Quote Originally Posted by dodgyedgy
1. What is wrong with the current system of royalties and performance, in your opinion?
Briefly, it just doesn't work for underground dance music.

Fundamentally, the problem is that the vast majority of people are ignorant of the system. This is not to say that they are at fault... more that the powers that be are not doing a good job when it comes to information dissemination.

As far as I can see:

Whenever you buy a piece of music - whatever medium it comes on - you are only licensed to listen to it at home for your own pleasure. The little writing on records and CDs that you buy (normally alluding to "public perfromance of this material prohibited") means that you do not have the right to play it in public. This means anywhere from a wedding, to a school fair, to a shop, to a club, to on the radio.

Any venue (shop, pub, club, bar etc.) which wishes to play music, pays for a licence. This gives them the freedom to play whatever they want. This is why it's ok to DJ in licenced venues - as they have paid for the privilege.

The idea is that the money collected is distributed out to the people who make the music. (i.e. the producers and artists). In order for this to happen in a fair manner, radio stations are required to compile playlists of what goes out on the air. Likewise, DJs who play in clubs etc. are (supposedly) required to make a list of every track they play. If the producer and label are registered with PRS then they will get a bit of money in line with how many plays they get week in week out.

Where this breaks down, is that many producers just aren't registered with PRS. Furthermore, most DJs don't submit lists. The end result being that the money gets divided in bigger chunks throughout those who are registered, in line with the recorded plays - in the main, from mainstream radio and shitty cheese clubs.

So, bottom line - because most underground producers don't register with PRS, and most underground DJs don't submit playlists... the money paid by underground music venues for their licence largely gets distributed amonst the likes of Britney Spears, McFly, U2 etc. etc. Which, obviously, is grossly unfair.

Quote Originally Posted by dodgyedgy
2. What is right with the system as it stands - i.e what needs to be kept
What's right is the desire to reward producers and artists for their work. It is right that people making records that get lots of plays should be rewarded for what they do.

What's wrong is the system was put in place a long time ago, and the powers that be don't have a clue about the underground music industry - which has evolved a hell of a lot in a short space of time.

Moreover, the big record labels couldn't give a flying f*ck, because they get this royalty money anyway, because they put out the tunes getting played on TV, on the radio, and in the big shitty cheese clubs. If they weren't getting their fair share you could bet your ass they'd be kicking up a hell of a stink.

However, the real losers here are the small labels and producers who just aren't getting the piece of the pie that they so badly deserve. Unfortunetly, they are often in no position to do anything about it. They don't have the legal resources, or (even worse) are ignorant to the situation.

You get the odd exception to the rule. For example: Andy C, I believe, is very dilligent about compiling lists of what he plays every time he plays - in order to make sure that at least some of the royalty money gets into the hands of the people making the tunes.

I for one, however, wouldn't have the first clue who to go submitting playlists to. It's certainly nothing I've ever been told about by any venue I've ever played at.

On the flipside, I haven't ever felt compelled to register with PRS, despite having a couple of tunes out on vinyl. I seem to remember someone (Glenn Wilson maybe?) on here saying he was told there was no point registering with PRS unless you've had a top 40 hit.

Whether this is true or merely an example of the poor quality information that gets passed out on the subject is debateable - but the point is that no-one seems very clear on how this is all actually supposed to work.

Quote Originally Posted by dodgyedgy
3. How do you feel you as a producer or DJ fits into this system of payments?
I would gladly write down a list of each of the records I play at the club each month, if I knew for a fact that it meant that the producers and labels involved would get a small cut of the license fees collected by PRS, because god knows they deserve it more than Britney f*cking does.

Likewise, I'd happily join PRS if I had more records being put out.

Unfortunately, at the moment, the system just isn't transparent enough - and to be honest I think it could do with a total overhaul in the light of the way that the music industry has developed.

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This of course, all before you start getting on to the kind of bollocks they're trying to put in place to retroactively legislate for digital DJs, as I've posted about previously. Yet another example of music and arts ignorant pen pushers trying to legislate for something they don't understand.

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Anyway, rant over.