Pay to Play
 

All:

I have been trying to research the Karaoke business to find a niche. I have not found any threads relating to a "pay to Play" or "Pay to Sing" approach.

Does anyone out there go to carnivals, town festivals etc and charge $1 for people to sing? For $2 you could give them a CD copy of their performance.

Think of how many people attend these things (5k-50k per day) and what they spend money on. Could you handle 10 people per hour over a 36 hour weekend? More?

I realize that you could make more doing a bar gig or private party with less work but if you are sitting at home making $0 or working a weekend making $750-$1,000 and handing out business cards/ making contacts would it be worth it?

I was just curious if anyone had tried it

It's illegal
 

Hello MaddMatt

It is illegal to record Karaoke singers using copyrighted material (soundtracks) to give away or to sell, without prior written permission from the copyright owner. :g

Jon

Ouch!
 

Oh well, so much for my idea there.

Has anyone tried just charging per song?

At a recent trade show I saw a couple of manufacturers that had coin-op karaoke units that were self contained like a jukebox.

recording songs
 

Ok this takes me back a little but I found a cassette that I had made at a local amusement park about 15 years ago. I had purchased the cassette after singing in their studio. Was that illegal?

I have seen alot of KJ's out there and a bunch of them offer to burn a cd of your performance for memory's sake. I have also seen videos of your performance being offered.

Is there any circumstance that this is legit?

Not unless those KJ's either, own the rights to the music, and lyrics, or pay royalties to the copyright owner(s).

It's called theft of intellectual property! :g

One cannot just take somebody else's property and resale it without paying compensation to the owner(s)!

Jon

The use of an unlicensed copied product is illegal. The copyright laws are very clear about the fundamental legalities of copying copyrighted materials which includes many other products than music. Basically, the law permits you to make an unlicensed copy of a copyrighted disc for your OWN PERSONAL USE only. If you want to listen to the copied disc in your home or your car, that is legal. You may not make an unlicensed copy of a disc for ANY COMMERCIAL USE. That means that you cannot make an unlicensed copy as a gift, as a promotional item, for sale, for use in promoting another product, for use in a show or publication, and a myriad of other commercial applications. If you are using the songs on a disc for any reason other than your own personal listening, you must use the original disc.

IN ORDER TO USE A COPY OF A COPYRIGHTED PRODUCT, YOU MUST HAVE THE WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNER. Many manufacturers have Licensing Agreements for the use of their products in various applications. If you want to use a song or disc in a commercial application, you will need to contact the manufacturer and apply for the licensing rights for your application.

http://www.karaokeantipiracyagency.com/faq.html


George

thanks
 

George and Jon:

Thanks for the replies. You made it perfectly clear.... one more question though.

Is there some way to get permision thru ASCAP to do this? Or is there some other governing body that controls this?

Thanks

MaddMatt,


MaddMatt,
I am just a karaoke fan. :g In my opinion, your questions should be directed to ASCAP. I am sure they'll have the right anwers for you.

Jon

Matt,

I agree with Jon, but I'd bet you inadvertantly called it when you named this thread. You'll have to "pay to play". I'm purely speculating on that one, I'd bet it would be the case when permission is being sought for gainful purposes.

George

stripped down version
 

Thanks guys.

I helped book a KJ into a festival that we are doing. He was planning on doing some shows throughout the day and charging per song with random prize drawings throughout the day. I'll update him on the legalities and let him look into it some more.

I was hoping someone else out there had tried this kind of thing before at a festival /fair. I find it hard to believe that I am on new ground with this idea.

You can buy permission!
 

I looked into this once. Most of the 6 Flags studios & self contained recording booths have either paid for the right or are using their own copyrighted music.

Since most of my music is Sound Choice, I contacted them about doing recordings at Carnivals. I think at the time it was only $300 per month to buy this right. That was several years ago, the price may have gone up, but, I'll bet you can still do it. Of course, if you wanted to use other discs, you would need to buy their permisson too, which is why I wrote it off as a bad idea.

Wayne

there is a group up imn my area that claims to have the rights to use Chartbuster songs in recording- I made a cd last AUgust through them. SO it has been done before.

thanks!
 

So it seems that I need to go through the CD companies then.

As you said, that shoudn't be a problem as long as I have all the same discs.

hmmmmm.............

