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| By now, most of you involved with the ongoing Community Mixes Project will be aware that copyright is an issue that will not go away and cannot be ignored. Some of you still seem slightly confused and I know that some of you newcomers to eJay are not sure what is or is not copyrighted material. |
| WHAT EXACTLY DOES COPYRIGHT MEAN? |
| Well, it means that any artistic material such as written word, music, samples, film, TV, video etc etc produced by anyone belongs to them and cannot be reproduced in anyone else’s work without paying royalties to that person. This means in effect, you cannot just lift parts of a film soundtrack and drop them into your track, unless it is for your own private use. If the track enters the public domain and you want to get paid for it…then, and this is very logical really, you can expect the person from whom you “stole” the sample to want a cut of the action. After all, you did not create it - they did! This is what is called royalties. |
| HOW DO I GET MY ROYALTIES? |
| There are several ways you can get paid royalties. Whoever distributes your music is obligated by law to pay you the royalties you have agreed upon. Beyond that, there are several organisations who will collect royalties on your behalf if they are played on radio, in clubs, pubs and other venues. Information about these organisations is given below. |
| WHAT ABOUT THE EJAY SAMPLES I USE? |
| As far eJay is concerned, their policy is that you do not have to pay royalties for the samples in the programs and sample CD’s AS LONG as you acknowledge the software on any CD you sell. In other words, you have to “own up” your track is made with eJay - you can’t pretend it is all your own work! |
| WHAT HAPPENS TO MY TRACKS WHEN THEY HIT THE PUBLIC DOMAIN? |
| Well, as distributor of your tracks, EJ2DJ is legally responsible for collecting royalties on your behalf. It has to legally! Many of you have said….oh I don’t want royalties - give them to Fest 2!! This is not as simple as it seems - what is with the law nowadays? Legally, EJ2DJ has to pay all royalties directly to you and then you can do with it what you want. However, since many of you wanted to donate to the next Fest. You can get the AGREEMENT FORM here.. Now because of the legal nature of copyright, EJ2DJ cannot go ahead with a set unless every artist included in it has sent a signed copyright form, so if you have not sent one back yet - you are holding up production of the sets. EJ2DJ needs to know NOW whether you are sending a form or not! |
| MAKE YOURSELF AWARE OF YOUR RIGHTS!! |
| Okay, making music is fun - you share your tracks with your mates - no big deal. However, you become a little more successful and you start to produce CD’s. First you hand them out, then sell a few - you start to really improve and sell a lot more. This is all very heady and wonderful - especially since the local DJ is playing your music down the pub! Then, wow, a m8 tells you he heard your track on local radio! Fantastic!! This is great! Except, hang on a minute! Where did they get that from? You ask around a bit and find out that someone you gave away a CD to has been selling copies all over the place for a tidy sum. When tackled about it - he just shrugs his shoulders and says - that’s life, m8! Suddenly your music is all over the place and you are not getting a penny for it! So what should you have done? |
| There are organisations that are dedicated to collecting Royalties on your behalf. Some charge a fee (PRS - Performing Rights Society) some do not ( P@MRA - Performing Artists’ Media Rights Association). For example, the PRS licences premises that play music like pubs, clubs and even shops from radio, TV, Jukebox or even the Internet. It also distributes money to artists who have had their music played in any of these establishments. |
| How this works is that when a venue obtains a licence to play copyrighted music, it can play any copyrighted music of artists represented by PRS - which effectively means any copyrighted music in the world. This is a legal requirement (Copyright Designs and Patent Act 1988) and covers places like hairdressers, dentist’s waiting rooms, ships and aircraft etc. If your music is played anywhere in a public place, you are owed Royalties and PRS will collect them for you if you are a member. The PRS are continually monitoring and sampling music played everywhere and although they cannot trace every one of your plays they can approximate it by statistical analysis. So what should an aspiring artist do? Well it’s a hard decision - when do you identify the transition from hobby to making money? Joining the PRS can be expensive, however P@MRA do not charge and are equally capable of collecting Royalties but is a UK only organisation. PRS has now joined forces with MCPS (Mechanical Copyright Protection Society) and it is well worth a visit to the website to gain an understanding of copyright and royalty issues. BACK TO TOP |
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