Discussion and promotion of the infamous Pro Dub licence has died down considerably of late.

On their website there is (or was) a facility to check a holder's name.

For some time now it has not been working.

I'm guessing that take-up of the licence has been a lot lower than anticipated by the Alliance.

I'm also wondering if there really was much point in buying one!

"The force is strong in this one" - Darth Vader, Star Wars, 1977

I worked at a venue (small local Football Club) in January and on arrival I was asked for my PLI, Pat and Pro Dub certificates.
I haven't got a Pro Dub as I am a CD user, the Venue made its checks and I was allowed to set up.
The Club had a visit from the PRS and had to buy a licence to play the radio in the club house and the Pro Dub Licence had been brought to the committees attention.

I have had some recent brides asking questions on Pro Dub and PLI as the venues they have booked have asked for them if they aren't using the in house DJ / Entertainment.

Never been asked for this. It would be very nice to see the membership numbers, and also the ratio of DJ's to other services that are required to register (Fitness instructions, Dance Teachers, even Dramatic companies)
Do they publish end of year reports?

Steve, I hope you are able to write a strong letter of complaint. I would be livid.

Their site should be reliable when gigs could depend on people being able to verify your membership.
If this has been down for some time, its absolutely appalling!

The MCPS should have fixed this next working day, and at least provided a status for clients to see.

I've not heard of any reports of DJ's being "done" for no Pro Dub. I'd actually like to see them prosecuting DJ's/Karaoke who use pirate music. *That* wouldn't need any such licence, and would directly benefit artists, as most DJ's would probably roll over and report where they got their music.

There was a local DJ that had been fined for using copied discs a couple of years ago when the PRS visited the pub he was working at. They removed the All the copied discs from his collection as evidence for the court case, I remember that the local paper reported that he was fined for breach of copyright.

Glad to hear that, focusing on that aspect would be a much better start. Currently, a DJ with copied music could still apply for ProDub and play at these venues that ask for it.

Any ProDub holders should be asking the MCPS how they are enforcing the licence.

When I was living in a flat and single, I only watched DVD's and played video games on my TV - the antenna was disconnected and it wasn't tuned into any stations.
After lots of letters from TV Licencing, I called them and told them my set-up and agreed that IF they thought I was watching TV without a licence, they are welcome to drive by and catch me :-) (I wouldn't let them in though, no right of entry!).
I did get a licence when the kids came over at christmas.

I guess my point is that the TV Licencing have it pretty well sewn up - they do spot checks and do procescute people.
The ProDub? I've seen a few emails, and some DJ's provide free advertising on their websites...
Not really the same!

I think there should be a DJ performance license irrespective of venue or media used.

It would encapsulate the right to play purchased CD's, copied CD's and downloaded music.

It would take away the need to prove the origin of the music and just focus on the fact that music is being played to an audience by an artist/DJ.

It would cover locations with or without a PRS as long as the licensed DJ is playing his music.

I'd be happy to pay for that yearly and just be allowed to get on with life

I'm guessing that until the election dust has settled and the new Minister for Sound has been appointed that no-one will progress these issues further.

If this is accurate then either:-

(a) The PRS must have had prior knowledge or reasonable grounds to suspect that this DJ was using illegal material, in order to obtain a court order / magistrate warrant AND have turned up with police presence on the night.

(b) The DJ allowed them to look through his material and allowed them to cease the material, or upon seeing that the material was copied they left the premises, woke up a magistrate, got a signed court order, called the police to ask for their attendance and then returned to the venue where they ceased the illegal material.

To my knowledge the PRS do not have the legal right to search / cease personal possessions or carry out a body search!. Only the HMCE and Police have that automatic ability. If any other entity wishes to search a person or cease a persons property then they have to get the permission of a court / magistrate, and the magistrate will ask those asking for such a warrant, enough evidence to substantiate.

Good Grief, can you imagine the outcry if all of the hotels started checking through the luggage of departing guests looking for stolen towels and soap just because their head office said so?!!.

Even when investigating market traders selling counterfeit goods / dvd's / fashion - the Trading Standards have to do undercover ground work and get evidence (by buying products from the trader usually) / take photographs of transactions in order to prove any wrongdoing before getting a warrant and moving in, again with the support and presence of the Police.

The PRS may attend the premises and check the landlords music collection / system at any time under the terms of their PRS license (which most DJ's don't legally need and are therefore not contracted to), they may also sit posing as punter and log the music played by you. They could also ask to search your music and may come for a chat with you in order to casually cast a cursory glance at your music format and what you are loading into the CD player, but whether you grant them permission to actually look through your personal property and then walk off with your possessions is up to you, but without any warrant they don't have any LEGAL right to do so.

If they turn up with two police officers and hand over a signed warrant in order to cease your music media then that is one thing, but in my experience the police have far better things to do at the weekends than accompany officials on a string of RANDOM visits where there is no evidence of any wrongdoing, and believe me! magistrates are not happy at being woken up at 1AM on a Saturday Night for non urgent matters.

If they take anything without your permission or a court order then call the police and report a theft in progress, better still excercise your right to make a citizens arrest.

As much as i'm against DJ's cutting corners and using illegally obtained material, i'm also against authority overstepping borders and breaking the law. Two wrongs don't make a right and we already have lost a lot of privacy and human rights compared to those enjoyed by many countries in Europe, where folk have the gumption and solidarity to know their rights and to stand up for themselves

However, if you have a pro-dub license, then I believe that under the terms of the license issue you do give them permission to visit you in order to view the material, make an inventory of the material. So in this case (if it is still the case and included within the terms), a DJ without a license actually probably still has greater automatic legal rights of refusal than somebody with a license, who has accepted the possibility of a random visit and agrees to produce the material for evaluation, I believe that this would also include whilst working at venues.

Just a thought, but have you complained to them about the removal of the service?. I wonder how many venues have??. Maybe you should ask them.



I agree, because this would be a fairer system. Especially if it was also cross referred with the Inland Revenue database.