Re:Disc Jockey or Mixing Artist? (Score 1)

I would call most club DJs (which this article seems to be about) performers, but not musicians. It's tough to properly express the distinction (seems to largely be a battle of semantics), but I'd separate it by saying that DJs are using something already fully constructed, while musicians are working with far more basic building blocks, in general. Essentially any track a DJ plays can stand on its own as a piece of music, but this already constructed thing is the building block a DJ works with. Musicians are working on the basis of notes, which are then formed into chords, and those chords into an entire song, but at a basic level their tools are atomized. Artistry comes in when more atomized pieces are used, for example, playing over a track with a synthesizer, or creating musical notes via highly skilled scratching. I'm a vinyl/laptop DJ myself, and I've had similar discussions to this one emerge from time to time. Speaking of which, the effect this would have on DJs who use Final Scratch or Serato Scratch Live will be interesting to see should it actually be enforced...how do these rules apply if you're playing club-licensed vinyls with your own digital vinyl rips, and mixing the two together?