I had a conversation last Wednesday about this topic and needed some answers. Here is what I found.

PART I – RULES and GOALS

There are RULES and there are GOALS. The RULES are put in place to help achieve the GOALS.
RULE – You get to work by 9am because Bossman says so. That’s how you keep your job.
GOAL – You took your job because you wanted/needed to earn money for [fill-in-the-blank] and/or hopefully enjoy what you do.   : )

RULE – You have to pay fees to attain licenses to use/perform/enjoy/duplicate/etc. copywriten music.
GOAL – To pay the artists with the creativity, time, and ability to create (read: work) something good enough for you to use/perform/enjoy…etc. “You like a Quizno’s sub? Hey, we do to. But if you don’t pay for it, then we won’t be able to keep providing it for you.”

Summary: When we support artists, we allow them to keep providing us with the music we love. This is the GOAL.

PART II – As a Mobile Disc Jockey

Why Get A Performance License?
Music is property of the song writers who created it.
http://www.ascap.com/licensing/pdfs/…_biz_moves.pdf

What Is A Public Performance?
“A public performance is one that occurs ‘in a place open to the public or at any place where a substantial number of persons outside of a normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances is gathered.’ A public performance also occurs when the performance is transmitted by means of any device or process (for example, via broadcast, telephone wire, or other means) to the public.”
http://www.ascap.com/licensing/termsdefined.html

What Type of License Should A Disc Jockey Get?
The ASCAP Music-In-Business [Blanket] License covers: “A piano player, disc jockey, or band performing at a reception, dinner or party.”
http://www.ascap.com/licensing/pdfs/…_biz_moves.pdf

What Does The ASCAP License Do?
“Whether your music is live, broadcast, transmitted or played via CD’s or videos, your ASCAP license covers your performances.”
http://www.ascap.com/licensing/licensingfaq.html

Aren’t Musicians, Entertainers and DJ’s Responsible for Obtaining Permission for Music They Perform?
“Some people mistakenly assume that musicians and entertainers must obtain licenses to perform copyrighted music or that businesses where music is performed can shift their responsibility to musicians or entertainers. The law says all who participate in, or are responsible for, performances of music are legally responsible. Since it is the business owner who obtains the ultimate benefit from the performance, it is the business owner who obtains the license. Music license fees are one of the many costs of doing business.”

Summary: If you perform as a Disc Jockey for a public event, the venue/business owner is required to have a performance license. If you are performing privately, such as at a wedding or anything more than a small social gathering of friends and/or family, you have to carry the license.

PART III: Legal Aspects of Downloading Music

Limewire or other companies claiming only for “Professional DJ use” – All parties involved would have to have licenses to make this legal, and I believe it still doesn’t meet Item D below. I would ask these “services” what type of BMI or SESAC license they have, as I doubt they have any, making it not “all good” as a DJ.

Non-Interactive Licenses
The Non-Interactive 5.1 license is intended for services that perform ASCAP music in a non-interactive manner, meaning performances of specific songs are not selected by users.

Examples of transmissions that qualify for Non-Interactive 5.1 include:

* ‘Webcasts’
* Streaming background music
* Previews or ‘samples’ (song excerpts that are 60 seconds or less in duration)

Interactive License
The Interactive 2.1 license is intended for services that perform music in an interactive manner, meaning performances of specific songs are selected by users. [Limewire, Pandora, etc.]

Examples of transmissions that qualify for Interactive 2.1 include:

* ‘On-Demand’ performances (e.g., Internet jukeboxes and music videos)
* ‘Custom radio’ (user-determined play-lists)

From those licenses:

“C. This license is limited to Transmissions originating from, and Transmissions that are accessed by Users from within, the United States, its territories and possessions, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. [meaning: You can not legally download performances from non-U.N. regulated countries if you live in the US.]

D. Nothing in this agreement grants you, or authorizes you to grant to any User, or to anyone else, any right to reproduce, copy or distribute by any means, method or process whatsoever, any of the musical compositions licensed by this agreement, including, but not limited to, transferring or downloading any such musical composition to a computer hard drive, or otherwise copying the composition onto any other storage medium.”

http://www.ascap.com/weblicense/reports/

PART IV – CARRYING RECEIPTS

I can’t find an answer to prove this, but I know that the large multi-ops in the area do it. In Washington State, you are required to carry with you to every performance a receipt of purchase for all copywritten music not in original form (everything on your hard drive(s) or duplicated CDs).

Thoughts?

