Rules, regarding showing or displaying song titles when streaming music question.

[ScarlettSaraJane]

Im a DJ and i have herd its a legal requirment to show my song/track titles while i stream music in too some SL clubs. 

I have done alittle reserch n this topic and come up with little or no evidence to suggest ether way, 

some streaming server companys (not mentioning any names) have all so told me its a requirement by them inline with lindern etc etc.. some have said its too do with the amercain rules of playing music in pubic places etc. 

So...What are the rules, regarding showing or displaying song titles when streaming music as a DJ to 10+ listerners (peopple)  in SL?

 

 

[Alwin Alcott]

No showing titles is no rule at all, LL doesn't even mingle in those things. Owners of venues may ask for it, but has nothing to do wiht legal issues.

But if you want to stream legal... you have to own rights to broadcast... and thats not the same as buying the cd and have the right to listen to it in  home/privat setting.

To legally stream, you need a license from the artist, or his representative(mostly per country) to use the song, and pay for every use of it.

Next to it in most countriesyou need a license to broadcast the songs. . for example in the netherlands those two licenses will cost you approx. 900/1000 euro's yearly.

99% of the dj's in sl don't have those licences and work on own risk... if you get cought you will get a fine you'll never forget.. some go up to 30.000 dollars or even hundreds of thousends when you'r in the famous claiming USA.

 

[KarenMichelle Lane]

Scarlett,

I've been researching this and many issues regarding the use of music within Second Life [DJ managed & otherwise] to be published as an article for public consumption very soon.

During my research I have contacted BMI & ASCAP and the found their opinion as to the purpose of having correct meta-tags regarding song play is to assist in the proper documentation of songs played by specific artists licensed under BMI & ASCAP royalty agreement's. These bits of data may optionally be broadcast to the listener but as you will have no doubt observed only a limited subset of this information is ever shown on radio equipment or software players. This is because the meta data is filtered out of the broadcast stream.

BMI & ASCAP utilize self-generated very detailed playlist logs that are voluntarily submitted by those owning a broadcast license agreement with one of these agencies. This is how the artists receive their % of the royalty payments collected on a per-play basis.

EDIT: Many SL and Real World Artists issue their performance media under a Commons License Agreements that allow limited rebroadcasting of their performances [under the fair use provision language] rather than registering with BMI & ASCAP etc.

Generally my findings indicate that regarding the Second Life GRID, there is no current standing legal precedence that requires DJ's or Virtual Brick & Mortar Clubs and Malls to obtain a license to broadcast music at this time. Not that this is not being looked at by someone somewhere as a future licensing source of income.

In the Real World, the [public place] Venue or licensed Terrestrial or Internet Radio business is completely responsible for obtaining this license. Per the current definitions of venue, technically, the Linden Lab Virtual GRID and the associated Viewer are the enabling tools allowing the locating of and listening to music broadcasts by its residents, Yet they do not directly allow for the playback of music. All they do is to enable the transfer of the broadcast URL & Port of the sound source that is ultimately listened to by the included FMOD playback software and/or any 3rd party player used by the PC owner.

Generally, our use of music is is not for broadcast to a larger Internet audience versus the charter of most Internet Radio Stations [for profit & non-profit]. Note: eventually this definition may be expanded to include what we do as SL DJs'.

Thus at this time, SL DJs are not currently classified as radio station operators [internet or Terrestrial ] per-se.

NOTE - Relay Service Providers are also not required to report or even collect music playlists as they are sheltered under the safe harbor provisions as service providers and not content creators.

So we as Virtual World DJs don't fall under any FCC Broadcast regulations as of yet. Recorded Music broadcasting is not covered under DMCA regulations. Recorded Music broadcasting is the domain of the Royalty Licensing Agencies.  

Sooner or later our specific way of presenting music to a very small variable and limited virtual audience will be addressed by the Royalty Agencies. At this time this licensing is Venue [Linden Lab] specific - [not a virtual club specific as virtual venues have no legal definition for this purpose as of yet.]

I should have all the information collected in a few weeks to complete and publish my more detailed article with a complete bibliography and appendix of supporting documents.

 

So in the meantime, do all the recording artists a big favor. Buy their CDs & Digital offerings. Load up your personal music libraries with this music so that they hopefully will receive some royalty payments from their contract agreements with their distribution companies.

Go to their live concerts.

[and to finally answer your question:]

1) SL DJs are under no requirement to broadcast meta-data about the music they play over the virtual air.

However

2) If you choose to, please make sure that the song name and artist information meta-tags are correct so others will know what they are listening to and will likewise  purchase these performances as well. It's tacky to use downloaded You-Tube music with misspelled and incorrect attributions and let your Broadcasting Software just guess at the information to displayed.

The free MP3TAG - The universal tag editor - http://www.mp3tag.de/en/ is an excellent tool to clean up your music library from the scourge of lame meta data tags.

NOTE: There is NO case law where a SL DJ has been brought to court regarding streaming music into an Sl venue. I spent a lot of time reviewing the Lexis/Nexus Legal databases looking for any of these anecdotal cases mentioned in SPAM NCs being sent about.

There are plenty of settled cases where an Internet Radio Station operator has been requested to license up and most have as the result of legal proceedings being threatened. So if you run one of these, contact BMI & ASCAP and get your annual license so you can run your radio station legally.