Karaoke Forums

I know that downloaded karaoke mp3g’s are for personal/home use & not for kj’s to play @ their venues. I need clarification from manus, or from you, my fellow kj's concerning their stance on custom song compilation cdg’s.

Are custom cdg’s ordered by kj’s alright to play @ the club? Format shift to laptop; being I now have the actual cd, hence the 1:1 ratio? I want to make sure that the two cd’s I ordered from SC/AUS will be ok to play before I order more. I would imagine, yes, it's ok because it's like buying an actual cd from the manus (triple the price ) Am I correct? Mods can transfer this thread to legalities as fitting. Thanks.

_________________
To be fortunate enough to derive an income from a source as fulfilling as karaoke music has got to be as close to heaven as we can get here on earth!

You're asking for legal opinions and the answer to your question depends on the judge who's hearing the case.

My understanding of the situation (I am not a lawyer):

If the songs are legal, then they can be used in a commercial establishment as long as the establishment has paid their ASCAP fees. The exception would be if you've signed a personal use only contract with the manufacturer that says you can't. You should probably pay close attention to any terms that you agree to when you download them.

Format shifting will be found legal if the question ever goes to trial. It's covered under fair use.

That's my opinion. Others believe differently.

You do? I don't. Nothing in black and white tells me so. iTunes exists, so it is legal. Terms and conditions say "no public performance", but so do karaoke CDGs. (Those of course mean ASCAP/BMI.)


Good luck. If you believe the verbiage from someone, I suggest you light a candle to them.


Chartbuster claims it isn't legal to rip -- you have to buy their digitals.

This whole issue is waiting for legal clarification. As long as I have bought a disk or downloaded a digital from a manufacturer who allows downloads, and my venue pays ASCAP/BMI, I consider myself to be completely legal. I refuse to be intimidated by posts to forums by people claiming to be people and citing arcane terms and conditions that have no law behind them.

If they were to put a BIG TEXT CONDITIONS on their front page saying THIS DOWNLOAD IS NOT TO BE USED IN A PUBLIC KARAOKE SHOW EVER, I might consider a change to my position. But they won't, because they don't want to crater their sales.

_________________
[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

My sentiments also.

Funny, Sound Choice and Karaoke Channel has such a BIG TEXT disclamor stating that their downloads are private use only.

_________________
The Line Array Experiment is over. Nothing to see here. Move along.

That's them -- I don't use those downloads, nor do I know of anyone else who has mentioned them here as a source for their shows.

_________________
[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

My position as well.

Hear, Hear! I am lighting a candle to you mckyj57.

Right On!

_________________
Music speaks to the heart in ways words cannot express.

Thankfully, this appears to have changed recently... I found this in the Chartbusters FAQ on their site...

http://www.chartbusterkaraoke.com/faq

Or if you don't care to sort through all that read on...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What uses are acceptable for Chartbuster Karaoke discs?

You may not shift the Content of the Original Media to any Non-Original Medium unless you are in compliance with our media-shifting policy:

* Provided that such media-shifting is otherwise in compliance with the laws of the United States or Canada (as applicable), you may shift the Content stored on each of the Original Media to ONE Non-Original Medium of your choice.
* You must maintain possession of the Original Media whose Content you have shifted during the entire time the Content is stored on the Non-Original Medium.
* While the Content has been shifted, you may not use the Original Media for any purpose, commercial or otherwise.
* If you desire to shift the Content of any of the Original Media to more than one Non-Original Medium, you must acquire one or more additional original discs, so that you maintain a 1-to-1 relationship between original discs and the non-original media.
* We do not indemnify you against any action or claim by any third party."

I've bought several custom CB disks, and it is good to see they agree with what I already am practicing.

I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but they tag the track "licensed to CB-mckyj57", which is my user name at their site.

_________________
[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

The first time a CB Custom flashed my personal email to the room, I thought, "What the h---?" Now I point it out--"See, we bought these songs legitimately." They put user numbers on them now, instead, but I think you can have that changed.

I am not using the Karaoke Channel downloads at my show yet, but I question the ability of Sound Choice/Karaoke Channel to effectively write the law on this.

The issue may be not completely settled, but a publisher/manu can not put conditions or limitations on the use of a product at will. They have to conform to the laws and other legal precidents on the matter. A judge might find Karaoke Channel's restrictions reasonable and binding or the judge might find the restrictions unreasonable.

I doubt SC/KC actually want this to see the inside of a courtroom. There is a lot of incentive by the legal system to have all products of a catagory made by different companies treated the same not a complex mix or rules applying to one brand but not another.

I may be wrong here but that is the way I see it.


There is nothing inherent about the idea of a download that makes it necessaraly illegal as a karaoke product for commercial use. The only problem is if one company chooses not to sell their product in that form, and the product is therefore pirated if one buys it in that form.

The music download sites put similar rules on the use of digital downloads by DJs. If I may draw an analogy, it's like selling a tool to a shade tree mechanic at one price while charging more if the purchaser is a professional mechanic. It just seems like a patently unfair arrangement, but what the court would say? Who knows? I don't think I've ever heard about a DJ being sued for using a digital download he purchased yet. Anybody out there heard of such a case?

After reading all the posts above I’ll just go ahead & order more custom cdg’s. I concluded there were truly no difference between the original cdg’s I bought from my karaoke supplier and the compilation custom songs ordered from the same company even though they’re now based outside continental U.S. Thanks for your enlightening posts.

_________________
To be fortunate enough to derive an income from a source as fulfilling as karaoke music has got to be as close to heaven as we can get here on earth!