-j

Note: I am not an authority on this and, while I have provided quoted material, this in only my opinion.  : )

Bad pirates, evil warlords, fill-in-the-blank awfuls that are running towards something unknown.  Meanwhile, average-dressed Person A goes to pay for something with also average-dressed, excited Person B next to them.  Out comes the wallet, and in come the bad people.  And, LOW!, just in the nick of time, it’s a Copital Won CC and the baddies are subdued.

Enter US Presidential Elections (minus the subduing).  The question has become not “Who will you vote for”, but rather, “What will you do when they win?”  America as whole will now have a bull’s eye on our backs as we claim responsibility for the decisions of our next president, much like we should have with the creation and destruction (and attempted resurrection) of one Brittany Spears.

With society now able to quickly create massive waves in a short time about what’s popular [read: youtube, myspace, and facebook] our individualism often changes from a decision maker to a response giver.  And here’s where it comes together: Be prepared.

Be prepared for what Brittany does next. Be prepared for what our youth become socially.  Be prepared for what our next president will do.  What’s in your election wallet?

Singer and Musician Sara Groves returned from a trip to Africa with insight worth sharing.  Her response from her web site is listed below.

Sara on her Spiritual Buffalo…

“There is a scene in the movie Dances with Wolves where the Sioux are on a much anticipated buffalo hunt. As they come up over a hill, they are shocked to see a field full of buffalo carcasses. The tragedy of that moment is that where the Sioux use every piece of the buffalo—the bladder holds water, the bone makes a tool, the skin is a covering for a tent- whoever has done this has taken the best part of the buffalo for himself and has left everything else to waste. There is no way to make good use of all that is lying in this field.

I was so convicted when I went to Africa that I am not using all of my spiritual buffalo. I have developed this one side of my personal relationship with God. I go to church, I have incredible worship, and I listen to incredible speakers. I have money to buy devotionals, and leisure time to do those devotionals. I have spent a lifetime grooming a personal faith in Christ, but have I been taking the best piece of the buffalo for myself? There has been a joy in discovering the good use of my life. There is a reciprocal redemption that happens when we enter into stories of helping our neighbor—not just around the world, but in our own communities. When I came home from Africa, instead of feeling guilty for my life, I began to hear God in a very clear way say, ‘that thing carries water, that thing makes a tool, that is covering for a tent.’ There is a beauty to the good use of a life, and to the acknowledgment that everything you have and do has a Kingdom purpose.”

http://saragroves.com/saragroves/

While being “in the groove” is mostly credited to “Performing very well” or “In a state of mind or mood conductive to playing music well”, and was used by jazz musicians as early as 1920, I believe the phrase actually comes from the stylus or needle of a record being “in the groove”.

While the common “record” that we know today was introduced as the Edison Blue Amberol Record in 1912, the first phonograph was invented by Thomas Edison on July 18th, 1877.  Previous to that, a device utilizing a vibrating pen to graphically represent sound on discs of paper, known as a phonautograph, was built by Edouard-Leon Scott of France in 1857.

The theory, in principal, is that the stylus or needle stays in the groove of the record to reproduce sound, what it was designed to do.  When bumped, the needle will often come out of the groove, causing disruption, chaos, and often the loss of a good time.  Thus, people look for the “groove” to get back to a normal, productive state of mind.

I was in the back of a conference running sound when a gentleman dropped his pen behind the back row where I sat.  About to get up and help, I noticed what looked like a drip at the end of his nose.  A drip? I remembered a man at lunch getting up quickly to exit and blow his nose.  This was the same man.

What do I do?  For sure he’s sick (I’m watching him put a handkerchief to his nose again…).  If I touch the pen I know I’ll get germs, possibly actually snot.

Here are my thought options:

1. My Registered Nurse friend would be much more prepared.  She’s around old, sick people all the time.  Probably built up immunities to it.  Too bad she lives an hour away.

2. A small child would be perfect!  They don’t realize the danger or grossness.  Probably make them feel good, too.  A “life lesson”.  But this is a senior conference.  No kids around.

3. I could pick it up with a tissue or just wash my hands afterward, but that takes effort and I don’t see a tissue or sink near by.  Plus I’m working.

4. Sit and do nothing.

And that’s what I did.  Nothing.  What a selfish, frady-cat dipstick I am.  This old, sick man won’t be able to take life-changing notes because of me.  Worthless.

Here’s what happened next: A door at the side of the room opened and a woman walked in, and sat down close to him.  She slightly tipped her chair, reached back behind her, and picked up…herpen…that had fallen from her seat next to him while she was gone.

Sheesh.  I’m still a  dipstick…