(This Blog Entry was Originally Posted on 30th November 2005, the Digital DJ License is now launched and upon us. It is now called the Pro-Dub license)
Did legislation kill off the DJ, or was it Video Killed the Radio Star?
Either way Buggles didn’t see this one coming, although perhaps George Orwell did
First it was the Textile Industry, Then it was the Manufacturing Industry, Then Rover and the Car Industry got sold out, now the hammer has fallen and the cross hairs are aimed at the Mobile Disco industry.
Over Dramatised?, Perhaps! but ignore the dire predictions of the title above at your peril.
When I started out as a DJ in 1988, I was a 15 year old learning the business, legislation was just something which affected large companies and corporations who employed staff to deal with the European paperwork mountain. The DJ’s sole worry was about entertaining his or her audience and whether the latest Bros track was going to hit no 1. PAT testing was largely unheard of, but strangely the papers were not filled with stories of members of the public being electrocuted, Public Liability insurance only applied to Window Cleaners and Bricklayers, but the papers were not filled with stories of Mobile DJ’s Speakers cracking open heads when the toppled onto the crowd below.
Now the DJ is not only an entertainer and reluctant manager of a business, he is also expected to be an accountant, a Health and Safety Executive and, it seems, a previously untapped cash cow who is now being milked for every penny that he or she earns. Nowadays the legislation deems that we have to have Public Liability Insurance, Pat Test certificates and be able to spend our free time not entertaining people, but instead writing risk assessments and dealing with record companies. It’s not political correctness that we have to fear folks, it’s the dark spectre of legislation which steals up on you like some industrial disease.
But the latest travesty to hit the Entertainment Industry, Ladies
and Gentleman may I present to you………
The Digital DJ Licence
In a world which has gone completely mad, and a country which already forces it’s mortals to pay twice for the same thing, the powers that be at PPL have put their collective heads together and decided to get a piece of the action. Somebody somewhere woke up one morning and thought ‘Hey, how can we make DJ’s pay ongoing annual fees for the material which they have already legally bought’ and decided that in order to create some additional revenue it would charge DJ’s £200 a year purely for the right to convert one type of media (which they have already bought) to another type of media purely for easier archive and playback purposes.
Yes, fellow Dj’s the age old rumour that you can back up your original CD’s to MP3 format for use on a Hard Drive or Digital based player legally in the UK is FALSE! . Doing so is illegal and likely to risk prosecution despite it being perfectly legal and acceptable in many other European Countries, and America either under Fair Use conditions in local copyright acts or the Home Recording Act of 1992 (U.S.A). So in other words, UK based DJ’s are being singled out, penalised and getting the raw deal once again.
The Digital DJ Licence costs you £200 and this gives you the right to back up original CD’s to MP3 or other digital format for storage and playback on Hard Drive format (upto a maxium of 20,000 tracks) for use on a PC or Laptop, however like anything else there are conditions and several flaws.
I have a Digital DJ Licence so surely I am now fully covered
False!.
The first and perhaps most largest flaw in the Digital DJ Licence is the fact that the PPL licence is only half the story!. In order to remain fully legal you also need permission to convert the tracks from the MCPS as well.
The Digital DJ licence only covers the PPL side of the law. As well as buying the Digital DJ Licence you will need to contact the MCPS and obtain a licence from them or risk prosecution. Since the MCPS (at the time of writing) do not have a blanket licence similar to the Digital DJ licence in place nor are they part of this Digital DJ licence, then this is likely to work out very expensive and time consuming once you contact the MCPS and also the individual record labels of all of the artists whose material you are converting in order to obtain permission. Assuming they DO give you permission!.
If the MCPS or Record Label decline permission to convert any or all requested tracks and you have already bought the Digital Dj Licence then sadly, you have bought yourself a white elephant.
What Additional rights and facilities does the Digital DJ Licence Offer?
Other than the right to convert your existing original CD collection to a more flexible means of archive and playback, absolutely nothing. You cannot use the digital back up at the same time as your original CD Material, so having two roadshows and using your CD material at one, and Laptop at the other would naturally still be illegal and is not granted under the terms of the Digital DJ Licence.
Personally I believe that making Dj’s pay twice and ongoing for converting material, is simply put, unfair discrimination and an attempt at cashing in on the rights of individuals to choose to use alternate technologies where they are available in their marketplace. Dj’s in other countries are not subject to the same laws and fees, so why should UK DJ’s be charged? – after all, we already pay more than our colleagues in other countries for the original CD’s in the first place, charging us a yearly fee on top of that is just taking the piss.
What would happen if everybody was charged an annual fee to own and play their legally purchased CD’s in addition to the cost of the CD’s in the first place? - there would be a public outcry and rightly so.Why should this stealth tax on Digital Dj’s be treated with kid gloves?
But we are DJ’s and using material commercially therefore we should pay
This is a tired point and one which is flawed. If you are going to use this point, then what you are suggesting is that all DJ’s should be paying a yearly fee to PPL to play music where a fee is paid to the DJ. There can be no half measures or discrimination here. Either all DJ’s who work for a booking fee (ie to make money) irrespective of whether it’s a public or private function should pay the same Digital Licence fee every year whether they use CD, MP3 or a PC as a means of medium. Is a Digital Dj any more commercially desirable than a conventional CD or Vinyl one, do they earn more money?, command higher fees? do they deny the artist royalties?
