Don't sing that song


Karaoke and copyright
I am not even sure what to think about this one.

On Monday, three music publishers filed a federal lawsuit against Cody's Chinese Bistro for three unlicensed performances at the Glenwood South night spot.

Bar owner Cody Tseng is flabbergasted why his karaoke machine is under fire.

"I already paid for it, how come I have to pay for it again?" Tseng said when he learned of the suit. Tseng had no immediate plans to silence the tunes.

Cody's was one of 26 bars, restaurants and juke joints nationwide that were served with suits this week from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, a group that manages the copyright use of more than 8.5 million songs.

The suit said songs by Richard Marx, Melissa Etheridge and Kevin Cronin were sung at Cody's in March, sans royalties.

The fact that the performances were karaoke doesn't matter, said Vincent Candilora, ASCAP senior vice president of licensing.

"It really doesn't matter how the songs are performed," Candilora said. "Copyright infringement is copyright infringement."

First I am not even sure if you can call karaoke performance.

But where does it stop?

If I give a dinner party, does this mean I have to pay so I can play music I have already purchased? Or is it only a "performance" if I sing along with the lyrics?

Why didn't someone say something years ago when karaoke first came out? Or at least came out in the U.S. Shouldn't any licensing fees be part of the cost of the record?

Does ASCAP want to kill their own market?

— NeoWayland

Posted: Mon - August 6, 2007 at 03:09 PM  Tag


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