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[Thygrrr]

Sadly, music licensing is a pain in the ass in Germany. All music rights belong to one organisation who have the absolute monopoly, and believe me, dealing with them is like going to the dentist without anesthesia and having your wallet stolen while you're still in pain.

We COULD try a Creative Commons dance (in a Panel room, clearly not on the main stage). This might also be construed as a nice sociopolitical statement, too.

Over 90% of my music collection is CC anyway (and the rest is *gasp* properly licensed, but only for personal use).

Actually, I'd volunteer to DJ for it (or rather, arrange a playlist, because it couldn't be much more than that and it would work better with CC-ND material) ... though not necessarily with a focus on Dark Culture as previously suggested, since I think that stuff can be equally hard on your spirit as dubstep, doomcore or hardstyle.

This could fail massively, though, seeing how many people have expectations to hear certain songs, etc. And a lot of the CC music out there is great, but not mainstream.

Nevertheless, I'd love to give it a try in 2012.


The genres I have a decent ear for include:

• big beat
• breakbeat
• uplifting trance
• chiptune / retro / 8 bit
• metal
• alternative rock
• post rock
• folk rock
• lounge / downtempo (not danceable)
• soundtrack / orchestral (totally not danceable)

I imagine this as a three-to-five set evening, each set about an hour.

Core Issues I see are:

• Music Selection / DJ quality (we need a modest consensus at least)
• Attendance (need a few promoters who entice people to dance and have fun)
• Equipment (a boom box and a tape deck won't cut it, it needs some lighting)

What does the "we want an alternative dance" crowd think? What does Cheetah think?

[Cheetah]

It sounds like a good idea, but we'll first have to figure out what kind of documentation we need to prove our innocense in case Gema files a claim against us. It'll probably boil down to having a complete setlist with all author names and adresses and written license documentation available in case we get any requests.

(Frankly, I don't think anyone will notice, but EF does not only have friends in this world out there ... I don't want to have to waste money on lawyers and lawsuits.)

[Thygrrr]

Compiling such a list could be mildly difficult (if true postal addresses are required), but it's something I could prepare along with the DJ set if it was required.

I have reliable means of reaching most of the artists in my collection.

[Ralesk]

It sounds like a good idea, but we'll first have to figure out what kind of documentation we need to prove our innocense in case Gema files a claim against us. It'll probably boil down to having a complete setlist with all author names and adresses and written license documentation available in case we get any requests.

(Frankly, I don't think anyone will notice, but EF does not only have friends in this world out there ... I don't want to have to waste money on lawyers and lawsuits.)

How do you deal with all the music you otherwise played on this EF then? (eg. the mixes in the Piano Bar)

[Cheetah]

How do you deal with all the music you otherwise played on this EF then? (eg. the mixes in the Piano Bar)

We are paying a four-figure amount of licensing fees - unfortunately, those are "per room" - or rather "by capacity".

[Ralesk]

How do you deal with all the music you otherwise played on this EF then? (eg. the mixes in the Piano Bar)

We are paying a four-figure amount of licensing fees - unfortunately, those are "per room" - or rather "by capacity".

Ah, lovely, sounds very similar to the Hungarian way of things.

[Zefiro]

It sounds like a good idea, but we'll first have to figure out what kind of documentation we need to prove our innocense in case Gema files a claim against us. It'll probably boil down to having a complete setlist with all author names and adresses and written license documentation available in case we get any requests.

It seems like quite a big risk, as the law unfairly favors GEMA. This current German article - Die GEMA kassiert für eine Veranstaltung, auf der einzig CC-Musik lief - is about exactly that: a 8h dance evening with only CC music, for wich GEMA successfully demanded money.

If you want to help and you are a, or know a, German musician which is not part of the GEMA, please read this: Operation GEMA-Vermutung

*purrrr*