Closing-Is your karaoke legal-How I choose my topics:
by Ozz on 05/29/18
On last week’s show, I spoke about illegal karaoke. There was one error that I made concerning Karafun. I said if you’re using the $5.99 subscription it was illegal for public use, which it is, what I meant to say was: $5.99 for the two day party pass and the $10 per month subscription are only for personal use, not public use. You must use the $129 per month, per venue, professional subscription to be legal with Karafun. (You must purchase a subscription for each venue)
The way I choose my topics is very simple. In a week’s time, I have hundreds of conversations with fellow singers, KJs, venue owners and bar managers. My topics are what they are talking about. This subject has been brought up a lot lately, especially by the owners of establishments because they get the calls from ASCAP, BMI, You Tube and Karafun. It’s them that pay the price. So they wanted to know the facts.
I did not choose this topic to target any one KJ or venue; it’s the community as a whole. CMO chooses not support venues that don’t follow copy write laws because we too could be held liable in this sue happy country. Also, if we promote a venue or KJ that is broadcasting karaoke illegally and they get popped, it will come back on CMO, ….trust me it will.
I have nothing against Karafun, in fact, I think the professional version is an awesome way to go as the professional version has mastered tracks with rights from the artists to legally broadcast them commercially. As long as you have reliable internet, you can put on a very awesome karaoke show and control your operating costs. As much as I’d love karaoke to be free, it’s just not realistic as long as venues have to pay utilities, rent, taxes, fees, and all kinds of other overhead. The only free karaoke is to stay home and do it, unless we lived in a socialist society which I’m glad we don’t. And BTW I will point out that Karaoke Joe has informed me that he is using the professional version of Karafun at Red Velvet Underground, which I am most glad because I love singing there.
