Karaoke Forums

I finally have a handle on recording to my computer using sound forge and it sounds great.  I compared the quality to store bought cd's and my stuff sounds just as good.  Is trhere some way I can sell these to family and friends?

Why would you SELL Karaoke recordings of yourself to your Family and Friends??? Why not just give it to them?

With regard to selling them to others, to answer your question, NOT LEGALLY... not unless you can obtain the legal rights to reproduce the music you are singing from. This is not something you can obtain from the Karaoke Maufacturers, as the music is not owned by them, and is not theirs to give permission.

Not disagreeing with ya cueball, I know the law.

I disagree with it though.  I think you should be allowed to charge for "reasonable costs" without having to pay licensing fees.   I think $5 for a VCD/DVD of a singers performance is pretty reasonable.  

Copyright is so messed up.

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Living my life as Robert Cortese, 162 E. Jackson St, San Jose CA.

It's like the difference between high and low budget toilet paper, it really doesn't matter in the end. -exweedfarmer

Which is smarter? Just sticking to making/selling karaoke, while people all over the world create software FOR FREE that helps you sell it, or trying to compete with them and keeping it a closed loop while you blow your money into an industry (software) that you(the karaoke manu) knows nothing about?
-me

I don't normal care about the law, but I taught you care. Thats pirate..... no matter what you think.

And you call someone names for doing just that in an other post

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

Copyright is messed up. Hmmm. Well lets see now--well how bout this--you go and sell your karaoke recording and then someone else go and RESELLS it and makes a TON OF MONEY off it and calls it THIER OWN ORIGINAL RECORDING and PERFORMANCE and doesnt provide YOU the actual orgininator of the piece any cut of the proceeds. So according to your premise this would be OK. Sounds "
PERFECTLY" fair to me!

This oughta explain it pretty clearly:
http://www.bmi.com/licensing/broadcaster/faq.asp

And I've always kind of wondered how this applies to making and sending subs to the Singers Showcase since the songs are played in a public forum

"You need to go home and rethink your life" (wave of hand).
(Obi-wan Kenobi-Star Wars The Phantom Menace)

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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

It's only those who want to skirt the copyright laws that think it is messed up or antiquated.  If they can't do what they want then they use rationalisation for their behavioir.  Want to stop piracy, then use the music in the media they are intended for.  The manufacturers can get the equipment for downloading if they wish.  remember it is their choice not yours.  You want downloads then go set up a studio, get the licences and put out your product and allow it to be used however the user wishes.  Let's see how long YOU stay in business before yelling foul.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

I know it's tempting to think about producing and possibly selling a recording of your vocal work.  However, it's not legal to do so unless you purchase the right to the artists property.  I believe that Pocket Songs allows you to licence songs from them if you are so inclined to want to sell a CD.  However, it's something like $250.00 per song which gets to be pretty hefty for the average Joe off the street.  Yet compare that to what you'd pay to have the arrangements made, the recording produced, and then package the product, and $250.00 per song doesn't sound too bad.  I guess the long and short of it is you should do the right thing, and if you want to share your talent with friends "share your talent".  But if you want to share your talent with the world, then pay the piper his due.  

Hessemoto

So because the manus want to CONTROL how we use today's technology.

ASCAP reps have said that they would NOT pursue against club djs if they owned the originals. What we who format shift have ALWAYS maintained is if you use your copys or computerized files in a commercial setting, AND own the originals, that you are NOT a pirate! The manus have already been paid for their material.

I buy Top Hits Monthly six packs... in mp3g format. Why on earth would I want to rebuy the discs themselves?

Try DigiPie.com (they have a banner ad on this website).

Knight you are one of those who if they don't like something, you'll change it to your liking.  Manufacturers, whether you like it or not, karaoke or not, have the right to control their intellectual properties.  

Knight, ASCAP has no legal authority to say what is or isn't legal.  As long as they get their money they don't care.  

When did you pay SC or any of the others for the second, third or fourth copy of their product.  You paid for one only.   Guess you haven't seen those commercial that piracy in whatever form is a crime.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

I believe that it is only pirating if you are using more than 1 copy for one owned copy. Knightshow isn't a multirigger. so this doesn't apply

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I'm Not Dead yet...... But every day Im getting Closer !

I like the idea for family/friends - great Christmas gifts!

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Sounds Great! Entertainment
Bartlett, Illinois

Can't you guys stay focused ON ONE THREAD WITHOUT CROSSPOSTING?  Especially badsinger

First off, me saying "copyright is messed up"

The laws are a tangled screwed up mess, seriously.  Between copyright, DMCA, RIAA KAPA, and all the other retarded organizations run by lawyers who haven't a single cell in their heads when it comes to tech and copyright, it's all become one big convoluted mess.  Anyone disagreeing with that statement is a retard, or didn't read my statement correctly, which are you?

