Karaoke Forums

How many of you will or will not do this for your singers?? I have a few that would like a cd made of their performances, for their personal use to enjoy. Any issues with this?

Other than the legalities - copyright infringement.
I have done it in the past when I didn't know any better.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

I wondered about that, if it was labeled for private use only etc. too bad, a nice thing for people to have.

you can do it, just dont sell it to them for profit.

record it and give it to them for free......

probably not legal, but the irs won't come after you for not paying taxes on the profitable income.

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It's all good!

The difference would be between them recording it themselves for private, and a commercial show is that they didn't supply the music, the show did.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

If you are offering this as an amenity to your show, then you are profiting from it and the fact that it is for the personal use of the patron who did or did not pay you directly is irrelevant.

You can obtain a license to make small quantities of CDs from the Harry Fox Agency for about $15 per song (plus 10 cents royalty per copy per song).

You would also need permission from the creator of the cover version of the track.
If you are a gem set licensee, they sort-of grant that permission in your license agreement although it only mentions streaming...

If you plan to make a video of the performance, then you would need to contact the publisher of the song to aquire the sync license.

Perhaps the easiest way to do it and be completely legal about the whole thing, would be to choose a handful of songs, get the licensing and permissions together for those songs ahead of time and offer only those songs as the ones available to be recorded. That way the cost will be lower. After the licensing fee is paid you only pay the royalty for each copy you make (or plan to make).

Cheaper yet, would be to offer it using only those filler songs that are in the public domain (no licensing needed), then you would only need permission from the manufacturer of the track (if even that).

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KNOW THYSELF

Agreed, and did the same thing. Only back then the recording was on a cassette.

Don't know if anyone is enforcing, but the fact that there was a legal issue at all was enough for me to stop doing it.

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

Harry gives you a license to cover a song, but does that cover, using a karaoke manufacturer's instrumental reconstruction of the song?..........just my opinion......I'd say no.

It never even occurred to me there would be legal issues. I'm new to this. I've DJ'd parties and dances for years, but I'm just now branching into karaoke and have my first show coming up in two weeks. The karaoke player I bought has the ability to record a singers performance to a flash drive or SD card so i can move it to my laptop and burn a CD for them to take home. I planned on selling this for a few bucks to make a little extra money. Like I said, it never even occurred to me this could be a problem.

Is this something I could actually get in trouble doing, or is it more like jaywalking that's technically illegal, but everyone does it and no one cares?

Thanks.

You could get in trouble if the right entity happened upon it. Especially if your club is not paying their yearly PRO fees (ASCAP/BMI/SESAC), these entities would be the ones that would most likely file a stink - i've seen it done around here which is what made me quit in the first place.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Though I completely agee with Lon's statement, I would add a clarification. The statement definitely applies if you get caught in the process. However, once the singer brings the tape....er,....disc home, no one will bug them. It's all about limiting PROFESSIONAL liability, and as such, it's not a good idea for the host.

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

I have been asked a few times to make people a copy but have always politely declined. These days people just whip out thier phones and record thier own video.

What if someone films with their own video camera and posts it to something like YouTube? Because I know there is video of me out there... Then again, I didn't post it or film it, right? I'm just the guy singing badly. Am I in the clear?

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Co-host of The Greatest Song Ever Sung (Poorly), a karaoke-themed podcast

Under those circumstance, you are. He who posted could get heat, but it all depends if the proper entity sees it or not.

BTW- that's a seriously kick-a$$ shirt, my friend. Nice job....

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

Thanks! It's our stupid karaoke team. It's kind of pointless because we live in the sticks, so there is no "rival team." But it is fun on road trips when we all roll up together in matching jerseys.

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Co-host of The Greatest Song Ever Sung (Poorly), a karaoke-themed podcast

I always look drunk in pictures:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v435/ ... 2fc038.jpg


We also did throwback jerseys:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v435/ ... e58c54.jpg

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Co-host of The Greatest Song Ever Sung (Poorly), a karaoke-themed podcast

You're in Seattle, aren't you?? That is like the heart of American music nowadays. That is why you get bothered all the time with this nonsense. If a guy is in a rural area, far removed from the mainstream, there should be no problem with recording performances for customers. I used to go to a place on Long Island that would do that, and they NEVER had trouble over it.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Seen what done? The recording or someone filing "a stink?"

I've never.... EVER.... seen ASCAP or anyone else file any kind of action against a KJ for recording anything, anywhere.

Can you give us at least one example?

I post on youtube, and youtube has notified me, that it has been brought to their attention, that some of my videos may contain copyrited material. They say, nothing has to be done on my part, until they get some serious complaints/action about the videos. Some have been on for about 2 years with this warning. You can actually make money on youtube with advertising banners, which I have been offered, but will always decline because of such material. I think it makes a difference, since I don't make any money, but youtube does make money from the site. There must be a billion or so videos on youtube which use karaoke, music, logos....etc....that are copyrited. To this date, I've never been asked to remove a video, and that would be the first step, when someone puts their foot down.

There was a lawsuit against a bar and kj in Eastern Washington by ASCAP or BMI a while back but that was for using copied discs. A club I worked at in 95 had to shut down all entertainment for two weeks while they worked out a deal which included retro active payments. The club I work at now never thought they needed to pay, but were hounded for 2 years and finally received a letter of intent to sue from ASCAP. They've paid all 3 since 96.

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