Digital DJ licensing

The licensing systems are emerging since DJs have started to transfer their music collections on to laptops for use with vinyl emulation software or other DJing tools for various reasons, including reducing the amount of baggage, ease of searching, and the ability to have a much larger collection available than what would be practical if the music was stored on a larger physical media; and because the copyright laws in some countries do not permit the professional and/or public use of copies, even if copied from legitimate sources.

In the UK, a licence must be obtained from the Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL), or one of its dubbing operators, and from the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) if you are to DJ with their music.[3].

In 2006, The PPL created a licence that allowed a DJ to use up to 20,000 songs and keep backup copies of these on a separate hard drive.

PPL did not announce how the use of the digital DJ licensing was going to be enforced or supervised, other than by advertising the need for the licence and discouraging venues from hiring unlicensed DJs, under threat of "trouble with the law".

Also, it is required for the DJ to own the original media, and copies made from CDs borrowed from a library or another source are not allowed.

The licensors keep a database searchable by surname to allow venues and other organisers to verify that their performers comply with the appropriate copyright laws.

[2] It should however be noted that DJs playing original CDs and vinyls are legally allowed to do so without any licences on their part, and are not listed in the database.

Music copied in the UK can however be played in any country within the European Economic Area without the need for additional licences or permissions.

In Finland, a licence must be obtained from both Teosto and Gramex, the Finnish organisations which protect the intellectual properties of composers and performers, respectively.

While this type of licensing is cheaper in the long run for acquiring a large song library, it does not have the flexibility of the leasing system.