DJPflumph
Forgive me, but I'm about to get long winded, and I'll try to keep the sarcasm from dripping onto your keyboards :)
We all know the deal. The world is changing, big music is scrambling to hold their grip. We (Read: Professionals) get screwed, confused and alienated in the process. Artists don't get paid, and I worry about the music mafia bashing my head into the dance floor.
I've searched these and other forums, Google, and any other public means I can think of. I have yet to find a definitive no BS summary of what it takes to be legal in the US. When I'm in a bar, the bar owner pays the royalties. When I'm at a wedding I pay. But pay who? 2 or more entities licensing different artists for different size audiences? Does that cover music that I downloaded legally, but have no "Original" copy of? This is a pain in the ass.
I'll start this by saying I've been DJing for almost 10 years. More than some, less than others. I switched to digital about 2 years ago, and I love it. It's lighter, faster to set up and use, and the crowd loves it because I can do more "Mixing" on a computer than I can with CD players. (I'll be the first to admit that that is a function of talent, or lack thereof) Now, I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 20000 songs. Roughly half of them I have CDs for. I have (gasp) downloaded more than a few, legally and otherwise. I have swapped for more. And of those 20000 songs, I believe I have actually loaded maybe 25% of them in a player... Ever. Right or wrong, I can't afford to make my collection 100% legal. Nor to I have 100s of hours to sift through it and figure out which ones I do legally own. I would love for this thread to remain off the topic of the morality of those last few sentences and focus on solutions. I'm pretty sure I'm not alone here, and thanks for sticking with me.
Another thing I haven't found in all of my research is a reasonable, affordable, and manageable solution!
So from here on out I offer mine!
I address directly, RIAA, BMG, and all of the other players... UNITE! You don't like P2P. You don't like AllOfMP3. Well, if you can't beat 'em join 'em. Now I speak strictly for the professional DJs out there. This one at the least. YOU need to make a file sharing site. Put ALL of the music we need up there. If you claim license to it, publish it.
Here's what I have in mind:
- 1 site, run by the owners of music performance rights. Think of it like the music industry's answer to the mob's Commission.
- Have members! (That's us) and charge a nominal fee (Read: $50/yr) Like union dues! This process should verify tat we are professionals, and out to help each other. Now we're all friends working together for the greater good, I don't live in fear, and the artists get their money by:
- Charge for downloads! $.10 or so would be nice. I know it's not much, but stay with me...
- Let me download whatever format I wish, without DRM, at whatever bitrate I chose. AllOfMP3 has this right!
- If I have music already, it's grandfathered in. This is an all-inclusive license to perform music. Trust me, for $.10 I'll be downloading a bunch of the music I already have from you, because it's good quality, with proper tags and resolution.
- Develop software for the digital DJ. (DJs don't get mad at me till I finish :) This software will track what we play, and charge us for it. Lets say another $.05 per song.
(before everyone gets mad: I play 5 hour sets, lets say 25 songs an hour for 125 songs = $6.25 per night, times 3 nights a week, times 52 weeks in a year = $975! I think this is reasonable, given what I make in those 5 hours.)
The Benefits:
#1: This is not confusing. It's easy. One body to pay, one place for information, one place to call home.
- The music industry gets to know what we're really playing! What's popular, what works and what doesn't.
- Artists get their commissions and the music keeps flowing.
- DJs are fully legal, licensed, and without fear.
- The entire community get this feedback in our own "Billboard" like medium, making all of our lives easier and keeping our audience picking us over the next guy.
The Tough Parts:
- Obviously... The software. This one is tough and I'm not a developer, but I'm sure the next Bill Gates will make a killing when it's ready. The really tough part is for this organization not to sanction one software vendor over another. We still need to drive VDJ innovation through competition.
- Samples and pre-listens. Not sure how to differentiate between these and songs sent to the PA.
- Getting everyone to play nice... Think back to kindergarten.
- Politics! Immigration reform had a chance for about a week, maybe this can fly too if everyone reads the bullet above this one.
Maybe this is reasonable, maybe it's not, but it's a solution, and the first one I've heard! I'd love to hear more of them. Polish this one or offer your own. But PLEASE read this > If you want to tear this apart, offer a BETTER solution (Or fragment thereof). I have absolutely no problem with constructive criticism. In fact I welcome it.
Flamers stay home! Lets fix this crap before it takes down the music industry and us.
P.S. I claim .5% of all proceeds if this actually happens for the first 5 years. :)
We all know the deal. The world is changing, big music is scrambling to hold their grip. We (Read: Professionals) get screwed, confused and alienated in the process. Artists don't get paid, and I worry about the music mafia bashing my head into the dance floor.
I've searched these and other forums, Google, and any other public means I can think of. I have yet to find a definitive no BS summary of what it takes to be legal in the US. When I'm in a bar, the bar owner pays the royalties. When I'm at a wedding I pay. But pay who? 2 or more entities licensing different artists for different size audiences? Does that cover music that I downloaded legally, but have no "Original" copy of? This is a pain in the ass.
