Indeed, I asked the question a second time purely because there wasn't an answer the first time around - and your initial post was somewhat forceful, and perhaps emotive with the use of the word 'crook'. Also, the subject on which you a pronouncing a hard and fast rule is one that's at present open to a number of interpretations.

Firstly, let's set aside those who have procured their karaoke tracks, be them in disc or computer file format, without payment (because even if they are playing discs, these are obviously still illega) - and deal in this discussion with only those who have paid for tracks (whether received as files or on a disc).

If you are going to decide that all those who play tracks from computer are doing so illegally, then you must include all those running from CAVS systems because these are also computers that store tracks on their hard drive. And that's going to present a bit of a problem, because these have hitherto been considered legal.

In fact, several karaoke manufacturers have given particular hosts written permission to load they tracks onto computers - that's CAVS systems and laptops.

But remember that a number of these karaoke companies don't ask the songwriters and original recording companies for permission - (as far as I can determine) they just rely on the copyright act to give them permission by sending payment via such as APRA; and there are many instances where the original artists and recording companies are extremely unhappy about this. So when the karaoke disc manufacturer gives permission for their tracks to be loaded onto CAVS units or laptops, it's questionable whether they have permission to do this all the way back from the original copyright holder.

And this is called 'format shifting'. It's where you receive music in one format, for example a DVD disc, and load it into your computer as a karaoke file.

Just recently the law was changed to make this legal, but I think I'm correct in saying it's legal now only for personal use (and therefore not KJs). But for a long time KJs (and some karaoke disc manufacturers) have said that format-shifting for everyone is fine as long as one disc is bought for every computer that is then loaded with its tracks. The legal background to this is that, if no extra copies of a piece of music are floating around, even though the format shifting is technically breaching copyright laws, that there has been no actual loss of revenue to the copyright holders, and therefore it would be difficult for any damages to be awarded by a court.

This is really only the briefest delve into the subject, but I'm seeking to show that it may be prudent to avoid blanket labels for those using PCs at karaoke.

My personal position is that, in 2007, it's ludicrous that KJs cannot just download the particular tracks that they want into their laptops, and that we still don't have a system whereby this can be properly controlled so that illegally downloaded tracks simply do not work. I'm keen to encourage rational and informed discussion that propels the industry's technology and laws forward, and avoid sensationalisation that can keep hosts clinging forever to outmoded technology - ie: discs. A computer is the obvious device to manage both the timely serving of music, plus all the systems that could manage the singer rotation and other aspects of the show.
Submitted by David on 16-05-2007

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