Registered: 04/15/01
Posts: 1313
Loc: The Blue Planet,BELGIUM
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Hi all ,
I'm thinking of opening the studio doors to vocalist who wants a cheap demo to show case their vocals. I though about using karaoke tracks as backing tracks. Is there any legal issues with that?
The way I see it, the product will only be for vocalist personal use, it wont be for selling or the like.
thanks
Danny
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Rotshtein Danny - Studio Engineer Jingles show-reel
Registered: 03/28/02
Posts: 8623
Loc: Lynchburg, VA, USA
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You really don't have any legal issues. The person you're recording may, however, and the best thing you can do for your them would be to include the $40 the Harry Fox agency charges for short-run (<500 units) "performance rights" in your fee for recording.
You can register any cover of an existing song at http://www.songfile.com and pay the fee there.
(edit) I just checked the site, to make sure of the fees, and it looks like they've gone up to $45.50 per 500 units, with a $10 "processing fee".
Still chump change to insulate your clients from any potential legal hassle down the road...
Mr.Darling, I did the same thing in my studio, is not a problem.
You could develop a form that is signed by the artist that protects you as the music leaves the studio. It could have the standard items on it such as "for personal use only, not to be duplicated, modified etc, etc.
