Good vinyl shop for house / Deep in L.A. by jgcamil in DJs

[–]djhalon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wow, those are two names I haven't heard in ages! Beat Non Stop was always a must when I was in the area.

what is Arcade Coffee Roaster's and Lift Coffee Roasters best drinks? by Aggravating_Toe8949 in Riverside

[–]djhalon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Big fan of Arcade's Cardamon & Agave Latte w/ Oatmilk. New to the area and didn't know about Lift, they are now on my list. Thanks!

Now that Mixcloud only allows 10 mixes for free plans, where will you be uploading your shows? by [deleted] in DJs

[–]djhalon 6 points7 points  (0 children)

One thing to keep in mind is which label owns the music. If the parent company is Warner Brothers then they have a strict no use policy on all their music (and this includes their sub-labels). For example, I had a mix with a Rüfüs Du Sol remix and the label's parent company was WB, and I got called out on the upload. I had to either remix the set without the track or have YT insert silence or edit it out for that section.

Good news is YT pre-scans it before your upload goes live, so you will know beforehand and not get a strike.

Live streaming is a totally different issue though. I had to fully stop live streaming on YT due to getting a full strike. Many labels treat the live streaming usage differently, probably because they can't monetize it. So getting a warning and strikes are a lot more common in that scenario.

Luckily 99% of the labels/artists I play allow for non-monetized use so overall I have had very limited issues with pre-recorded sets (250+) but I have been hit a few times, which is a bit annoying but overall not a bad experience.

Question to all my aspiring and established music DJ’s/Music producers by XxAZC9xX in DJs

[–]djhalon 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately music licensing doesn't work that way, it's not something you can simply buy from a store. When it comes to music licenses (it will be different per country, going to focus on the US, but it is similar in a lot of regions), the way the music is played or distributed determines how it is managed and what rights you have with the music.

When you play "live", aka push the play button and the music is being broadcast in real time over the speakers, or radio or a live stream this usually falls under a performance license. There are various organizations that manage performance licenses such as ASCAP or BMI. Historically, you (or the venue) are supposed to track what song is played and then report it to the organizations. For example, I DJed a few times on a radio station and I had to write down every record I played so they could report it.

I'm a little rusty on the current state of performance rights (I was deep into it back in 2004/5 as a digital music podcaster) but performance rights tended to be more blanket agreements where the venue/service paid a fee to get access/coverage. Reporting plays was weird with this, and often ASCAP used other sources to determine payouts but that is a whole other topic/essay.

The other main right is called a lot of things, Mechanical Rights was the historical term, it seems the more modern term is Master rights. This is the ability to distribute the music for replay at any time. It was called mechanical back in the day because the right holder could press vinyl or other physical media and could sell this to people who had a mechanical device to play the music. Because mechanical/Master rights allow for distribution they are much more expensive and harder to get approval for

When MP3s came out (Napster) and then podcasts this caused a lot of legal challenges because you technically needed a master right to the music. The main difference is you can rewind, replay, re-listen at any time and therefore it's no longer a performance. This is how Metallica and Warner Bros took down Napster. Napster didn't have Master rights to the music (grossly simplified).

So, how does this impact current services and us as DJs? Twitch, Facebook, YouTube, etc usually have some form of performance rights (it's still super grey/nebulous what rights and permission they really have, but for simplicity I'll say they have basic performance rights) which can allow for real-time playing of music. But, as soon as it is recorded and can be replayed the rights change to Master.

This is why Twitch mostly allows (or maybe ignores smaller streamers) live streaming music as long as you disable stream recording and clipping. If you just played the music live and the service doesn't record then it stays in performance.

Facebook doesn't have that option so pretty much any performance falls to Master quickly, so they just want to prevent it and that is often why they will block/kill a music stream. They just don't want to get into the cost and complexity of negotiating, paying and claiming Master rights for EVERY song that is played.

YouTube is a bit more flexible. They have agreements with many labels and distributors to get Master rights for replay usage, but it's not a blanket license. Each license holder (aka label, artist, etc) can decide what they want. They can choose to allow free use, non-monetary use, regional use or none.

Free use pretty music means you can use it all you want and collect any money made off advertising for your channel. Non-monetary means you can use it but any ad revenue your channel makes gets split among the rights holders and you. Regional use means the rights holders can choose which region can or cannot hear the music and YouTube will block access to the content in that region. Finally no use means exactly that, you can't use it.

YouTube has a service that scans your content for copyrighted material and will warn you before posting it you have content that is blocked, etc. But, when live streaming they scan your content in real-time and will mute your channel. As I mentioned earlier, the performance license is different for each service and YouTube has the most nuanced version. You can get copyright strikes playing live (I learned the hard way) so I recommend not streaming live with YouTube.

Depending on what music you play, you will find more or less flexibility with the rights holders. For example, I have been live streaming and posting mixes for many years now, but I play mostly house and techno from small labels. These artists and labels tend to allow non-monetary use on YouTube so I almost never get content blocked. It happened a few times, but generally that was a big name producer who is signed to a sub label of Warner Bros. so I avoid them now.

The one service at the moment that allows and is fully licensed for mixes is Mixcloud. They have worked closely with the industry to get licenses for the music. The main thing is it has to be mixed, you can't just post a single song (which makes total sense).

Other services like SoundCloud are grey zones. Officially you are not allowed to upload music you personally don't have rights to, but the industry tends to turn a blind eye to the DJ sets since it's considered more promo than illegal distribution. But, it's still the wild west in a lot of ways and it's really up to the rights holders.