Second, me calling that lady excrement for bragging that she pirates in a thread titled HOW TO DETER PIRACY was on topic.  Yah, great job to the mod who deleted it.  Way to tell her you're OK with her pirating, way to make a stand for folks that do things right.  Here I am trying to deter her pirating ways, and you got to go and screw it right up for me.  Pure genius, I applaud your efforts.  

Finally getting back on the topic of this thread which is "Is there a way to sell recordings of karaoke songs?" (STICK TO THE TOPIC)  

If someone comes to the bar with a video camera and I sell them a tape for $5 bucks, am I a pirate?

If I put a video of my daughter on my website for her grandma to see, am I a pirate?

If I set up a PC, where folks can bring their own blank CD's, to burn their own VCD's for free, and I happen to have a spindel sitting next to that PC that says "$5 a blank" am I a pirate?

I guess i'm a pirate for having AOL Time Warner sponsor the video stream from my stage, despite AOL Time Warner owning the copyright for at least 1/3 of our collection.  Oh wait, fractional math, that makes me 2/3rds a pirate.   I suppose letting folks share their performances with their freinds and families by calling them and telling them to watch from our website for free IS PIRACY.  I suppose because they have the option of streamripping the show, converting the NSV to MPG, burning it to a VCD makes me a pirate as well.

WELL SHIVER ME TIMBERS AND CALL ME CAPTAIN MORGAN!!  ARRRGHHH YE MATEYS TIS BOOTY TO PLUNDER ON THE KARAOKE ISLE.

You guys are really grabbing for straws here. There's no sane way you can equate my burning a VCD of a singers performance to singers pirating songs off the net, or KJ's pirating songs off the net.  My burning a customer a VCD has absolutely zero effect on the industry.

For you non Americans, let me tell you a story about our history that we were all taught as schoolchildren.
--
In 1773, Britain's East India Company was having hard times, and was allowed to sell tea in the states tax exempt.  Tea companies based in the colonies were still taxed.  This ticked a lot of folks off.

Local patriots led by Samuel Adams staged a spectacular drama. On the evening of December 16, 1773, three companies of fifty men each, masquerading as Mohawk Indians, passed through a tremendous crowd of spectators, went aboard the three ships, broke open the tea chests, and heaved them into the harbor.
--

Point I'm driving home with the boston tea party story is this.  It's a tradition in our country that if the laws are convoluted enough, and folks are angered enough, they do something about it.  The rest of you may be complacent to just let this copyright mess continue, but i'm not.  

As far as someone taking my work and reselling it, well this is more a personal opinion than any kind of fact.  It happens.  I was going to convert another local karaoke club to the same kind of system we use at 7 Bamboo.  I was going to charge $3@CGD to rip and name 300 disks.  One of the club owners friends says he can do it cheaper and I never heard from the club again.  

I stopped at that club about a month ago.  They've got the same exact setup we have now.  They use the karaoke plugin I helped develop.  If they made it a bigger success than I was able to, I would not be sour grapes about it.  It's called capitolism.

Arrrgh ye mateys.

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Living my life as Robert Cortese, 162 E. Jackson St, San Jose CA.

It's like the difference between high and low budget toilet paper, it really doesn't matter in the end. -exweedfarmer

Which is smarter? Just sticking to making/selling karaoke, while people all over the world create software FOR FREE that helps you sell it, or trying to compete with them and keeping it a closed loop while you blow your money into an industry (software) that you(the karaoke manu) knows nothing about?
-me

Wow, thanks for the great respnse to my question.  Since my post i've done some research and founfd out there is something called compulosry licensing which makes it legal to record others songs and sell them if you meet some guidlines set by the U.S. Copyright office.  Fisrt you must submit a letter of intent to the original publishers of the material, then you must have or obtain the rights to the actual recordings, then you have to send a monthly statement of sales and also an annual statement.  That's it!  There is also a company that does that right now, legally...i will find the name and post it....

toger,

I would be shocked if any of those companies would sue you for copyright violations.  Sounds to me as you are providing a valuable service to your customers and I don't think any lawyer would find it profitable to take you to court.  You can bicker about letter of the law but I think judicial common sense would prevail.

As for the poster wanting to sell his/her karaoke recordings, it sounds a little silly to want to sell KARAOKE recordings to friends and family, so I would only question the logic of that thinking.  You don't get rich and famous doing karaoke.  As for Sue from accounting wanting to send her grandma a recording of her singing, I feel pretty confident the FBI will not show up at her door.  

