Thread: Balaha Royalty-Free Dance Music?

[Crossposted elsewhere on the 'Net]

Does anyone know the situation around the Balaha Records music that's promoted on their site as "Royalty Free?" I ask because, obviously, music that we can dance to without legal entanglements is of use.

But exactly what do they mean by "Royalty Free?" Can I use it in classes and workshops for "free"? On a DVD of my performances? I’m concerned there’s no notice on the site that I can find about what rights we who use the music actually have.

I’m planning to email them, but before I do, I wanted to ask here and another place to see if anyone has actual experience around these CDs.

Opinions?

BALAHA RECORDS - ROYALTY FREE MUSIC !!! - Balaha Records

My understanding, based on looking at his website is that there are only a few CD's that are actually advertised as Royalty Free and most are his own work with the exception being a couple of Mohamed Ali and Mo Geddawi CD's.

He might have chosen not to secure his own work through a licensing organization, but I can't imagine he's convinced all of those other musicians to release their own properties from royalty earning. I suppose things could have changed, but Hossam Ramzy wasn't that cavalier when Jay-Z sampled his "Khusara Khusara," and that recording is here. My guess is it's just not clear what's free and what isn't.

As mentioned, I emailed Balaha Records on this question. Here is the response:

Royalty Free means CDs, these CDs are not in Germany at the "GEMA" are
registered and they pay no fees for public use.

https://www.gema.de/startseite.html

First off, anyone reading this who's thinking of usage should likely find someone who can write German to follow-up (info@balaha-records.de), as the company is based there, and some of my trepidation is around translation issues. The following is just my interpretation, one based solely on my US knowledge, and I'm certain people will differ -- and you should not depend on said interpretation, as I will not if I chose to use this music. I Am Not A Lawyer (IANAL).


Briefly, my take is that this music can be performed without paying to GEMA (the German equivalent of BMI/ASCAP) in public performances. This means venues that aren’t already covering your license to play music would not have any liability, which could be of use. It also should mean less risk in playing this music in classes and workshops you teach (but not “no risk” as too many people know; I just heard another tale of BMI/ASCAP overreach last month!)



I would still be especially wary of the public release of recordings of performances to these works without further clarification. With liability for breach of copyright being litigated in very aggressive ways, their brief commentary leaves me wary. And if the Wikipedia article on GEMA is correct, people in Germany have especial reason to be concerned; it seems the legal burden of proof that these works are not licensed through GEMA is on you, not GEMA (which is how BMI/ASCAP in the US tends to act, with varying results). Again, IANAL.



Anyway, this is starting to turn into an essay, so I’ll end here.

I don't know. Some of these titles are protected outside of GEMA. For example, "At The Gates of the Citadel" and "Last Words By The Temple" by Phil Thornton and Hossam Ramzy have ASCAP numbers, but "Derwood Green" isn't listed in the ACE database. I have no idea what might be registered elsewhere through other rights organizations, but it's clearly not all royalty-free.

Once again, please note that the CD's that he lists as Royalty free comprise only 2 pages. With the exception of 4 CDS, all the CD's that are royalty free are his own. Not every CD listed on the website is listed as royalty free.

Originally Posted by norma

BALAHA RECORDS - ROYALTY FREE MUSIC !!! - Balaha Records

My understanding, based on looking at his website is that there are only a few CD's that are actually advertised as Royalty Free and most are his own work with the exception being a couple of Mohamed Ali and Mo Geddawi CD's.

I think you are right, Norma. Normally he would be the rights owner of his music and therefore free to allow people to use it as he wishes. BUT the public performance rights (which he seems to be offering for free) are different from the synchronization rights . He is NOT allowing anyone to make a DVD with his music - just play it in their classrooms or perform to it publicly. 2 very different kettle of fish...

Originally Posted by norma

Once again, please note that the CD's that he lists as Royalty free comprise only 2 pages. With the exception of 4 CDS, all the CD's that are royalty free are his own. Not every CD listed on the website is listed as royalty free.

The way he has the site formatted is very confusing, though. "BALAHA RECORDS - ROYALTY FREE MUSIC !!!" looks like a title above the other entries in the left menu, and the average reader is not going to pick up that only the top two, all-caps items are the royalty-free music, especially when: (a) "Balaha Records" is the title graphic on all of the pages, not just his, and (b) those pages don't have a disclaimer separating them from the others.

Looks like he has a new CD out with 3 full routines!

Sayed Balaha - Balaha Shows Vol.1 - Balaha Records