Karaoke Forums

The .50 is just an additional charge for the karaoke.  The recorded music fee is $2.40 per occupant PLUS .50 additional for karaoke so $2.90 per.  Then if dancing is allowed, an additional $1.60 per.   So now it's up to $4.50 per occupant.  Say the place has a 200 max, that's $900 a year.  Broken down monthly that's $75 per month - less than what most bars pay their karaoke companies PER night.

The recorded music fee will go up as well if the club does other types of music reproduction, in this scenerio we'll just give karaoke/dancing.

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Exweed, Yes, it is true that nobody has to pay BMI anything.  They are set up as an agency representing their clients (the composers, music publishers, etc).  SAFJ US V ASCAP 1941 refers to bundling and I see that as protecting the rights of other agencies to set up and represent clients, therefore creating competition in the licence fee structure.  

It is my understanding that, under copyright law, the authors have the sole rights to their works being publicly performed and only they can allow others to publicy perform those works.  ASCAP/BMI are agencies set up as representatives of their members and as such, their members (the authors/producers) give them permission to act on their behalf to collect fees and issue licences.   Of course, no-one has to pay the agencies anything.  But they do have to pay the authors/producers their due royalties if they wish to perform the works publicly.  So there is choice... one can either pay a 'blanket' fee to an agent that the author/producer has assigned, or pay the royalty directly to the author/producer.  The third choice is not to pay any royalty/fee to anyone, publicly perform the work and hope that the author/producer does not exercise their right to reclaim the royalty that is due to them.

The above views are my opinions and understanding only and in no way should they be construed as legal advice.  For correct legal interpretation, one should consult legal counsel.

Lonman, yes, I agree with what you say...  But most bars that I have been to karaoke in usually have background music playing and have had  long before they started karaoke.  Therefore, my assumption was  they are already paying the licence fee playing recorded music, and therefore to add karaoke to their venue will only cost additionally up to $0.50 per person.  That is what I was referring to.   But yes, if they did not already have background music, or they did but weren't paying a licence fee, then the cost goes up.

Until I saw the BMI page you linked to, I did not know that an additional licence fee was required if the bar allowed people to dance....  WOW!  I don't think I've ever been to a place where the owner/staff stopped someone from dancing because they didn't pay to licence it.  IMO, that is taking the licencing a bit too far into the stupidity zone!

Why assume if they do not want to pay for the additional karaoke fee that they are paying the other fees?  As you figured out it's an extra $100 per year for a 200 person place (obviously lower cost for smaller places) - shouldn't break the bank of any place.  I bet you dollars to donoughts that most bar owners don't even realize they NEED to pay or even what theya re about.  The larger venues that advertise dj dance/live music/karaoke are generally in compliance, but many of the smaller venues aren't & it may be simply they didn't know they had to.

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Murrlyn:  Actually I found the most fun part of SAFJ USvASCAP was the prohibition of the Music Licensing Agencies collecting on a per-song/per-use basis.  Their clients are only entitled to collect on a per-song/per-use basis.  The only fee agnecy is entitled to collect is one that they are prohibited from collecting.

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Okay, who took my pants?

     I have been very successful with raffles.  I do them as you have stated, including must be present to win.  The prizes are a bit more valuable then stated though, and only one entry per singer.  The raffle is promoted weeks in advance.  With the extra exposure, a good venue, and good host, this can be a terrific show builder!  One thing to remember is that emphasis MUST be placed on the fact that it's a raffle, NOT A CONTEST........

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