Karaoke Forums

If you're not familiar with the company name of Recisio, it's because it's more commonly referred to as "Karaoke Version" or their division "KaraFun."

And, once again in a move more reminiscent of earlier times, this source for karaoke tracks has been caught with it's hand in the cookie jar and produced, promoted and sold the most popular song from the Red Peter's collection called "The Closing Song." So if you bought the track from them during the short time it was available, you were duped into supporting a manufacturing-level pirate.

It's no longer for sale on their site because they weren't licensed to produce or sell the song in any form. When caught, their licensing manager offered an insultingly low licensing rate and never mentioned that they also would use (and had already made) the track available on their Karafun streaming service.

#1. They never even attempted to acquire licensing before producing and selling the track.

#2. When asked directly from Red why they had not acquired permission BEFORE producing and selling the track, they acted like they didn't know how to acquire licensing from him or how to contact him for permission. (This is plain B.S. because he is not invisible or unreachable.)

#3. This is the same tactic used by former U.S. producers: Sell the tracks and then offer a pittance for licensing fees if you get caught.

In this case, the omission by the licensing manager that the track was also ALREADY being delivered on their streaming "karafun" site is just unconscionable. This is not "a mistake" on their part, it's intentional pirating.

Even today, piracy is alive and well at the manufacturing level.

tsk, tsk, tsk...

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Electro-Voice Evolve 50... Taking Sound To The Next Level.

suuurrrrre they did....
next thing is the manus will begin suing hosts for buying their music and using it at shows.

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Paradigm Karaoke, The New Standard.......Shift Happens

You mean like you-know-who?

And what is the penalty per track for illegal production of copyrighted music?

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"You know that I sing the Blues and I do not suffer fools. When I'm on that silver mic, it's gonna cut ya, just like a knife"-The SWINGCAT

Statutory penalty in the U.S. is $150,000 per track.

And what is the Statute of Limitations? And how long ago did they make these reproductions?

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"You know that I sing the Blues and I do not suffer fools. When I'm on that silver mic, it's gonna cut ya, just like a knife"-The SWINGCAT

Well they were just released on their site about a month or so ago - so.....

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

Very unhappy to hear this. I really thought Recisio was on the up and up, but clearly this was deliberate and willful piracy. One can hope it's an isolated incident. One can hope for world peace in our lifetimes as well. The odds are not good for either.

I've bought nearly 2,000 tracks from them, but who knows how many of those are actually legit now.

It's difficult to point fingers..
The "Music" and "Copyright" system has been broken for years.

Music publishers have used "Creative Accounting" (For years) to avoid paying royalties.
CD and DVD publishers obtain agreements to "Press" a limited number of product.
This agreement is impossible to verify without someone in the pressing plant.
Who knows how many are pressed. (or burned)
Foreign studios never license content, (China shops have disks @ $1.00 each) and flood the market with fakes.

I quit pressing product after my stuff showed up on the market 30 days after I sold my first shipment.
Yore mileage will vary..

It's quite easy in this case to point fingers. They knew it wasn't licensed and that's why they had to pull it. They were specifically told by the writer their offer of after-the-fact-licensing was denied.
It was never a pressed disc - it was a download or streamed.

In any case, it's still impossible to un-ring a bell.

I have bought many tracks from Karaoke Version. I believe them to be credible and on the up & up. It is not my responsibility or my job to "police" this and other sights for the legality of their offerings. I buy from them in good faith. So, personally I really could give a sh*t about what they're doing. And I really don't care.

And I also bought my DK Millennium set from a reputable vendor (Amazon). Are they legit? I really don't care. I purchased it in good faith, paid for it, got a receipt and I'm done.

There are much more important things in life to worry about than if everything you buy (from a reputable company) is legal.

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Electro-Voice Evolve 50... Taking Sound To The Next Level.

Public performance of karaoke tracks requires permission from the copyright owners.
This normally is handled by third party agencies, (BMI, ASCAP, etc.)
So, do your homework, pay your fees, and have fun.

Speaking of Bob . . . .

This exact thing was one of my arguments with him over the way he handles singer/show history in Karma

1) History is history . . . It happened . . . They came they sang.

2) Vendor released a song. You purchased it. They were caught without a license so technically you really can't play the song legally.

3) Being the letter of the law type of guy, you remove the song from your Karma database so singers don't see it in the future and complain when you tell them yes you had the song but you can't play it anymore because the manufacturer wasn't legal.

4) By decree of the machinations of the great Bob in the sky . . . THOU SHALT REVISE HISTORY . . . POOF . . . All Record of the 30 people who sang that song on 20 different nights at 8 different venues . . . POOF . . . Gone forever.

Paraphrasing J G Wentworth Commercials . . . "IT'S MY DATA AND I WANT IT NOW!"

Don't forget to delete all of your Music Maestro, All Hits Backstage and many others that weren't properly licensed in the past.

But seriously... who does that? If you buy a CD from Best Buy or a download from Amazon Music, are you really going worry about if the publisher got the proper licensing for this music? This has gotten insane.

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Electro-Voice Evolve 50... Taking Sound To The Next Level.

So insane that it is no longer worth the time to post about piracy anymore. Sound and fury signifying nothing.

Here's the rub: You might have purchased in "good faith" but when you know that any track is not licensed, you certainly are not "using it in good faith."

HOST: "But officer, I bought the stolen taxi in good faith. I should be able to keep it and drive it everywhere for money. I don't care where it came from. "
COP: "So, because you paid a thief and got a receipt, you think you should keep the car and now it's yours to keep using?"

See how stupid that sounds?

Who the eff wants to drive a taxi when they can KJ?

So since just about every manufacturer has been guilty of creating tracks without proper channels - do we go through each and every track to seek out if they had proper licensing to be created and quit using them if not? Which brands do you use that are squeaky clean out of curiosity?

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