Mission Statement of the KIAA

 The Karaoke Industry Alliance of America is a non-profit trade organization made up of manufacturers, distributors, KJ/DJ hosts, venue owners and karaoke enthusiasts.  Our mission is to promote and advance all aspects of karaoke be it as an art form, a form of entertainment, a recreational activity or even as just a casual pastime.

In pursuit of our mission, our primary goal is to foster a favorable business climate that equally supports and promotes the interests of all its members.  Through its members, the KIAA endeavors to set a high standard of operation by asserting  that its membership adhere to both legal and highly ethical business practices.
 

We are participating on their board in an effort to make sure that the needs, rights and desires of KJ's are heard and are dealt with in a fair manner.  We entirely support all that KIAA is trying to do and will work with them in any way we can to help further both our causes. 

We recently sent a press release which will be published in Mobile Beat and the National Entertainer (NAME's Magazine).  The article talks about our goals and our plans and then our hopes in what we can accomplish in working with KIAA.  The article in no way reflects opinions or positions of KIAA, but does reflect our viewpoints and our goals moving forward:

US Karaoke Alliance formed to assist Karaoke Hosts and energize the industry.

US Karaoke Alliance (www.uskaraokealliance.com) is working to help better the world of KJ’s and rejuvenate the industry.  We mentioned a few issues ago that Sound Choice has agreed not to pursue legal actions for use of digital karaoke systems as long as companies can provide proof of one for one copies of content versus number of shows being run simultaneously.  This is a huge development in the Karaoke world and a true offering of an olive branch to KJ’s.

 As President of the US Karaoke Alliance, I am speaking to KIAA (Karaoke Industry Alliance of America) and serving on their advisory board to create an infrastructure and alliance for Karaoke professionals.    The goal of the US Karaoke Alliance is to help the KJ’s that are doing business legitimately and the ones that are trying to do things the right way so they can make more money for their shows, better run their businesses and through KIAA have a way to report companies that are breaking the law.  In the past, single companies tried running “regulatory” types of associations.   These associations were not truly successful due to a lack of any consolidated enforcement efforts.  The US Karaoke Alliance hopes are that with KJ’s, retailers, enthusiasts and all of the major disc manufacturers putting together efforts with KIAA, we can actually have some real enforcement actions and get rid of those who have no desire to do business ethically and legally.   Our goal is that in the long run as we build membership and a steadily growing organization that we will have enough impact to either get consolidated agreements from publishers or get some sort of legislation that will define licensing of karaoke tracks once and for all. 

 Karaoke Legal History 101:

Karaoke is currently not ever mentioned in the US Copyright Law or in the Digital Millennium Act.   This has lead to widespread disagreements. 

The Copyright Act defines “phonorecords” as “material objects in which sounds, other than those accompanying a motion picture or other audiovisual work, are fixed by any method now known or later developed, and from which the sounds can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.” 17 U.S.C. § 101. “Audiovisual works” are defined as “works that consist of a series of related images which are intrinsically intended to be shown by the use of machines, or devices such as projectors, viewers, or electronic equipment, together with accompanying sounds, if any….”  

When karaoke moved from cassettes with written lyric sheets to CD’s containing some pictures and graphic words scrolling on a screen and synced to the music, this opened up the disagreement and the ability for the publishers to negotiate sync licenses at a negotiated rate per contract and the ability to say “No” to karaoke manufacturers unless they were willing to pay the fees requested for a negotiated license the some most refer to as a sync license.  The case that set the precedent for this was ABKCO Music, Inc. v. Stellar Records, Inc in 1996, where ABKCO sued on the grounds that Stellar could not just put out karaoke tracks with a section 115 compulsory license filing as compulsories were defined strictly as covering only “phonorecord” recordings.  Under the terms of copyright law, they argued that the karaoke tracks closer resembled the definition of “audivisual works” and would require individual negotiated licenses for each track.  The courts ruled in ABKCO’s favor thus setting the precedent that karaoke track rights must be individually negotiated for permission and compensation. 

