Karaoke fans have had their favorite shows canceled for many reasons in recent years. Shows have been shut down when the ownership or management changed. Karaoke hosts have lost shows due to the poor economy, competition, their own lack of skill or poor attitudes towards their singers and many other less evident reasons. But wait, karaoke has a new enemy making its way into venues here in South Florida.
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers otherwise know as ASCAP!
Local venues have shut down their karaoke shows after being threatened by people who say they are representing ASCAP. These representatives are said to be demanding license fees from the owners of small clubs and bars who have a weekly karaoke show. Owners are being told that the shows will be shut down and all equipment and music will be confiscated.
Do these people actually have the right to do this? I am still in the United States aren’t I?
As a songwriter I am all for protecting the rights of everyone who creates something original but is there actually a loss to a songwriter if someone sings their song at a karaoke show? Royalties for songs are not very large, possibly 4 to 8 percent after all expenses. Don’t quote me on that because I’ve never been able to get any major publisher to publish one of my songs. I’m sure if I was famous it would be much less difficult and this is another gripe I have with these elite publishing firms. They are not honestly attempting to support all composers, by publishing songs from unknown artists so record companies might have a vast database of new material to search through. The majority of new songs they publish come from artists who have already been successful in the industry. If you don’t believe me try to have a song published by BMI and you most likely will receive a letter rejecting your material because they require a major record label to make the request.
So, we come back to the question of how much money would be lost to a songwriter if someone sang their song at a karaoke show. My guess would be one tenth of a penny at most. Of course that’s only my guess but if we multiply that amount by 10,000 we have a much more significant amount, $10.00. This means that if the very same karaoke song was sung at karaoke shows across the country 10,000 times the song writer would lose 4 to 8 percent of that total after expenses. I’m sure you can understand the unlikelihood of this occurring, and the insignificance of the amount. However, forcing bars, clubs and restaurants to purchase licenses can be a major money making opportunity for publishing companies and groups such as ASCAP.
Since each karaoke host purchases the music used at karaoke shows hasn’t the song writer already been compensated by the manufacturer of the karaoke music?
Can bars and clubs freely play music on the radio or have TVs or juke boxes or will these forms of entertainment also bring the ASCAP representatives around to collect?
My final question then must be who is ASCAP actually helping?
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