Re: Pay to Play
 

Going back to your orginial message:

I went to a show a few weeks ago out of town, and the KJ there did a very interesting thing, The show was from 9:00pm - 12:00am on a Saturday night, at Midnight, he said the show was over and that if people wanted to continue the sing, they would have to pay to sing a song, I inquired as to the price and it was $10.00 a song.

I do not think the bar was paying him at this point so I understood why he was doing this, the people continued to sing, and at about 1:00 or so I took off, the show was still going strong.

Where I usally go, the show gets slow some times around 12:30 or so, and the manager shuts down the show, but the place has pretty much emptied out by then any ways, then other days, the place is jamming and they shut down at 12:30 so you never know just when the show is going to end.

Alan.

$10 !?!?!
 

Wow!

$10 per song? That seems like a lot. But if people are willing to pay it, why not?

The event was over the 4th of July weekend. I haven't heard from him how it went yet but I will check it out and let you know.

The idea was to charge per song for a carnival type event. I know alot of you guys work for $150 for a 4-5 hour event. This was 2 day event for 20 hours total. Setup and teardown only once. If he got a few hundred people to sing then it was worth it financially.

I'll let you know

Madd Matt
www.maddmatts.com

Hello Matt,
Was reading so old post tonight and found one you did in July about doing song at fairs ect.Was just at the L.A. county Fair.
(Los Angles)There was a booth where you could sing a song and they made a disc for you.It cost $10.00. I looked at their book and the were using more than one kind of disc.If they had permision that I don't know.Hope this is clear I am almost asleep.I enjoy your post,you really get everyone going.

Shortrounder

Thanks
 

For the record, I don't try to get everyone going, it just kind of happens sometimes :)

I have seen similar things myself this past summer where Joe KJ is setup at a fair or festival and allowing people to record their live performance for a fee. Usually it was between $3 and $10. At one fair it was free to sing but he charged to record. Most people paid for the CD

I think the key for the average KJ to stay in business profitably is to make changes. Whether that is finding new venues for their services or entirely new business models, there is too much competition for KJ's in the bars.

Madd Matt

Makin' Money
 

I realize MaddMatt was originally referring to who has done a gig at carnivals with respect to recording/charging for songs, and I have read info, here, on CHARGING for songs after a Karaoke GIG has ended, so I just wanted to relate my situation.

I only do Night Club Karaoke Shows. At the end of my PAID time, I continue as long as people are willing to PAY-TO-PLAY. That is to say, and this is very important - which is a fine line - I CHARGE for my TIME.

I never CHARGE someone to SING A SONG! If you charge per song, and a BMI or ASCAP or SESAC representative is IN-THE-HOUSE, they may expect you to pay them a cut for your having made a profit. Besides, what comprises most of your Karaoke system? It is the DELIVERY components that are 100% yours not the music, which BMI, etc. claims is not yours.

My time includes someone who may want to sing their own song, without music, or someone who may want to tell a joke, or someone who may want to just talk for 3 minutes, or so. After your PAID time, anything goes to make a BUCK.

This is why, on two nights each week, I am available, to the CLUB, for 6 1/2 hours. 9-1 is the regular Karaoke show (usually 4-hour Gigs) and 1-3:30 is on my time. I usually can earn an extra $60 on a weekday and $100 on a weekend day.

Some may argue that that is not enough money for 2 1/2 hours extra work each Gig, but I don't mind - It's money and that extra money pays for my overhead, i.e. 9-volt batteries for wireless mics, gas to and from Gigs, Food to and from Gigs, Request Slip printing, etc.

Think about it, that's $160/week or $640/month or $7,680/year. What extra could you do with $7,680/year?

Norm

Pay to Play
 

What the guys are saying about asking the customer for money for a burned CD is illigal. However, unless I am reading the question wrong, it is not illigal for a host to charge for a singer to sing. It is no different than getting paid by a private client or bar to do a show. The only difference is that you are getting paid by song sung. Making copies no. Making money yes.

A song, is a song, is a song. By copyrite laws change a line, or a lyric, it is not the same song.

If you recorded someone singing a song from a chartbuster disk.

the words will not appear. therefore it is not an illegal copy of their product.

since words do not appear, why can you not sell a recording of the singers work. There will be nothing on the disk recerencing any brand, of Mfg.

anyone have an answer on this thought.