I received an interesting/fun email. It was from this DJ, based in Japan, but it looks like he’s a pretty big player in the game and travels the world. He told me that when he can he screens my Zen Film, The Roller Blade Seven behind him when he spins his discs.
 
…I know, I know, nobody spins discs anymore. But, doesn’t it just sound so much cooler to describe what they are doing as spinning discs, than just saying, playing with some computer-based controls as they blast out their tunes?
 
Anyway… The guy goes on to say, that due to is visual nature, it’s a great enhancement to the music and an excellent conversation piece as people are always asking him about what it is and who it is and stuff like that when he is in-between his sets.
 
It sounds like some manager, at one of the clubs he was DJing at, asked him if he had been assigned the rights to the movie. If not, how is he playing it? And, unless he could show him the document where he holds the rights, he couldn’t show the film.
 
I guess this provided the DJ with some realization that people, other than him, need to get paid if they are going to use their stuff.
 
The reality of the reality is, however, and I would guess that most of the people who actually created the music that the DJs plays are not being compensated for their creations. Though, by all legal rights, they are supposed to be. But, nobody thinks about any of that stuff. Do you? Probably not. When you are shaking your body, in a club, to the music sent out by the DJ, do you care about where that song originated or who composed or performed the music as long as it is getting you to move? Same with the music played in bars or wherever. The creators are supposed to be paid, but generally, they are not.  
 
On the larger reality of creation, like in the case of a movie, many a soul now believes they can do whatever they want and play it wherever they want, whenever they want. The fact is, who can control that? Answer: Nobody. Sure, on websites like YouTube and stuff, if you are the Rights Holder to a film, you can have it pulled down if someone who does not own the rights is putting it up there. But, like in the case of this DJ, I would have never known if he had not told me.
 
I get it, The Roller Blade Seven is a very bizarre and visual movie. So, I understand why it would be a good piece to play behind your DJ set. People have used footage from it to make Music Videos for their band’s music and stuff like that for decades at this point in time. For those reasons and others, I’m proud to have been a big part of its creation. It has stood the test of time.
 
Every now and then, I’m contacted by someone who wants to show it (and/or some of my other Zen Films) at their film festival. Like I always tell them. “Thanks for asking as so few Film Festival Coordinators do.” They just play it without asking. Which is, by the Copyright Laws of the Land, illegal. Some ask, “How much?” Again, I tell them thanks for the asking, but, “No charge.”  Which is the same thing (in essence) I told the DJ.
 
You know, in this world so few people actually understand, care about, or appreciate ART, by whatever form that ART may take. They just want to love it or hate it or talk about it or whatever it… But, all that is not the appreciation of ART, it’s just human mumbo-jumbo. It’s just playing a Mind Game. But, for those who notice a piece of art, realize the art in something that others may overlook, and truly try to present it in a positive manner to the world, how can that be a bad thing? No Charge.