The Digital DJ Licence

[Gary 0]

Well its here, its in black & white, which of the above voting options most reflects your situation?

[DJ Marky Marc 0]

Im sticking to Original CDs and vinyl for now..

 

maybe things will be diferent for me next year but at least i can see things setle down and worked out before i decide what route to take....

 

 

[otronics 0]

Basically, CD's are fine for me.

 

Yes, mp3 software does have many advantages but I'm not spending more time ripping, and more cost buying.

 

There is also an element of liking the old CD's - cueing them up etc - the proper job!

[Kingy 0]

Having only seen one actual system working (ADS) I have to say I was impressed. However, I am happy using Cds, find them convenient and acurate and I dont really have time to copy them all to a hard drive etc.

 

Maybe in the future, but not now.

[DJF 0]

cd's are fine for me for now

[brianmole 0]

I am currently using CDs happily. But, I would buy the licence if it allows me to make my own CD-R compilations from my library of CDs.

 

For instance, I have most of my CDs loaded in itunes (alledgedly http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/whistling.gif ). When a customer gives me a playlist, I will make a CD-R compilation to take with me on the night which is much more convenient for me, albeit not yet a legal process http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/wallbash.gif .

 

I am also playing with Traktor DJ and Ableton Live (the absolute mutts nutts byt the way) with a view of using these on the road sooner rather than later, so I will get the DDJ licence for this.

[YourBigEvent 0]

78's for me will do.

[brianmole 0]

Andy, have you tried the baby scratch on wax cylinders? http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/tongue.gif

[YourBigEvent 0]

Tried it once, but the wind-up handle on the gramophone kept getting in the way.

[damo1023 0]

going to stick with cd's while i'm starting out rather than going to all the extra expenses of licenses and equipment.

may look at it in a couple of years when all the grey areas are sorted out and i'm a bit more established.

[Gary 0]

QUOTE (ADS Entertainments @ Aug 19 2005, 07:49 AM)

Tried it once, but the wind-up handle on the gramophone kept getting in the way.

Andy, you need to turn the gramophone round 90degrees so that the unit is positioned in "Battle Mode" http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/flex.gif

 

It's nice to see, that out of 20 votes so far, only one anonymous person is going down the "stealth" (carry on digital, but no licence) route. Very reassuring really.

 

Its a shame however, that (so far) 2 people (understandably) have expressed an interest in trying a DJ'ing method which is covered by the new PPL license, but have been put off, presumably by the licence, and are carrying on using their current method. Shame, but understandable in some cases.

[John Kidd 0]

I use the Computer all the time and have not used a CD player more than once in a show for 6 months, this licence is a great step forward.

 

At the end of the day, Digital DJing is not going away and will stand in the future if all DJ's.

 

[RobbieD 0]

QUOTE (Gary @ Aug 19 2005, 12:11 PM)

Its a shame however, that (so far) 2 people (understandably) have expressed an interest in trying a DJ'ing method which is covered by the new PPL license, but have been put off, presumably by the licence, and are carrying on using their current method.  Shame, but understandable in some cases.

I'm one of those two. Maybe in another year or two I will look again, but as it stands this licence doesn't quite allow me to use music from hard disc in the way that I want to.

 

Therefore the easy answer is to carry on just working with CD's.

[DJ Marky Marc 0]

QUOTE

may look at it in a couple of years when all the grey areas are sorted out and i'm a bit more established.

 

what gray areas,,,, its all Black and white now..

 

 

 

[MadGutts 0]

I too am undecided yet...

 

I would buy a licence if it was clearer what it covered... As for now, does the BPI actually recognise this as a LEGIT way of having digital music...

 

And does everybody with an iPod need a licence?

[jackcu 0]

QUOTE (MadGutts @ Aug 19 2005, 01:02 PM)

And does everybody with an iPod need a licence?

Technically, music ripped to an iPod is as illegal as that ripped to a laptop. It's the change in format that you can't do without a licence.

[ian 0]

I've gone for the "want to use, but licence has put me off", 'cos that's the closest thing to what I think, but it's not the whole story.

 

I don't really want to use a laptop, but I would like to create CDs full of MP3s so I could DJ from them - I'm assuming the licence would cover that sort of thing too. However, I'm happy to it out the digital revolution for a while because what I'm looking at is some convenience (carrying 50 CD's instead of 500, perhaps) rather than any real change in what I'm going to do. So I don't feel any urgency to change over - I'll probably wait and see what's up with the licence in a year or two and also keep checking the hardware to see what happens with hard disk-based decks.

[Hugmaster 0]

Hi

 

With a bit of luck, once DJ's figure out a way of commanding the fees they are due, it may be possible to make a living out of this game, lol.

 

It's a dman good job that 80's and 90's is so popular and very few requests are made for chart music, means I can get away with just purchasing a now album when they come out along with my pro discs to keep up totally up to date.

 

I've just gotten myself into a position where I'm starting to show a profit, had a bought a licence last year, that profit would've been down by 25%

 

I guess it'll all come out in the wash as they say.

 

I'm now gonna go have a look at the terms and conditions of said licence to see whether I should be buying one or just go back to good old CD's.

 

 

Darren

 

[Andy Westcott 0]

I've also gone for the "want to use, but licence has put me off" option.

 

I prefer to use CDs anyhow, but as I've mentioned somewhere before, it would be useful to have all those rarely used tracks on a computer for easy access, eliminating carrying those extra boxes.

 

However, the advantages of being able to do that are certainly not woth the cost of the licence, as my rouadie would probably be carrying the boxes anyhow... http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif

 

I'm sticking with CDs and a bit of vinyl, and that is unlikely to change in the forseeable future.

