Karaoke Forums

anyone know what the law is for using homemade karaoke in the usa?

they are my graphics, someone else's backing track.
and the bar i play at pay's their ascap & bmi fee's every year for music.

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I will take a stab at this:

I believe it goes like this;

When you display the lyrics you have to have the legal right to do this and it is not covered by completly by ascap or bmi. You have to have the specfic permission of the publisher to do this. This is why karaoke is not as easy to produce as some would like to believe. Anyone?

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Mechanical license,
Lyric Reprint License
Synchronization License

In other words, only for home use. Of course, there are plenty of karaoke manu's who never get any of those licenses; Quik Hitz is currently one of the biggest. Essentially, you could play these tracks without any issue, and the actual producer would be the one liable. So, the liability would fall on you for producing the track, but the likelihood of you being sued is much less than Quick Hitz getting sued.

Harry Fox Agency.

Check it out!

yeah that site says they don't cover karaoke...

•Note: An HFA mechanical license does not include the right to display or reprint lyrics or the right to print sheet music. Nor does it cover any use of the song or lyrics in karaoke or "CD+G" products. For these rights, you must contact the publisher(s) directly.

so basically it comes down to calling up the guy the owns the music rights and asking permission to use the backing track to make a parody!!!!

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I used HFA for my parodies, though I didn't make karaoke tracks. Now with a parody, your using displaying your own lyrics, not the artists.

Maybe it's different in Alberta.

Also Fixing Rights

If for sale add:

Commercial Rights
Digital Rights
Promotional Rights

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" Disc based and loving it..."

Yes it is! In Canada, synchronisation licences can be obtained through the CMRRA. But mightywiz's question referred to the USA and, although the HFA no longer provides synchronisation licenses, the HFA site contains a great deal of useful information on licensing, including how to contact publishers and copyright holders.

By the way, mightywiz, you may also find that, along with the appropriate permissions/licenses from the copyright owners/publishers, you will need to acquire permission/license from the "someone else" to use their backing track.

Unless you make it yourself.

thanks for all the input!!

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It's all good!