In 2005 Rick Priddis of Priddis Music was quoted as saying, "The great irony in all of this is that the publishers, while claiming their actions are trying to root out pirates and willful infringers, are making sure that only the pirates will survive," Priddis said. "The true infringers have never paid fees and never will. If this continues, those of us who have paid fees and royalties all along will be forced out of business, and then everybody loses."  His company was sued by EMI Publishing and even though the initial judgment in Utah courts was that “sync licenses” are not required for karaoke products which display only the text of lyrics; (U.S. District Judge Bruce S. Jenkins ruled, because "Absent a series of related visual images, e.g., a motion picture, film or video recording, the display of the lyrics represents the display of a 'literary' rather than 'audiovisual' work.")  while the case was on appeal to a higher court,   Priddis dropped out of the Karaoke business and issued a joint statement with EMI in 2008 acknowledging that sync licenses are required for Karaoke tracks.  Over the years, DK, Pioneer , Music Maestro, Nutech, Backstage and many other smaller companies have followed suit and went out of business showing that Priddis was correct back in 2005.  As of now the only major players remaining active in Karaoke are Sound Choice, Stellar Records, Chartbuster, and Pocket Songs.

 Earlier this year, the requirement for this negotiated license was upheld in California’s 9^th Circuit Court when they ruled that in favor of BMI publishing in a lawsuit with karaoke electronic microphone system creator, Leadsinger.  Leadsinger had filed for relief on the grounds that their digital chip based system only required compulsories and reprint licenses for lyrics, but their claim was denied and then that decision was upheld upon appeal and it was ruled that since it provided graphics and some images on a screen attached to their system they could be required to pay sync licenses.  Leadsinger also argued that their use of tracks fell under “fair use” and that claim was also not found to have enough merit to overturn the lower court decision.

 The issue still lies in the fact that “audio visual synchronization licensing” was originally intended to apply to protect artists from having their works exploited for movies and commercials and tied to images of popular stars or products for financial gain.   Display of lyrics on a screen is merely a technological advancement of display on paper and designed to make karaoke easier for the singer.   It is nothing but a guide to a singer and is not what audio visual sync licensing was intended, but with lack of any legislation this has opened an opportunity for publishers to deny rights to release karaoke tracks and to demand larger fees and is slowly forcing the legitimate karaoke companies out of business.

Our hopes are that if we can create enough of an infrastructure and united front of karaoke enthusiasts that a new type of compulsory for Karaoke can be established with the major labels, either via agreement or via legislation.  We must first learn to work together and self police our industry so that we can show the publishers that we are worthy of their time and consideration.  When dealing with people that release multi-million selling recordings, we must provide a system that is capable of showing them a financial gain in the future.

 While KIAA is serving to combine the efforts of all industry components and will work on legal education, music licensing issues, enforcement and investigation of infringement, The US Karaoke Alliance will be developing a database driven website structure that will provide many benefits to karaoke hosting companies, venues and karaoke enthusiasts while in the future offering KIAA a single contact point resource to set up payment plans and a secondary source to audit karaoke company libraries for compliance.  

 Member benefits of the US Karaoke Alliance will include:

1. Ability to have a cursory or in depth audit of karaoke libraries conducted for certification of companies status.  (Companies that are certified will have this added to their profiles and their listings will move to a higher point on lists made available to clubs looking for legal Karaoke hosts.) 
2. Ability to subscribe to ongoing monthly karaoke releases from major vendors for each set of music. (since it is via a private, membership based program and not open to the general public, karaoke monthly releases will be below normal MAP price points.)  Those subscribing will also have this added to their profile and will show higher in listings on various websites for finding hosts.
3. Liability insurance for business to protect venues and availability of equipment and music coverage as well. 
4. Discounted rates on business management and web-site hosting products via strategic partners. 
5. Discounted rates on search engine listings of Karaoke Bars and hosting company databases.
6. Bi-Monthly newsletter with updates on industry happenings and special offers from national karaoke retailers.
7. Central contact point for companies wishing to set up plans and work with major karaoke disc manufacturers to pay for content and bring all libraries into 100% with disk manufacturer policies.  (Some older songs can not be licensed any longer, however manufacturers are currently developing plans for “covenants not to sue” or agreements to accept existing digital content and not pursue copyright infringement suits.)
8. New benefits will be added over time as membership and resources expand

 For more information on any of these organizations or to get involved go to www.uskaraokealliance.com.   Let’s all work together to fix the problems that confront the karaoke industry.