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A very popular long running karaoke venue in my town just fired the KJ that had been there for approximately a decade. He had great equipment, a very large legal library, and zero personality. The venue is a tourist favorite near one of the finest beaches in the world (according to Dr. Beach), and has little chance of failure during season (Dec to April).

So the venue purchased nearly identical quality equipment which includes QSC 15" speakers, 2 18" QSC subs, digital mixer, and Shure Beta 58 wireless mics. Duplicating the equipment was the easy part, duplicating the music was not so easy or cheap. They chose to go with Karafun streaming service, and word has it that is sucks and just stops playing in the middle of a song.

A friend of mine (a fellow KJ) went there last week and asked for 3 songs and they were not in the 20K library from Karafun. Another friend asked for 3 songs, and they had 2 of them, but one of the songs was not acceptable to him in quality.

Will they lose business because of the new library, or a song stopping in the middle of the song? Probably not until after season ends, but the locals will not be happy. The venue also hired a young green horn, because anyone can find a song and key it up.... right!

Well, the first weekend was a total disaster because no one knew how to run the digital mixer, and many song requests could not be filled. If they had books some the problems could have been diverted by pointing the singers at the books to check the selection. The KJ had to constantly ask for a second choice of songs.

I know that we have discussed Karafun, and KNF used to give it the highest marks possible, but is it legal for commercial use if all pro fees are paid? I would bet that the venue has been told that it is legal.

Author:	southernsounds4u [ Mon Dec 05, 2016 3:25 am ]
Post subject:	Is it legal?
If you're paying for a streaming service which allows you to perform commercially, can you legally post those videos to the Internet ? I was posting a couple to Facebook and it wouldn't let me without claiming I had the rights to do so

Author:	JimHarrington [ Mon Dec 05, 2016 4:56 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Is it legal?
southernsounds4u wrote: If you're paying for a streaming service which allows you to perform commercially, can you legally post those videos to the Internet ? I was posting a couple to Facebook and it wouldn't let me without claiming I had the rights to do so It's impossible to say without seeing the terms and conditions of the streaming service. Even then, the streaming service might not have the right to authorize you to do that, and might not tell you.

Author:	mrmarog [ Mon Dec 05, 2016 6:24 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Is it legal?
A very popular long running karaoke venue in my town just fired the KJ that had been there for approximately a decade. He had great equipment, a very large legal library, and zero personality. The venue is a tourist favorite near one of the finest beaches in the world (according to Dr. Beach), and has little chance of failure during season (Dec to April). So the venue purchased nearly identical quality equipment which includes QSC 15" speakers, 2 18" QSC subs, digital mixer, and Shure Beta 58 wireless mics. Duplicating the equipment was the easy part, duplicating the music was not so easy or cheap. They chose to go with Karafun streaming service, and word has it that is sucks and just stops playing in the middle of a song. A friend of mine (a fellow KJ) went there last week and asked for 3 songs and they were not in the 20K library from Karafun. Another friend asked for 3 songs, and they had 2 of them, but one of the songs was not acceptable to him in quality. Will they lose business because of the new library, or a song stopping in the middle of the song? Probably not until after season ends, but the locals will not be happy. The venue also hired a young green horn, because anyone can find a song and key it up.... right! Well, the first weekend was a total disaster because no one knew how to run the digital mixer, and many song requests could not be filled. If they had books some the problems could have been diverted by pointing the singers at the books to check the selection. The KJ had to constantly ask for a second choice of songs. I know that we have discussed Karafun, and KNF used to give it the highest marks possible, but is it legal for commercial use if all pro fees are paid? I would bet that the venue has been told that it is legal.

Author:	jclaydon [ Mon Dec 05, 2016 2:43 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Is it legal?
Karafun has two subscriptions. Non commercial for about $10US/month and the professional version is $140. The Home version is not legal to use in a venue unless you use your own karaoke music, but most people use it anyway. The pro version should be legal to use because all the PRO fees like ASCAP etc are paid by the venue. The main advantage of the pro subscription is that you can dl the entire catalog and use the songs without an internet connection, which would most likely mean no freezing or skipping issues.

Author:	Brian A [ Mon Dec 05, 2016 6:56 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Is it legal?
Quote from their site: “KaraFun offers a professional subscription that covers public use of the catalog and the apps. This offer is perfect for Karaoke DJ's (KJ), Bar owners, Entertainers, and any public event that needs a professional karaoke solution”. I think I’ll maintain a degree of skepticism and take that quote with a grain of salt. Same goes to buykaraokedownloads. For all I know they’re probably legal. I also read somewhere in another thread that some or most of their tracks are supplied by karaokeversion (need to search the post). but streaming subscription will depend on your venue’s wifi mbps speed or you’ll be at the mercy of failing network wifi connection.

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Author:	Brian A [ Mon Dec 05, 2016 7:01 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Is it legal?
jclaydon wrote: The main advantage of the pro subscription is that you can dl the entire catalog and use the songs without an internet connection, which would most likely mean no freezing or skipping issues. Ooops! I just read jclaydon’s post, so please disregard last sentence of my post; re: streaming subscription depending on your venue’s wifi mbps speed.

Author:	Lonman [ Tue Dec 06, 2016 1:29 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Is it legal?
Well if you consider Karaoke Version legal, then Karafun would be since they use that music and is the same company.

Author:	The Lone Ranger [ Mon Dec 12, 2016 2:28 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Is it legal?
mrmarog wrote: A very popular long running karaoke venue in my town just fired the KJ that had been there for approximately a decade. He had great equipment, a very large legal library, and zero personality. The venue is a tourist favorite near one of the finest beaches in the world (according to Dr. Beach), and has little chance of failure during season (Dec to April). So the venue purchased nearly identical quality equipment which includes QSC 15" speakers, 2 18" QSC subs, digital mixer, and Shure Beta 58 wireless mics. Duplicating the equipment was the easy part, duplicating the music was not so easy or cheap. They chose to go with Karafun streaming service, and word has it that is sucks and just stops playing in the middle of a song. A friend of mine (a fellow KJ) went there last week and asked for 3 songs and they were not in the 20K library from Karafun. Another friend asked for 3 songs, and they had 2 of them, but one of the songs was not acceptable to him in quality. Will they lose business because of the new library, or a song stopping in the middle of the song? Probably not until after season ends, but the locals will not be happy. The venue also hired a young green horn, because anyone can find a song and key it up.... right! Well, the first weekend was a total disaster because no one knew how to run the digital mixer, and many song requests could not be filled. If they had books some the problems could have been diverted by pointing the singers at the books to check the selection. The KJ had to constantly ask for a second choice of songs. I know that we have discussed Karafun, and KNF used to give it the highest marks possible, but is it legal for commercial use if all pro fees are paid? I would bet that the venue has been told that it is legal. A host here in town had a successful karaoke show for years, then the venue got the bright idea of buying their own equipment and having an employee run it for whatever they pay him for hourly. The other host had a great library this guy had 1800 tracks and could play discs brought in. Needless to say business has fallen off 75%.

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