Copyrights and licenses

Hello. Couple of (finnish) DJs have asked me about Slipmat and most of them are asking about how Slipmat handles copyrights and does DJ need some kind of DJ-licenses. FAQ section doesn’t say anything about those things so is it possible to add an entry which answers to those questions.

2 Likes

not sure about the copyrights (and I’d prefer not to think about it as long as the site is up😈) soundcloud has tons of mixes, mixcloud too, and nobody cares about them, why not stream some mixes here too?)

I am sure only about the licence: you are online, man! What licence??! Freedom of artistic expression does not need a licence! Anyway, I’ve read about those deejay licences IRL in a couple of countries and I think it’s bureaucreatic nonsence, let’s not bring it online!
And I’m pretty sure that everything we do here is FAIR USE, and if someone is against that, I’d consider this a violation of my freedom of speech and artistic expression!)))

I totally agree with you, @Hermine_S_Crimson. But since some of the new DJs wonder about those things, maybe it should be mentioned in FAQ-section. Even if the sentence is “Don’t worry about it.” :smiley:

Thanks for help Ville. Really looking forward to have more information of these licence regulations and the changes of the regulations with streaming during this coronacrisis.

-Nino-

1 Like

From the legal point of wiew, I think that: since we buy any vinyl, or cd, or digital track, we are free to use it non-commercial. And technically, all streams here are non-commercial, because the site does not sell the shows like the physical clubs do, it has only charity variants to tip the Djs themselves, not to buy the recordings of the shows. And the site would sell only the streamer engine, which is not music, but the code of their intellectual property.

1 Like

Really good topic, @satai! From Slipmat POV copyright issues are hard because the DJs can use multiple ways and third-party engines to stream through Slipmat. But from the DJs point of view, as long as you don’t use YouTube, your live stream will not be affected by copyright issues, so don’t worry about it.

Each DJ needs to learn the local laws regarding playing and streaming. In Finland the law says "if the music is intended to be publicly played, DJ can play it without restrictions. So far I haven’t found any music that is not intended to be played publicly so I quite literally don’t worry about it. (Full disclosure: this interpretation of the law is still debated but vast majority of the field sees it this way.)

Slipmat unlike bigger platforms like YouTube and Facebook is a community-driven site with no company or money behind it so it’s also a tiny and completely worthless target in the eyes of the copyright mafia. I personally would also like the madness to end and therefore want to fight against this stupidity, but I also understand that some DJs might not have the luxury to do so, in which case you need to investigate the matter yourself to understand what your local laws say.

If there are any changes or any indications that things might change, we will definitely communicate it to all our DJs.

Stay safe and have fun spinning, Slippers! :slight_smile:

4 Likes