Karaoke Forums

I had a KJ that I knew that did this on a bunch of songs that could not be obtained otherwise for karaoke.

Several pieces of softare seem to be around that are able to do the actions needed to make Karaoke versions, although they all require the lyrics to be syncronized manually.

It was a lot of work for each song, but in many cases it seemed to work quite well.
He did about 500 songs that way.

His results were variable, sometimes excellent, sometimes a lot was lost from the music.

The questions I have are

1. Are many other KJs doing that route.
2. Just how illegal is it (assuming you own the CDs and dont resell or give away the product).

I assume that the illegality issues would be similar to DJs doing "remixes" of the songs that they have purchased. In a way you are just performing/playing a legally purchased (but modified) product. The only legal question would be the modification ( so long as the venue is paying for the playing of music in general to the recording industry).

I am sure some music company would see the legality differently but I was wondering if there has been a court case that has addresed this issue.

the legality of a karaoke product is that the copyright useage license as well as the "Sync" license are paid for.

Homemade versions don't do this.

Also, recording a singer off karaoke or even a regular cd without permission (obtaining a master track license) is also likewise... illegal.

Panorama (Top Hits Monthly) just lost a big case where they weren't paying the license on some songs. How many is unsure. The lawsuit was from one company that represented a few different artists. Many of the minor labels I think fly under the radar as well, but nobody truly knows.