Karaoke Forums

Hi everyone.  I have been searching the net trying to discover how I can cover my bases legally before I attempt to become a karaoke host.  
 
 My two most important questions are:

1)  How do I go about paying royalties or obtaining a license to be a mobile host? (I understand that it is up to the venue to pay a royalty fee, but I want to know what I have to do).  Let me throw out a hypothetical amount of CD+G songs in case it is based on that.  Say I am using 10,000 songs.  Do I pay per song, do I have to send my playlist into someone?  

2)  How can one go about legally creating their own CD+G for commercial use?  Lets say that you take a song and add text to it and create a disk.  How can one do this legally?  Being that companies sell CD+G's legally, I am assuming that there must be some way to do this yourself legally as well.

 The last thing I want is for competition to screw me over by calling in BMI or ASScap.
I assume this will be costly, however, if done right, it will be worth every penny so I will know that I have nothing to fear, and I will ultimately be more professional than my competition.

 Any help is greatly appreciated.

#1. You will need a business lisence from your county, so that you can obtain a EIN for tax purpose.
#2.Have the original CDG's. That way you have paid your dues. That's pretty much it.

First of all, you are talking about a lot of work to do that, and you should consider if that specific song is worth the trouble. Once you have passed that stage, contact the original artist of the music/lyrics/composition, and he will/will not sell you the publication rights. Your chances are pretty much 0!

As long as you run your show (with proof of purchase of the CDG's) you have nothing and no one to fear.

Thank you for the information you have provided.  Obtaining a business license is definitely on the agenda, but not just yet.  I still have plenty of legal research left to do.  
 Off topic, I have read here that some KJs' libraries cost $15,000 +.  That is pretty impressive, and I guess it will just take time to get to that level.
 Ultimately I want in this just for the fun, and if I make a little $ on the side, that is okay too.  I am a karaoke nut, and am just tired of the utter lack of enthusiasm and lack of selection that I am stuck with around here.  I know how to pump up an audience, so I am taking my hobby to the next level.  Wish me luck!

 

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We drown in our arms
and die in our eyes

As far as BMI.....see link
http://www.bmi.com/news/200501/20050127a.asp

And paraphrased, it says the KJ host is not responsible for BMI licensing, the venu you are playing at is responsible for getting the BMI licensine.

For someone that has been in business for awhile, a 15K investment on discs isn't all that much, i've been in business since 94 & have almost 30 invested into discs alone.  Some have even more, however you DO NOT need to have that kind of investment to get started.  Both Foundations, the 5 Brick series (all Sound Choice) & the Pop Hits Monthly Millenium set will get you going very well.

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There's no "karaoke" license to get for the venue. The Ascap/bmi/seasac organizations deal with songwriters only... and all venues that use jukeboxes and/or live bands already are responsible for paying these fees. A karaoke operative is covered under those rules.

Lonman said it pretty well. To start out, you don't need a huge investment... what those of us that have libraries like that are after years and years of getting the discs.

start out like Lonnie said, get a good CORE. Then build to your heart's content on what kind of system you wanna have! For instance, I don't collect much "hip hop", as I don't have the audience for that. Nor do I WANT to run shows like that.

That is correct in part.

If the Venue owns the coin-oped jukebox, they may be able to get it licensed with BMI, but usualy the jukebox is owned by a vendor and licended with the Jukebox License Office (JLO).  If the jukebox is licensed by the JLO, it DOES NOT COVER live preformances (ie:bands, Djs, Kjs...), and a seperate BMI license is required.

As my post above shows the KJ is not responsible to get the BMI license, the venue owner is

from what I understand, the jukebox is only covered if it's by a vendor company... if the venue owns it, then it does apply to the other kinds of performances.

As a former member of the AMOA This is how it works If the operator or AMOA member supplying the music pays the operator or discount price, this does not cover live entertainment.  If the venue pays the full price then this covers all forms of musical entertainment. There have been cases where ASCAP has tried to charge extra for karaoke. In one case here locally upon advise from the owners attorney he politely told him to leave..Which he did...

ASCAP BMI SESAC has no authority over Kj  Dj or bands...Anything above the link above is conjecture or shady and has not or will not hold up in a court of law...

It get's pretty particular, The 1-2001 revision of the JLO was a signed agreement between the JLO, ASCAP, SESAC who signed with the AMOA. Exclusion to this are businesses that have a cover charge, allow music to be played for free, and have jukeboxes that aren't Vinyl or CD format.. Digital jukeboxes that download via satellite are also excluded.


Sorry Karyoker, I didn't see your paragraph prior to entering my own. Yet the current AMOA agreement doesn't even cover ALL jukeboxes in all situations.

EXCLUSIONS as of 2002:


To me, it's quite clear that this is targeting jukebox use ONLY... Other entertainment forms can't draw conclusions based on something this particular.

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

A local club here Cactus Canyon plays dj music from a central location via high speed access simultaneously to all their clubs .. They pay a dj $6 per hour.... I guess they are excluded too...

Karyoker, I suppose a person would have to call the JLO 1-800 number to clear up any current ambiguity. Certain intricacies that may or may not have been ironed out in the agreements as of 2002.  From my brief reading of that agreement it seemed to pretty much cover coin op OLDER format jukeboxes only in a non-cover charge setting.

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Yes I dont think it's changed much but that is a good suggestion


A DJ here made a comment to me at storage the other day He said the artists want dj's to download the new releases and play them because it's exposure just like broadcast...

If you are distributing copies of the disc(s), you need a "mechanical license." You can get one either through the copyright holder (or their agent), or, more commonly, through the Harry Fox Agency:

http://www.harryfox.com/

It's not cheap. Also, this is different from what BMI/ASCAP covers -- they deal with performance and broadcast, not recording/manufacture/distribution.

This is assuming you are making your own recording of the music. If you're using someone else's recording, you need to get permission from them as well.

If you're not distributing copies to anyone, I don't think you need to worry about a mechanical license. You just need to be sure that the venue you're performing at has paid their BMI/ASCAP fees.

A mechanical license WILL NOT cover a CDG or Karaoke product for distribution...For that you mus go directly to the original copyright holder.