Short answer: in most countries the venue or the event organizer pays for the right to play recorded music to the public, not the DJ. Your job is to turn up with music you obtained legally and to know the few cases where the bill lands on you: nights you promote yourself, some mobile DJ work, copying music for gigs in a couple of countries, and anything you record or stream. This is not legal advice. Rules differ by country and change often, so treat this as a map and check with the collecting society where you play.
What a public performance license is
Playing a track to a room full of people is a separate right from owning a copy of it. The licensing FAQ of ASCAP in the US puts it plainly: buying a record "does not authorize its public performance", and public performance includes "playing recorded music in businesses over speakers or by DJs". A collecting society (a body that represents songwriters, publishers, labels or performers) sells a blanket license covering its whole catalog, and the business that benefits from the music buys it. Most countries have two layers, one society for the songs and another for the recordings, sometimes sold together at a single counter.
The buyer is the club, the bar, the hotel or the promoter of the night. ASCAP says its license lets a business "entertain your customers, guests and employees". PPL PRS in the UK says "If you use, play or perform music in your business, the chances are you need a music licence". None of them is talking to the DJ in the booth. When you play a licensed venue, the performance is covered, whether the music comes from a USB stick, a laptop or a DJ streaming service.
Who is who, country by country
Names change and societies merge, so this is a starting point, not a rulebook.
| Country | Who licenses the venue | The DJ's own case |
|---|---|---|
| United States | ASCAP, BMI and SESAC; venues often hold more than one | If you promote the night, you are the business. The societies sell no DJ copy license. |
| United Kingdom | PPL PRS Ltd sells TheMusicLicence for PRS for Music (songs) and PPL (recordings) | Mobile DJs at single events; nights you promote yourself |
| France | SACEM: the organizer of a concert or dance event, or the bar, applies | If you organize the night, you apply |
| Germany | GEMA, paid by the venue or organizer; it also collects the recording share for GVL | Copies you make for gigs (tariff VR-Ö); nights you organize |
| Netherlands | Buma/Stemra (songs) and Sena (recordings) | If you organize the event, ask both |
| Spain | SGAE (songs) plus AGEDI and AIE (recordings) | If you organize the event, ask them |
| Canada | SOCAN (songs) and Re:Sound (recordings), sold together through Entandem | If you organize the event, ask Entandem |
| Australia | OneMusic Australia (APRA AMCOS and PPCA); the government page says it covers "recorded music for dance, DJs, and more" | If you organize the event, ask OneMusic |
When the DJ is the one who pays
You promote the night. If you rent a hall, sell tickets and book yourself, you are the organizer, and the organizer is the licensee. GEMA's information sheet for disc jockeys says a DJ owes GEMA "wenn er selbst der Veranstalter der Wiedergabe ist" (when the DJ is the organizer), and the UK mobile DJ tariff excludes "events promoted by the mobile DJ", which need "a separate licence application".
Mobile work, in some countries. In the UK, PPL publishes a Mobile DJ Tariff for "single events, such as fetes, office parties". It costs 269.59 GBP per DJ per year plus VAT for the period 1 October 2026 to 30 September 2027. It does not cover nights in "discotheques, night clubs, pubs or similar venues", which are the venue's job, and it is not needed for "domestic events (eg. birthdays, weddings), for which no PPL licence is required".
Copying music for public performance. In Germany, GEMA's tariff VR-Ö covers copies made to be played in public, including "Vervielfältigungen durch Diskjockeys". The version dated 1 January 2026 charges 0.18 EUR per work and copy, or 69.76 EUR per started 500 copies on an annual flat-rate contract, plus 7 percent VAT. GEMA's FAQ on the tariff says files bought from a legal download store and not copied further are outside it. In the UK, the old ProDub license, a joint MCPS and PPL license for DJs who copy music onto a laptop or other media, is no longer listed on the PRS for Music site; if you still rip discs for gigs, ask PPL PRS what applies today. In the US the performing rights societies sell no DJ copy license: ASCAP says it "does not license recording rights".
Prices checked October 2026.
The music itself
Buy your tracks from a store, or stream them through a plan sold for DJ use. Beatport Streaming describes itself as a catalog for "the world's top DJ software and hardware", and TIDAL sells a DJ Extension for the same purpose; read the terms of whichever service you pick. Spotify's own help page for DJ apps says the service and its music "are intended for personal, non-commercial use only" and that "Public performance, including playing mixes in clubs, venues, events, or livestreams isn't permitted", even though Spotify Premium now loads inside rekordbox, Serato, VirtualDJ, djay, Cross DJ and edjing. Apple's media terms say the same: "You may use the Services and Content only for personal, noncommercial purposes".
Ripping from YouTube is the easy trap. YouTube's terms forbid you to "access, reproduce, download, distribute" content except with permission from YouTube and the rights holders, and in almost every country a ripped file is a copy you had no right to make.
Recording and sharing your mixes
A mix uploaded to the internet is a copy and a public performance of every track in it, so the platform's own licenses decide what happens. Mixcloud says "Everything is copyright cleared and artists get paid when their music is played". SoundCloud's help center says a mix containing someone else's track generally needs that rights holder's permission and can be removed, and is restored only if you can show permission for every track in it. YouTube's Content ID, the system that matches uploads against a database of recordings, can block the video, run ads on it for the rights holder or just track it. On Twitch, a live set is a public performance of the recordings. The DJ Program launched in 2024 with the major labels covers the live stream, but Twitch's own guide says DJs in the program "will not be able to save, or let viewers save VODs, Clips, Highlights, or Uploads" (a VOD is the saved recording of a stream), and when a rights holder reports a recording, Twitch "may remove or mute the VODs".
Remixes, edits and mashups
Playing your own edit of a track in a set is common practice and rarely questioned, but the law on edits varies by country, so ask your society if edits are a big part of your sets. Releasing or selling an edit is clearly a different act. GEMA's sheet for DJs lists what you must clear before a mix can be sold or put online: the publisher's permission to adapt the composition and the label's permission to use the recording. Without both, an unofficial remix on a store or a streaming service is an infringement. Official free downloads are the clean route: the producer chose to give the file away. Our free downloads guide shows where to find them.
What to do in practice
- Ask the venue once. "Are you licensed for recorded music?" Serious venues have the certificate.
- Keep receipts. Store orders, Bandcamp emails, promo pool records, label promos.
- Perform only from DJ plans or bought files. Discover anywhere, play out from a plan whose terms allow it.
- For your own events, call the society before you sell tickets. A license arranged before the night is simpler than a bill after it.
- Publish mixes where they are licensed. Mixcloud for long mixes; elsewhere, expect claims.
Rules differ by country and they move, and this post is not legal advice: the society in your country is the place to check. Our guide to streaming or buying compares the legal ways to get your music, and the style crates show what the big DJs really play, each with a 30-second official preview and links to buy or listen.