[Gary 0]

52% of members who voted are covered by the options of:

 

 

I want to use hardware/CDRs covered by the Digital DJ Licence, but will stay/revert back to formats/methods which do not require the licence.

 

Or

 

I use a traditional method of DJ'ing from original media only eg: Vinyl, CDs etc and do not intend to switch to hardware/methods which would require a license.

 

 

 

Refreshingly, and perhaps a reflection of the type of DJ which DJU nutures, only 2 members voted for: "I want to use hardware/CDRs covered by the Digital DJ Licence but will simply use these stealthily without buying any license."

 

Ironically, the one part of my shows which I'd have really enjoyed and entrusted a harddrive to, eg: background music, is prohibited by the licence. (in its current form).

 

Also, I've abandoned my project of transfering my vinyl to CD's. What I'm now doing is:

 

* Cataloging my CD's using a brilliant program which PartyChris put me onto, CDTRUSTEE, which catalogues your CD collection as fast as you can swap the CDs in your PC CD-ROM drive. 500 CD's in about 2.5~3.00 hours, all with artist names, track titles, etc.

 

* Exporting the CD database created above to my phone/pocket PC.(remember this is just text about the music tracks, NOT ripped music)

 

* Using the CD database to identify duplicates. eg: A song that I dont need to carry on vinyl anymore, as I have it (at least once) on a CD which I can now "instantly" state that I have, or dont have, when requests come in, and can then locate, ready to play, in just a couple of minutes.

 

 

So far, I've looked through 600 vinyls, and got removed just around 180 - almost 30% redundancy. Better still, many "clusters" of the 7inch vinyls tracks which I've needed to keep are ones which I can ditch by buying "Greatest Hits Of..." certain artists, such as Madonna, Erasure, Bryan Adams, Stevie Wonder etc (etc etc) on original CD, or by downloading off of official sites.

 

At this rate, I wont need SG6 or DDJ Licence MK III or MK IV:Thumbup: but already achieving my goals of

 

* Less storage and transit space for music

* Faster loading/unloading

* "Instant" confirmation of whether I have a particular track or not

faster location of tracks

* No annual charges.

 

True, I'll need to buy more "Great hits of xxx artist", and "Great tunes of xxx decade" together with a good few single track downloads from HMV/Virgin @ .79p a throw, but compared to £500 for an SG6, or £236 annually for a DDJL...I'm happy, especially given that I can now sell off my SL1210 vinyl deck which I was planning on keeping at home for transfering the vinyl to CDR under an SG6.

 

It wont stop my efforts to get to the bottom of PPLs DDJL for others though, its a 3 fingered glove at the moment...(or possibly two fingers... http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/huh.gif ).

 

 

Edited November 28, 2005 by Gary

[RobbieD 0]

Just to add to the confusion: - On the DMC (an official PPL agent for the licence) web site it says "A DJ who uses legally purchased digital downloads does not need this License" here: http://www.digitaldjs.com/home.asp

 

Is that correct? I though anyone that payed music from a hard disc needed the licence.

http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/533.gif

[Gary 0]

QUOTE (RobbieD @ Jan 4 2006, 04:28 PM)

Just to add to the confusion: - On the DMC (an official PPL agent for the licence) web site it says "A DJ who uses legally purchased digital downloads does not need this License" here: http://www.digitaldjs.com/home.asp Is that correct? I though anyone that payed music from a hard disc needed the licence. http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/533.gif

Nope! The sentence on the DMC site is absolutely correct, at least, as far as it goes...

 

IF, someone with no personal music collection, decides; "I know, I'll buy a laptop and become a DJ..." and uses no music other than the tunes that he/she pays to download from a legal, recognised/authorised site at .79p (ish) per tune, and plays nothing but those tunes -directly- (eg: does NOT burn them to CDR, then re-rip them into the disco laptop), then they do not need the digital DJ license.

 

However...hands up anyone here who has no existing music collection...

 

Hands up indeed, anyone who had no interest in music prior to becoming a DJ...

 

 

However, if anyone really really really, wanted to DJ from a harddrive, and didn't want to pay the annual Digital DJ licence on principle etc, then yes; they could indeed decide to leave all their existing collection at home, sell it, burn it, keep it for home use only, use it on a 2nd disco only etc,etc,etc.... and simply buy all their required tunes (about 50~60 tunes per night in reality...but its got to be the RIGHT 50~60 tunes, hasnt it...) at .79p a track, with no need for the annual Digital DJ Licence.

 

One way of looking at the digital DJ license therefore is... "Its there if you're playing music from a format or medium/media which is different to the format/medium/media on which you originally bought that music".

 

This is why I am currently buying compilation CD's like a man possessed, to replace much of the vinyl 12'' and 7'' singles which I'm currently lugging around to gigs to play on the 1 remaining Techs SL1210, which I also currently lug around to gigs. This way, sure its costing me say £2.99 for a "Best hits of Madness" and £1.99 for "greatest hits of Whitney Houston", but thats then about 20 vinyls which I can now sell/ebay, and play from CD (with all the benefits that CD has to offer in terms of manipulation), and never have to worry about a one-off SG-6, or a yearly Digital DJ Licence.

 

Sure, I'm under no illusion that my procedes of selling my old vinyl will cover my spending on CD compilations, but the year-on-year savings of not buying a digital DJ licence at £230 this year, £250 next year, £270 (whatever) the year after that... THEN I'll start breaking even on my music formats - especially when considering that I've got my monies worth out of a lot of the vinyl already, several times over.