I just read Kevin Kienan's response and he was 100% on, but there is a
tangent I would like to add. Kevin was right in asserting the main
problem is finding people to duplicate the tape (I'm guessing you are
looking for quality on this one) and you need to find some service that will
see past the law or do some runs of your own. There are legitimate uses
of copyrighted material however ("fair use" in U. S. law best exemplified by
the 2 Live Crew case): education, non-commercial, "free speech"/criticism,
etc. It is unlikely that a typical DJ mix tape could make these claims or
more importantly win them.
But let's say that you are a "good DJ" (as defined by the other thread) and
want to claim that your ability to beat match, mix, crossfade, select tunes,
add sequenced lines, etc. is your "free speech" right or somehow
"educational" in purpose. The duplicator refuses your tape. Now the
duplicator has just interpreted a law where a gray area exists (again, let's
assume that a gray area exists). Undoubtedly, the duplicator gets some
legal advice or hear's things second hand about the application of copyright
law to their business, but they are not qualified to interpret the "gray
area". I understand why a duplicator, a label, a distributor etc. would
want to avoid the potential legal problems just to get some DJ's business
but it is exactly what is wrong with copyright law. There is little chance
of testing the limits as a small fry even if you have a legitimate "fair
use" claim because one's "free speech" rights only last as far as you have
money for legal maneuvers. So "free speech" is actually "freely produced
speech with lots of money for distribution". This whole discussion does
not apply exactly to mix tapes generally but it does apply to an increasing
amount of mixtape like work.
More info on copyright and "fair use" for the U.S. can be found at
http://www.benedict.com/. If you think copyright law is inappropriate for
creative work you can join MACOS at http://www.io.org/~macos/ .
Anyway, I would be interested in the tape itself.
Jim Westrich // J Wes
"The act of selection can be a form of inspiration as original and
significant as
any other"
Stephen J. Raphael