KVR Audio

WillieJenkins · Post by **WillieJenkins** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 4:32 pm

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtm ... ID=7651166

dystonia_ek · Post by **dystonia_ek** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 4:33 pm

Reuters wrote: We're sorry...this story is not available.

Hellbilly · Post by **Hellbilly** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 4:36 pm

Reuters wrote:ROME (Reuters) - An Italian DJ has been fined a record 1.4 million euros ($1.8 million) for using thousands of pirate music files in a nightclub near Rome, police said on Wednesday.

Police in the town of Rieti, near Rome, said they raided a popular nightclub earlier this week as part of a crackdown on piracy and seized 500 illegally copied music videos and more than 2,000 MP3 music files.

Police said the files belonged to a "well-known" Italian DJ.

"For the MP3 files, which were kept on the DJ's personal computer, the DJ has received a fine of 1.4 million euros," Rieti finance police said in a statement.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said the fine was the biggest ever slapped on an individual for unlawful music copying and the use of copyrighted music in the MP3 format.

More than 7,000 legal actions have been launched against alleged uploaders in the United States, Canada and countries in Europe as the music industry fights to stop piracy which it blames for a decline over a number of years in CD sales.

Barbed Wire Kiss · Post by **Barbed Wire Kiss** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 4:41 pm

dystonia_ek wrote:
Reuters wrote: We're sorry...this story is not available.

It's working now:

ROME (Reuters) wrote:An Italian DJ has been fined a record 1.4 million euros ($1.8 million) for using thousands of pirate music files in a nightclub near Rome, police said on Wednesday.
Police in the town of Rieti, near Rome, said they raided a popular nightclub earlier this week as part of a crackdown on piracy and seized 500 illegally copied music videos and more than 2,000 MP3 music files.

Police said the files belonged to a "well-known" Italian DJ.

"For the MP3 files, which were kept on the DJ's personal computer, the DJ has received a fine of 1.4 million euros," Rieti finance police said in a statement.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said the fine was the biggest ever slapped on an individual for unlawful music copying and the use of copyrighted music in the MP3 format.

More than 7,000 legal actions have been launched against alleged uploaders in the United States, Canada and countries in Europe as the music industry fights to stop piracy which it blames for a decline over a number of years in CD sales.

How exactly is it illegal to keep mp3s on your computer?

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 4:41 pm

Presumably he didnt actually own the originals...

clueless · Post by **clueless** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 4:46 pm

i wouldn't have thought it was. how is it different from me taping a purchased CD so i can listen to it in the car?

then again...

"unauthorized copying, hiring, lending, public performance and broadcasting of this record prohibited"

Joxer the Mighty · Post by **Joxer the Mighty** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 4:52 pm

clueless wrote:i wouldn't have thought it was. how is it different from me taping a purchased CD so i can listen to it in the car?

That's the big difference, you would have purchased the CD. Apparently this dj hadn't bought any of the music he was playing.

clueless · Post by **clueless** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 4:55 pm

Joxer the Mighty wrote:
clueless wrote:i wouldn't have thought it was. how is it different from me taping a purchased CD so i can listen to it in the car?
That's the big difference, you would have purchased the CD. Apparently this dj hadn't bought any of the music he was playing.

oops!

anti-banausic · Post by **anti-banausic** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 5:06 pm

Is it that he didn't own the originals, or was it that he used the originals in a public performance without paying?

Isn't there always a catch? Even if you have purchased said music, don't you then have to pay again to be able to legitimately use it in a DJ set?

Just wondering, because I can't see how the later would be any different than DJing with vinyl, or CD, as opposed to mp3.

Collusion · Post by **Collusion** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 5:19 pm

anti-banausic wrote:Is it that he didn't own the originals, or was it that he used the originals in a public performance without paying?

Probably both.

Isn't there always a catch? Even if you have purchased said music, don't you then have to pay again to be able to legitimately use it in a DJ set?

Well, that would be down to local entertainment licensing law. I remember reading somewhere that DJs are supposed to hand a playlist over to the venue admin so that any royalties owed get paid. Not 100% sure of my memory there, though.

Best bet would be to check with the PRS/MCPS for clarification.

shamann · Post by **shamann** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 5:29 pm

Joxer the Mighty wrote:Apparently this dj hadn't bought any of the music he was playing.

I wonder how the police would know to check?

Forget these murders and robberies, let's go raid some DJ's laptop.

ammoniad · Post by **ammoniad** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 5:39 pm

I kind think it is funny. DJs are a parasitic in nature. If muscians did not create music, DJs would starve. I know plenty of Djs who make a lot more money than the guys who produce the CDs they are spinning.
One guy from Chicago gets flown to Paris avery month to spin. He does not have a day job.
Meanwhile, there are a lot of muscians working as waiters, bartenders ect.

shamann · Post by **shamann** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 5:47 pm

ammoniad wrote:I kind think it is funny. DJs are a parasitic in nature. If muscians did not create music, DJs would starve. I know plenty of Djs who make a lot more money than the guys who produce the CDs they are spinning.
One guy from Chicago gets flown to Paris avery month to spin. He does not have a day job.
Meanwhile, there are a lot of muscians working as waiters, bartenders ect.

Nothing particularly exceptional about that. I would guess that the average art gallery owner makes more money than the average picture painter.

lyrical · Post by **lyrical** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 5:59 pm

It's not so tragic,
Our Italian law foresees that if he pays before ninety days It will pay only 467000 euros, a third of the entire fine....

He was recidivous, police had already stopped him many times for the same crime, I can say only..
Ao, e mò paghi comme n' banco!!!!

emdot_ambient · Post by **emdot_ambient** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 6:06 pm

shamann wrote:
ammoniad wrote:I know plenty of Djs who make a lot more money than the guys who produce the CDs they are spinning.
Nothing particularly exceptional about that. I would guess that the average art gallery owner makes more money than the average picture painter.

I see where you're coming from but it's not a particularly analagous argument. The artist/gallery relationship is a symbiotic one (if not always a happy one). That's the main place artists earn their money. And apart from that, art gallery directors aren't looked on as superstars by the general public. Most people know the names of dozens of great artists but can name no gallery directors. By contrast, sure, DJ's help sell music but they are only one link in the music industry's hype, um, I mean marketing, machine. Yet in this culture DJs have become as famous or more so than the artists whose material they use. They're stars, regarded generally as artists in their own right. No gallery director, no matter how famous, has ever been considered an artist in their own right just because of the art they sell.

I'm not making any argument for or against DJs and their elevated status. It's just that I don't think there's any precedent for the status they've achieved in our pop-driven culture.

Italian DJ fined 1.4 million euros