By: I get asked this question at almost every event I’ve been the DJ. So I ask for the person’s e-mail and tell them that I’ll e-mail them the playlist from today, and ask if they would like it in a Word file or text file.
**Please note, that any DJ who offers to give you the music that was played, is doing so illegally, do not accept music from a DJ to add to your collection, even if it is for private use.**
Then comes the question.
“No, can you give me the songs you played and put them on my iPod?”
I have had many variants of this question:
“Can you put the songs on my iPod for me?”
“Can you put the songs on a CD for me?
“I don’t have a lot of money, can you put the songs on my iPod?”
Oh wow, how many times these questions have come up and every time, I have to explain, “It’s illegal to do that.”
“Why can’t you just put them on there, everybody shares music.”
Because it’s against the law, and I’ve spent tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars over the years on music, as have most credible DJs. Some, good professional DJs have spent less, due to their specialization of genres and short time in the business, but they’ll spend tens and into the hundreds of thousands of dollars eventually.
“Well, what if I pay you for them? How much would you want?”
“Well, they’re $1.29 each on iTunes, and my rates are $100 an hour for my time, so if you want 20 songs, that’s $125.80. But you pay me $100 and the rest goes to iTunes. I’ll need your credit card and sign into your account.”
At this point, I would ask for the person’s computer, install iTunes and have them put their credit card information into their computer to pay for it, and then charge the person for my time for doing it. All of the music is on their computer, and they pay me based on the amount of time it took.
“Well, no, can you buy them and then I’ll pay you back?”
Again, we’re getting into legal issues that I’d rather not get in to. It’s still the transfer of electronic files from one person’s ownership to another and I don’t have the license from the record companies to sell those files.
“But we’re a charity, can’t you do it for free?”
It doesn’t matter, the record companies and artists still want their money and I’m not licensed to distribute music. Plus, I could lose my business if it’s found I’m distributing music, and fines could also be levied. It’s not worth the risk to my business, or my family, to give someone a CD with music on it that they didn’t purchase.
No matter how much one of our DJs is asked, the answer will always be no. Record pools exist for people who play music to help get the music played. But there is a cost. And the facilities which host DJs, or any kind of music playback, must pay the fees associated with the record management companies like BMI and ASCAP.
So yes, we will be happy to send you a Word file, or a picture of the songs we’ve played, but we’re not going to give you the music.
The featured image in this post come from The Spectrum Doctrine
