How does one start a legitimate collection these days?

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sawdust123

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I have been in the process of trashing my jewel cases (but saving the liner notes). I've noticed that I bought many used CDs over the years. This was mostly for older music as I replaced my vinyl and filled gaps in my library. It got me wondering how one builds a legitimate collection today. I guess one can still buy albums/singles off of iTunes and Amazon. However, these services seem like they are losing out to streaming sites such as Spotify and Pandora. It makes me wonder how a new DJ would build a legitimate (can be used for DJing) collection of oldies both now and in the future.
 
To be legit and no use of streaming, either buy CD's and rip 'em or buy music at ITunes or Google Play.
Those are great. There are other sites to buy music from. The thing is it will take time to build it up. It is however better than the good old days of buying vinyl. My first go around was 13 years and at that time I had 22 crates of records. That's how long it took me to build that collection.

It is much easier today to get music to become a DJ if that's what you want to become. The downside is some see that as a quick way to become a DJ. That and modern technology making it much easier to become a DJ. So some will think that this is a easy way to make some easy money. It's much more to it than that. The question is how dedicated are you willing to be?

Let me ask this question. What do you call older music? I ask this question because some will consider music from the 90's as old music and others will go back to the 50's as old music.
 
Buy used CDs, they're cheaper than ever now days. Ebay, Amazon, garage sales, pawn shops. Mp3s are still available aren't they? Google play also has them. In the future it may get harder, so good question.
 
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I have been in the process of trashing my jewel cases (but saving the liner notes). I've noticed that I bought many used CDs over the years. This was mostly for older music as I replaced my vinyl and filled gaps in my library. It got me wondering how one builds a legitimate collection today. I guess one can still buy albums/singles off of iTunes and Amazon. However, these services seem like they are losing out to streaming sites such as Spotify and Pandora. It makes me wonder how a new DJ would build a legitimate (can be used for DJing) collection of oldies both now and in the future.

The real issue is not the music it's your understanding of what is "legitimate." Your question tends to confuse mechanical rights with performing rights.
There is no inherent liability that owes to a DJ for hire that results from the act of playing a copyrighted work.
On that basis, the source of the playback is irrelevant to the disc jockey and always passes through to the end user or commercial user. Even then, we are only concerned with the performing rights required (if any) and not acts of piracy (duplication) or theft (internet hacking) which apply to the public at large not merely disc jockeys.

For example let's look at used Compact Discs. How we acquired them is irrelevant to them being played by a disc jockey. If we steal them - that's theft, not a copyright or performance issue. If we buy them from a used record store or previous owner they are now our property. If the prior owner or store copied or ripped them - that is a duplication (piracy) issue that remains their liability, not ours so long as we are not complicit in any arrangement and remain unaware in what is a typical arms-length good faith transaction.

Next, let's look at the record pools. Old Promo Only discs are (supposedly) prohibited from being resold by the subscribing DJ and this is largely a contract rather than copyright concern. With respect to copyright Promo Only has never enacted a recall of any of it's products and under prior court tests this "promotional material" has been deemed to be transferred with full ownership rights to the disc jockey. Leasing Copyrighted works is also prohibited under the Copyright Act so, that argument doesn't work either. The value of any of the content also declines precipitously with age making any damage claim quite specious. However, I don't recommend any DJ start listing these things on eBay (you do still have a contract liability where you promised NOT to sell them) but, if you hand them off at your retirement to a new DJ, or donate them to the next church yard sale no one at promo only or the music industry truly cares.

We can beg and borrow music all we want to play from. The issue of a "legitimate" source does not exist for the purpose of DJing. The issues of petty larceny, piracy, internet hacking, and unauthorized duplication exist for everyone. There's nothing "illegitimate" going on when a bride ask's you to stream spotify during her cocktail hour (save but the scandal of getting paid to do nothing!)

For the young newbie DJ looking to build a great oldies collection on a zero budget - start asking you're older neighbors and relatives for a job cleaning out their garage. Check out yard sales, salvage, and the discount bins. Find these old records and CDs - and when you do they are now your "legitimate" property (rights are fixed in the recording). Rip them to your hard drive and then send them to the landfill. The fact that your unlce might still have a mix-tape of this source material in his attic is not your problem to solve - and no one in the music industry cares.

What we shouldn't do is copy another person's hard drive or digital files, nor build a library off of content ripped from Youtube or other streaming playback sites. That's unauthorized duplication (piracy) and no one should be allowed to copy our own files either. That being said - who is actually using a given hard drive as a source to DJ from is not the issue. We can borrow another person's (singular) music collection, device, or our own streaming accounts to rock a dance floor. We are merely responsible to see that none of it is duplicated by/for them, us, distributed to others, or used to create derivative works.