I'll start this by saying I've been DJing for almost 10 years. More than some, less than others. I switched to digital about 2 years ago, and I love it. It's lighter, faster to set up and use, and the crowd loves it because I can do more "Mixing" on a computer than I can with CD players. (I'll be the first to admit that that is a function of talent, or lack thereof) Now, I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 20000 songs. Roughly half of them I have CDs for. I have (gasp) downloaded more than a few, legally and otherwise. I have swapped for more. And of those 20000 songs, I believe I have actually loaded maybe 25% of them in a player... Ever. Right or wrong, I can't afford to make my collection 100% legal. Nor to I have 100s of hours to sift through it and figure out which ones I do legally own. I would love for this thread to remain off the topic of the morality of those last few sentences and focus on solutions. I'm pretty sure I'm not alone here, and thanks for sticking with me.
Another thing I haven't found in all of my research is a reasonable, affordable, and manageable solution!
So from here on out I offer mine!
I address directly, RIAA, BMG, and all of the other players... UNITE! You don't like P2P. You don't like AllOfMP3. Well, if you can't beat 'em join 'em. Now I speak strictly for the professional DJs out there. This one at the least. YOU need to make a file sharing site. Put ALL of the music we need up there. If you claim license to it, publish it.
Here's what I have in mind:
- 1 site, run by the owners of music performance rights. Think of it like the music industry's answer to the mob's Commission.
- Have members! (That's us) and charge a nominal fee (Read: $50/yr) Like union dues! This process should verify tat we are professionals, and out to help each other. Now we're all friends working together for the greater good, I don't live in fear, and the artists get their money by:
- Charge for downloads! $.10 or so would be nice. I know it's not much, but stay with me...
- Let me download whatever format I wish, without DRM, at whatever bitrate I chose. AllOfMP3 has this right!
- If I have music already, it's grandfathered in. This is an all-inclusive license to perform music. Trust me, for $.10 I'll be downloading a bunch of the music I already have from you, because it's good quality, with proper tags and resolution.
- Develop software for the digital DJ. (DJs don't get mad at me till I finish :) This software will track what we play, and charge us for it. Lets say another $.05 per song.
(before everyone gets mad: I play 5 hour sets, lets say 25 songs an hour for 125 songs = $6.25 per night, times 3 nights a week, times 52 weeks in a year = $975! I think this is reasonable, given what I make in those 5 hours.)
The Benefits:
#1: This is not confusing. It's easy. One body to pay, one place for information, one place to call home.
- The music industry gets to know what we're really playing! What's popular, what works and what doesn't.
- Artists get their commissions and the music keeps flowing.
- DJs are fully legal, licensed, and without fear.
- The entire community get this feedback in our own "Billboard" like medium, making all of our lives easier and keeping our audience picking us over the next guy.
The Tough Parts:
- Obviously... The software. This one is tough and I'm not a developer, but I'm sure the next Bill Gates will make a killing when it's ready. The really tough part is for this organization not to sanction one software vendor over another. We still need to drive VDJ innovation through competition.
- Samples and pre-listens. Not sure how to differentiate between these and songs sent to the PA.
- Getting everyone to play nice... Think back to kindergarten.
- Politics! Immigration reform had a chance for about a week, maybe this can fly too if everyone reads the bullet above this one.
Maybe this is reasonable, maybe it's not, but it's a solution, and the first one I've heard! I'd love to hear more of them. Polish this one or offer your own. But PLEASE read this > If you want to tear this apart, offer a BETTER solution (Or fragment thereof). I have absolutely no problem with constructive criticism. In fact I welcome it.
Flamers stay home! Lets fix this crap before it takes down the music industry and us.
P.S. I claim .5% of all proceeds if this actually happens for the first 5 years. :)
发表时间 Fri 25 May 07 @ 3:42 am
Tear Em 'Up
This is one of those issues that tweeks my brain. Big business keeping the small guy down. I'm with you my DJ brother!!!
发表时间 Fri 25 May 07 @ 4:00 am
DJPflumph
That's an interesting paradigm... it needs to be us AND them, for the entertainment of the masses. I really think it's the us against them mindset (On both sides of this issue) that is keeping all of us from making music back into what it used to be! This would let the small guy get straight, big business get hard metrics, and the artists flourish. I agree that we help the artists by making their music mainstream. I agree that we hurt the artists when we don't pay something for the music we play. Where is the compromise?
发表时间 Fri 25 May 07 @ 4:07 am
i totally agree... with my small client mass and this just as a hobby for now, its become almost impossible to be legal. When i need a quick, clean song at a gig that i dont have, i usually download from itunes and VDJ is unable to play those files because they're locked for copyright.
And i totally see your point of view, we need something of that caliber
And i totally see your point of view, we need something of that caliber
发表时间 Fri 25 May 07 @ 6:40 am
TexZK
DJ Fresh Z wrote :
i totally agree... with my small client mass and this just as a hobby for now, its become almost impossible to be legal. When i need a quick, clean song at a gig that i dont have, i usually download from itunes and VDJ is unable to play those files because they're locked for copyright.
And i totally see your point of view, we need something of that caliber
And i totally see your point of view, we need something of that caliber
You can convert it into MP3 with a Quick'n'Dirty recording...
发表时间 Fri 25 May 07 @ 8:26 am
how? lol please elaborate
发表时间 Sat 26 May 07 @ 4:18 am
QuadmanDJ
SoundTaxi as well!
发表时间 Sun 27 May 07 @ 9:01 am