Let me ask you a question, if a DJ buys a CD from the High Street for £12.99, goes home and converts it to MP3 purely because it is a more flexible and prefered method of playback for him / her, then leaves the CD in a cupboard at home whilst they take their laptop / pc to a gig, how is this adversely affecting the artiste who created the music?, is the artiste any worse off financially because of these actions? do they deserve a higher fee to compensate?.
Also remember that any venue we work in has to have an entertainment licence by law, which is payable to PPL, meaning that for playing music at least the PPL already has had it’s pound of flesh!.
How did this legislation get in and why wasn’t I consulted?
Like most new legislation, rumour has it that this one arrived via the back door too. There was appearently DJ’s and DJ Associations who were consulted as to their opinion on the matter and the licence was rumoured to have been constructed around their feedback and requirements. However exactly who was consulted and which DJ Associations remain a mystery because nobody has come forward.
Recent polls on The DJ’s United Forum show that the majority of DJ’s are not happy with the licence in its current form.
Q) “Should we sit back and accept this attempt to dictate and drive through a back door law without resistance?”
95% voted NO
Another Similar Poll conducted from Members of the DJ Associates Mobile DJ Association also contained similar results
Q) Would you support a decision to postpone the current digital dj license provided by PPL until the problems, issues and ‘flaws’ can be addressed and looked into for resolve?’
The majority replied YES
Q) Other DJ associations such as NADJ, SEDA, MDA, along with other potential dj groups will be looking to form a potential united front to lobby / postpone the PPL digital dj license.
Do you agree to DJ Associates being part of an agreed united lobby?
The majority replied YES
What has this to do with the original title of this article?
The article title was simply ‘Legislation is killing the Mobile DJ Industry’ because I believe that legislation has once again reared it’s ugly head, and like all of the (stronger) industries which have been hit before it, we are all going to suffer as a result. Let’s take for example, the average earnings of the Mobile DJ, which compared to other ‘National Average Wages’ is actually pretty low. Most DJ’s earn well under £15,000 a year, many run a Mobile Disco as a part time hobby one or two nights a fortnight, which may net them as little as £4000 – £8000 a year “pocket money”.
Most Dj’s, even part timers operate legitimately, meaning that they pay Tax, and sometimes National Insurance. They also have to maintain their vehicles, pay high fuel costs to get to gigs and maintain their tools of the trade. Within the last fifteen years the need has arisen to obtain and pay Public Liability fees and annual Pat Tests, some childrens entertainers also have to seek and pay for a Police Check. Now deduct all of this legal legislation from your income, together with increased Car Insurance Premiums for those involved in the Entertainment Industry, and the higher cost (compared to other countries) of obtaining the CD Material in the first place, and tell me whether they can afford to survive if forced to pay what could be well into four figures every year purely to convert what they already own into a more flexible media?.
The Digital DJ Licence from PPL costs £200 a year, but how much for the MCPS copyright fees?, and how much will each individual record company demand?. Unlike Paying tax, these fees are not based on profit, turnover or how busy the DJ is or his expenses or circumstances. £1000 in copyright fees may not be a lot of money if you are Pete Tong, or a DJ working full time and netting £30k+ per year, however it is a lot of money to the DJ working part time, in their first year of business and who has just about scraped £2000 turnover from doing gigs at the local school. How many Dj’s fall into the latter category?, and how many are likely to call it a day as a result?.
Very soon the legitimate, veteran Mobile DJ’s will be forced on the dole or back to working on Burton’s in-shop Radio. It just won’t be worth the effort any more, given that most DJ’s earning average fees will be working 9 months of the year just to pay their copyright fees. The only DJ’s who will remain in business will be the £30 a nighters, working cash in hand for the local pub and working underground to avoid the PPL radar.
So you believe that this is unfair to Digital Dj’s ?
Does a rocking horse have a wooden dick?. Yes of course it is unfair to Mobile Dj’s because it is a piece of legislation which is deliberately targeted at one particular type of DJ and penalises them above all of the others based soley on the format of media which they choose to use. Let’s for example say that DJ’s who still used Vinyl had to pay a yearly fee purely because they found that format more workable over all of the others on offer. This Digital Licence is unfair because it does not allow the Digital Dj to compete on an even keel, with their colleagues who choose to use a different format because their ongoing business costs are higher than those Dj’s who choose to use a different format.
Let’s approach this from another angle and assume that a licence fee was levied on the DJ who choose to use Widget Cd Players whilst DJ’s who used other forms of CD player get off without paying a penny. It’s all about freedom of choice and that should not be penalised.
What can we do about it?
Make your voice heard and stop waiting around for other people to do it for you!. Join an association such as DJ Associates which is opposed to the new laws and actively engaged in researching it’s legality. Also consider joining the debate and lending your support to colleagues through the The DJ’s United – Mobile DJ Forum and Community