Is It Legal Or Not...?

[Steven H]

Hello everyone!
I am wondering if it is legal to mix, lets say, 40 songs together and compile them onto two cds (just like Ministry Of Sound) etc.. and sell it?

Like if I put my own name as remixer etc...

I was told that it was legal and im just wondering what everybodys thoughts are...?

Thanks...

[Ian]

I'm not sure about it, but When I used to buy my tape packs from helter skelter or dreamscape or slamminvinyl, there was no real mention of the tracks & their owners, so I guess it may be legal, If you do the mixing yourself, I'm sure the producers of the tracks would like a mention in it, cause in reality its publicising their work

[housefreax]

Well it may be different in other countries but here you still have to pay for the rights for the songs even if you mix them in a set, it is different if you change the tracks slightly and mke them your own ha ha

[<--Ferry_Addict-->]

Don't you like need to get premission from the labels of the tune that you are going to mix or something?

[DJ Transcend]

doing that can get you in a bad dip.
remixing an artist's song without permission would be considered illegal.
makin a mix and selling it would be illegal.
but makin a mix and listening to it for your own satisfaction wouldn't be.
the whole point is that. you can't be making money off of someone else's songs without the original artists permission.

but back when electronica was on the come up. no1 really cared much what you did as long as it got the artists popular.

my half cent

[The Belgian Bonzai]

Yep; totally illegal
See you, guys.

[ReBirth]

To make your CD available to the public you will need two types of licenses, a Master Recording License and a Mechanical License.

Master Recording License
This is obtained by the entity holding the rights to the actual sound recording, i.e. the record label. Try asking them for a gratis use for promotional purposes. If they deny the gratis request, or if you are selling the CD, you'll need to negotiate a fee for the Master Use. I've been told that many smaller electronic music labels, if you ask nicely, don't mind letting you use their tracks for free. It's the nature of the industry, and they'll probably be flattered and appreciate the exposure. Be sure to credit the Artist, Song, and Record Label on the CD sleeve. If you are selling your CD without a license, you're putting yourself in danger of legal action.

Mechanical License
A Mechanical License should be requested from the person who has the rights to the composition (words and music), the writer or their publisher. Ask the record company for this information when you license the Master. It's quite possible that they themselves hold the rights. Otherwise, look at the label copy for something like: Published by EMI Music Publishing. In this case EMI Music Publishing would be the organization you'd need to contact for the Mechanical License.

It is often the case that there are multiple publishers, thus multiple people or companies to contact for just one song. You have to have clearance from all parties involved. Again, you can ask them for a gratis use for promotional purposes. If denied you'll have to pay the statutory rate set by congress. The statutory rate for 2001 is $0.0755 per composition, for each unit manufactured

[Above&Beyond]

You can mix your own trax in your bedroom and even stick em on a tape (as long as its for personal listening). but public broadcasting and producing other peoples music to sell is highly illegal! even taping from the radio is illegal because they pay for the right to play their trax! this is because every official release is copyrighted! it aint worth gettin arrested for mate! id stick to making a few home mix tapes and giving them away to people. at least your stuff will be out there. even if your not making a profit!!!!!!

[Rob3rt]

the chances of being arrested is sooo small, but yeah.. just give some cds away. no record company will be bothered with that, it's too much work for them to sort out.