.gif

[andyw 0]

can i double check this

if you use original cd's at a private function no license is required.

if you use original cd's at a public function a license is required which can be held by the dj getting a license at £124 per gig or the hotel/public house having their own license to play music.

so if a hotel phones us up and books us to do such and such a date ,who's responsibility is it to get the license or to make sure the correct license is bought,the dj or the venue or both.should we be asking the venue to see the music license just like some venue's want to see our pli and pat test certificates or can we take it as read that they booked us they must have a license, or i'm i reading it wrong again http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/stupid.gif

andy

again i call on who ever is responsible to make a simple to understand fair license for all,a one off payment every year allowing you to play public and private events what ever the medium,they can stagger the amount by size of audiences like they do with venues.

Edited October 8, 2006 by andyw

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QUOTE (andyw @ Oct 8 2006, 09:18 AM)

can i double check this if you use original cd's at a private function no license is required. if you use original cd's at a public function a license is required which can be held by the dj getting a license at £124 per gig or the hotel/public house having their own license to play music. so if a hotel phones us up and books us to do such and such a date ,who's responsibility is it to get the license or to make sure the correct license is bought,the dj or the venue or both.should we be asking the venue to see the music license just like some venue's want to see our pli and pat test certificates or can we take it as read that they booked us they must have a license, or i'm i reading it wrong again :stu: andy again i call on who ever is responsible to make a simple to understand fair license for all,a one off payment every year allowing you to play public and private events what ever the medium,they can stagger the amount by size of audiences like they do with venues.

Original CDs at a private gig - no licence necessary.

 

Original CDs at a public gig ( eg Pub, company Christmas party - either on company premises or in a hotel, school dance, nightclub ) licence should be held by the venue.

 

Only if you, the DJ, are the organiser/promoter of a one-off public event do you need to buy a one-off licence.

[Andy Westcott 0]

I include this in my contract, and point it out to the client:

 

"The Client is responsible for ensuring that all appropriate licenses as required by law for this event at the chosen venue are in force at the time of the performance."

 

I'm hoping that puts the responsibility firmly on the client to clear the issue with the venue, but I'd welcome comments on this point.

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QUOTE (Andy Westcott @ Oct 8 2006, 10:49 AM)

I include this in my contract, and point it out to the client: "The Client is responsible for ensuring that all appropriate licenses as required by law for this event at the chosen venue are in force at the time of the performance." I'm hoping that puts the responsibility firmly on the client to clear the issue with the venue, but I'd welcome comments on this point.

Surely the responsibility for licencing lies with the venue, not the client?

[mikeee 0]

The contract is between you and the client. That clause means it is the responsibility of the client to check that the venue has the licenses. The prime reason for the clause is the old "Music & Dancing" License from the council. If the venue didn't have one, then the "DJ / Band" could have his kit taken and faced a fine. Thinking about it, it still stands today new the new licensening act.

[Andy Westcott 0]

Quote from Spinner:

"Surely the responsibility for licencing lies with the venue, not the client?"

 

Yes it does, but by using this clause I'm making sure the client is aware that he/she must choose a suitably licensed venue, not any old room or barn.

[spinner 0]

QUOTE (Andy Westcott @ Oct 8 2006, 11:28 AM)

Quote from Spinner: "Surely the responsibility for licencing lies with the venue, not the client?" Yes it does, but by using this clause I'm making sure the client is aware that he/she must choose a suitably licensed venue, not any old room or barn.

Point taken.

 

Whilst that's absolutely right, you wouldn't accept a booking just anywhere would you?