When it comes to the issue of YouTube for example, there is nothing "illegitimate" about a DJ playing from YouTube as a source (unless broadcasting, netcasting, or restreaming the content.) The true issue is where a person captures or downloads the content to create their own new digital file product that didn't exist before and wasn't part of the YouTube license and service. This is the same as duplicating any copyright material that you didn'y actually buy, or acquire mechanical rights to.
 
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To be legit and no use of streaming, either buy CD's and rip 'em or buy music at ITunes or Google Play.

I would suggest that new DJs not buy anything unless and until someone actually makes a request for it, or it becomes a prolific hit. For example, It makes no sense to build a collection of 50's & 60's sock-hop if no one has asked us to do that type of gig. We may never be asked to play any of it - and if in the future we are then by that time a better or alternative solution might be availabe.
 
I would suggest that new DJs not buy anything unless and until someone actually makes a request for it, or it becomes a prolific hit. For example, It makes no sense to build a collection of 50's & 60's sock-hop if no one has asked us to do that type of gig. We may never be asked to play any of it - and if in the future we are then by that time a better or alternative solution might be availabe.
What do you do if a potential client is looking for a DJ who can provide the stuff you mentioned? If you agree to do the event, how long would you say it would take to get that stuff?

There's quite a bit of songs we as a DJ have that we may or may not play. You never know when someone may make a request for a specific song and specific version. Best to have it and need it then not to.

Don't forget nowadays you can easily go online and music on the fly if you have the way to do so and know how to do it.
 
For example, It makes no sense to build a collection of 50's & 60's sock-hop if no one has asked us to do that type of gig. And if in the future we are then by that time a better or alternative solution might be available.

Being a music addict, and starting as a DJ back in 1989, buying CD's and collecting them (then in 2002 ripping them) was a joy for me. But back then, we had no alternatives. Today, there are many...some of which are illegal but makes the whole process all too easy...

Your "in the future" outlook makes me wonder how in say 5 or 10 years will music be made and distributed...
 
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What do you do if a potential client is looking for a DJ who can provide the stuff you mentioned? If you agree to do the event, how long would you say it would take to get that stuff?

There's quite a bit of songs we as a DJ have that we may or may not play. You never know when someone may make a request for a specific song and specific version. Best to have it and need it then not to.

Don't forget nowadays you can easily go online and music on the fly if you have the way to do so and know how to do it.

Getting the music is easy, and takes very little time. Acquiring the knowledge to discern the right stuff is what will make or break your results.

While I was still a very young DJ I was asked to do an event that would be all 1930's and 40's music, big band and crooner type stuff specifically for dancing. I was at the time a club DJ and Video DJ playing current hit 70's and 80's dance/R&B. I spent at least two weeks in a studio listening to music - using my dance floor acumen to discern which of the tracks I was hearing would give the energy level I wanted while also corresponding to specific ballroom dance steps that the older crowd would be doing (Foxtrot, Samba, Rhumba, Swing, Waltz, etc.) I couldn't pronounce half the conductor's names at the time - but the result at the party was that people thought I was an expert in the genre!

The key thing to remember is that the party is only 4 or 5 hours long, while each track averages 3 minutes. So, I only needed to have a maximum of 100 go to tracks for my own piece of mind - along with specific requests made in advance by the host. The "investment" here is not the music - it's the knowledge that pays dividends in a DJ career. Trusting the client's requests and taking the time to research was well worth it. It made me a far better wedding DJ in the years that followed to know how to get the energy going in a room during the times most DJs write-off as "background music."

I once auditioned at posh top of the city lounge/restaurant where they wanted to add a DJ but keep the sultry ambience in tact. This was not to be a "club" or "party" and they assumed and expected no dancing with this format. What they wanted was smooth and sophisticated atmosphere. Each of the half-dozen DJs who worked the nights before me indeed had no one get up to dance, though people thought the music was "nice." I on the other hand got people dancing within 3 or 4 songs and people moved on and off the floor all night. Having had years to build and expand on the knowledge of those two weeks spent in the studio I was able to put out a more intoxicating mix that while remaining sultry and sophisticated - also enticed couples to stay and dance.

I still use that build process today. My music knowledge & experience is much wider I only listen to requests I don't know. I pour over every request list given to me and if I don't already have the tracks I add them. So, I basically continue to build my library on the basis of what people actually ask for along with a very modest CHR pool subscription. What use to cost me over $3,000 /yr to maintain now requires that I spend only about $225 /yr.

If I were a younger DJ today I would not set about building a music collection. I would build an audience and let them build the collection for me one request list at a time, while also moving forward with a modest pool subscription of CHR. If all of this can be done with a streaming pool that would be even sweeter. It seems to me that in this day and age "everyone is a DJ" or at least has the potential to be.
 
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