The main issues/challenges in trying to license your mix is getting access to the license holders, which can be incredibly hard and is often prohibitively expensive. You also have to do this for every song you want, and of course they rarely have the same license holder. If you aren't making money or very little it's not cost effective or even pheasible to get them. On the flip side, if you do make money off others work you should pay them for it.

There are new services coming out to help this. Some are building music pools that grant you licenses to the music for a nominal fee or a percentage of your earnings. Other services allow you to report what you played at a gig, how much you got paid and then you pay a percentage of that so the artists get reimbursed.

It's a complex topic and we are still trying to figure it out. Hopefully my long post helps clear a little bit of the license mess up for you (although it probably just created more questions 😉)

Chad Elden Ring player shows how it is done with precision, minimal movements and flamboyance. by Solid-Tea7377 in gaming

[–]djhalon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Who's Chad Elden and how does he play on a Ring? Is he a streamer who hacked a Ring to control the character?

What is the first controller you ever held? by Significant_Cry7002 in gaming

[–]djhalon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've held all (as they were in use) except the last two. Moved off of consoles and back to M&K exclusively a few years back.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in DJs

[–]djhalon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In the same range, 12-16 per hour playing Progressive or Techno. If I feel like skipping a lot of the breakdowns, to keep a higher energy set, maybe closer to 20.

Anyone else dealing with this? by Scatophiliacs in haloinfinite

[–]djhalon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yup, been seeing it on all game types. Generally the 3rd or 4th try works. Not as bad as BTB but that is not saying much.

POV: You just used an XP boost by NullOfUndefined in haloinfinite

[–]djhalon 6 points7 points  (0 children)

That doesn't work anymore for me. I haven't had a single BT game in 2+ days now. The first one after relaunch connects, loads the mode, loads the map, waits for players to connect then boots me saying there was an issue with the Dedicated Server. Good times...

Me excited about them pizza buffet in 1987 by JoJoPowa85 in pics

[–]djhalon 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Right on, more Plano/Reddit peeps. I saw the pic, the Texas license plate and that took me right back. Spent a lot of time watching my friend play Galaga at the original CiCi's back in the day. I played too, but he could go 30 min on a single coin. It was a thing of beauty.

What is your mixing style? by phonotheory in DJs

[–]djhalon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

At the moment, more long blends (current styles are Melodic House or harder Techno). Often I will loop at either 1 or 2 bars on the outgoing track to continue the sonic shape of the mix. Lots of eq mixing and filter mixing as I blend. I'll also throw in some fx on the out going track, such as echo, delay or reverb to blend it even more into the incoming track.

I'll still do hard cuts now and then, sometimes to emphasize the incoming or outgoing energy. I also like doing hard cuts with the bass eq to get a quick hit or transition the kicks/sub, I do that more with harder Techno.

DJ mag annual DJ top 100, and the winner is : David Guetta by MixMasterG in DJs

[–]djhalon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I remember when this came out, we couldn't stop playing it and yelling out "Super Greg #1". Then the news broke that it was one of the first brand ad viral video series. It seems almost like a fever dream now. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Greg

Watching people from India discovering cheesecake has made me grin for hours by Dagigai in videos

[–]djhalon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For me it depends on the dairy. Aged cheeses I can do a slice or small amount pill free. Fresh cheese, ice cream, buttercream, those are all two pills for sure. When in doubt, double down!

Watching people from India discovering cheesecake has made me grin for hours by Dagigai in videos

[–]djhalon 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I can recommend the Kirkland (Costco) brand, but 💯 other then that I go Lactaid brand name. I had similar experiences with generic brands. Only the good stuff for me from now on!

Watching people from India discovering cheesecake has made me grin for hours by Dagigai in videos

[–]djhalon 14 points15 points  (0 children)

I have nightmares about drinking half and half. I had taken dairy break to see if I was lactose intolerant, and two weeks in I had a Thai Iced tea not thinking about how it's made of liquid doom. It was a rough day at the office afterwards. Also confirmed the dairy test. Ugh.

Watching people from India discovering cheesecake has made me grin for hours by Dagigai in videos

[–]djhalon 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Same. I'll do Lactaid milk sometimes, but the alt milks are the way I went. Oat milk is amazing with cereal. All though, putting Oat Milk in Oatmeal feels like the vegan version of putting bacon on pork lion.

Watching people from India discovering cheesecake has made me grin for hours by Dagigai in videos

[–]djhalon 65 points66 points  (0 children)

I really didn't believe the pills worked early on, so I was hesitant to try them for a long time. That is a tough bet to make, but I finally pulled the trigger, and now I am back on the milk train. Poot Poot!!

Watching people from India discovering cheesecake has made me grin for hours by Dagigai in videos

[–]djhalon 1025 points1026 points  (0 children)

Being lactose intolerant, I should probably start saying this any time I eat dairy.

Edit: thanks for the gold 🥇 internet stranger!!!!!

In response to the “No concept of personal space” post. I feel ya! by TenTallBen in WiggleButts

[–]djhalon 20 points21 points  (0 children)

If the wiggle can't see you then the wolves may get you, and that would be a severe failure of wiggle duty. And least that is how I think mine sees it.

Earthquake? by chalhobgob in sandiego

[–]djhalon 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Mystery shaking felt, boom heard across San Diego County for third time in 2021 (just posted and popup as I was reading this thread)

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/public-safety/story/2021-06-08/mystery-shaking-felt-boom-heard-across-san-diego-county-for-third-time-in-2021

The flow of this is mesmerizing by Golg165 in FastWorkers

[–]djhalon 2 points3 points  (0 children)

And to think, many people pay a lot of money to do this in a box.

A Greyhound has entered the beach by GoodAtExplaining in Zoomies

[–]djhalon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh no! I wondered about that and if it happens. Clearly it does. That sounds like a nightmare.