The real crime is KJ's running shows with pirated material.  That is simply wrong.  That is what need to be enforced.  Paid KJs profiting from ill gotten material.  Sixteen year old bobby sue downloading Baby Got Back mp3-cdg to sing at the next sleep over, while also letter of the law wrong, is not as bad IMO.  Maybe having that opinion make it acceptable for people to call me names.

I would want to ask this question regarding CDG sales.  Who is buying them?  Pro-KJs or consumers.  I would imagine the largest chunk goes to KJs.  Perhaps as the technology proliferates we may see more consumer sales, and then it become an issue that RIAA et al would want to work on.  But until then as far as piracy goes, CDG piracy is waaaaaayyy down on the list of priorities.

Having said all that.  Pirate shows are bad for the industry, and Karaoke is just unimportant enough to go away if the community doesn't support the manufacturers.  By BUYING our discs we make sure new discs will be made.

good night

B-HAX

Whether you like it or not, the law is clear on a lot of issues regarding piracy. Just because you don't like the law, doesn't mean you can skirt around it. Since you posted the questions, from my little knowledge, I will answer them for you. I am not a lawyer but I have dealt from my work a lot of intellectual property issues, like patents.  



Officially, yes you are breaking the law since you are or assisting in recording a copyrighted material on to another medium. Since you are the business that provides the entertainment with copyrighted material, it's your responsibility to enforce the law as it states. If you witness a murder and don't report it, you think you are breaking the law? Yep, whether you want to get involved or not, if you don't report a crime, you can be arrested for breaking a law. If they were to record an acappella version of the song, you MAY be able to sell that tape to them without breaking a law.  



No, since you are not selling anything but using it for personal use, you are not breaking any law.



If you sell the blank disc without any content for $5, you are not breaking the law. If you put any copyrighted content using your equipment, whether you do it or you assist others to do it, you are breaking the law, simple. Remember, it's your PC. You are responsible for the action from your PC.



Contrary to your beliefs, the law is very clear. I don't agree with it personally but the copyright law does not try to differentiate between mass piracy versus single person. They just choose to pursue the larger distributor first for efficiency, more bang per buck.  

Again, law is very clear, you can choose to ignore it or follow it, it's up to you. Just because there are no cops around, you can drive alone in the commuter lane. If you are caught, you will pay the $271 fine in California. Just by saying "but officer, I was only in there for a few minutes to pass this slow guy in front of me" doesn't cut it. Once you move in to the lane, you broke the law. Will you get caught? Most likely you won't, at most 1 out of 5 or 6 times. But that does not mean you didn't break the law.



Again, I don't agree with the law, it's too strict in it's wording. However, unless the law is repealed, I won't break the law. Will I work my (@$%&#!) off to repeal the law? Depends on the law and how it personally effects me.  So far, this issue has not effected me, I buy my discs for my show, I follow to the law. I spend the money to run my business legit. Does it cost more that if I pirated? Of course. However, it puts my mind at ease.



First of all, it's capitalism. Secondly, you are absolutely right about that issue being personal. If everyone defended their own copyright vigorously, there would be no open source codes out there or even LINUX. That would not have been possible. Some people like to give away what they have accomplished. Some don't.  

However, even if you read the open source agreement, there are more rules and regulation then even copyrighted software. If you think you can take the open source code and start selling them as your own, they will come after you. If you make a change to open source, you are forced to give away that code to others to use. That's how it works.

Nothing in this world is truly free, you pay for it one way or another.

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Seize the day and SING!!!

Your copyright law is not messed up: you are.

Or so you know your law very well and post some not-so-informed stuffs which eban clearly explained. I think I know more of YOUR copyright law than you do as it stand now.


Can't you guys stay focused ON ONE THREAD WITHOUT CROSSPOSTING?  Especially badsinger

I was not crossposting but refering to your other post  that now got deleted by the Mod.  

My turn: Can't you toqer, stay focused ON this one THREAD WITHOUT being a saleperson

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

Toqer, if you've really been around as long as your id says you have been, Badsinger has admitted SEVERAL times that he's NOT from a country that speaks English as a PRIMARY language. I give him credit for being as good as he HAS been on this site. And he's the first to admit when a conflict of the language usually surfaces!

Your last posts have indeed proven that you are here with an agenda, whether selling or just trying to prove yourself the most inescapable pr!ck I've ever met.

Hope the birth of your child went okay

Can you point out where in this thread i'm trying to sell something? Please?  Perty please?

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Living my life as Robert Cortese, 162 E. Jackson St, San Jose CA.

It's like the difference between high and low budget toilet paper, it really doesn't matter in the end. -exweedfarmer

Which is smarter? Just sticking to making/selling karaoke, while people all over the world create software FOR FREE that helps you sell it, or trying to compete with them and keeping it a closed loop while you blow your money into an industry (software) that you(the karaoke manu) knows nothing about?
-me

That's a good one.

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott