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Sound Choice Karaoke :: Licensing Glossary
| Licensing Glossary |
QUESTIONS
- Compulsory
License
- Mechanical
Rights
- Reprint
Rights
- Synchronization Rights
ANSWERS
- Compulsory License
If a publisher does not wish to "participate" in the licensing of the
song, you can record their tune and "force" them to take the money by
filing for a Compulsory License. With this type of license you must
report accounting once a month as opposed to quarterly with Harry Fox
.
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- Mechanical Rights
A license fee - a flat fee called the Statutory Rate set by the Copyright
Royal Tribunal (US Government) that sets the rate (currently at .0850
per song per copy) for every time a song is "mechanically fixed" in
a medium ( i.e. CD, CD+G, records, cassettes, video tapes etc.). The
main clearing house for mechanical licenses is the Harry Fox Agency
in New York City. Harry Fox is not a living person.
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- Reprint Rights
...are requested directly from the publisher who controls the copyright.
These organizations may be large and well known or in the back of someone’s
trailer. Sound Choice tries to include lyrics for each of its songs.
Lyric licenses are for the words only and not the musical notation or
notes found in music books. Those are standard musical notation reprint
rights and are different from just having the words. However not all
of our product receives reprint licenses. We may not be allowed to use
them (some Disney or ABKCO), or one writer may hold out on his share
of ownership of that song (Jackson Browne - Take It Easy) or are to
expensive to use (Clint Black written songs) or they hate Karaoke and
do not wish to be associated with the format (Gloria Estafan, Garth
Brooks, Andrew Lloyd Webber). These lyric licenses may be granted or
rescinded at the will of the songwriter at any time. Getting the lyrics
in the catalog one time does not mean it will always stay. Likewise
a songwriter may change publishers or publishers may buy or sell a writers
catalog. The ability to deny or receive a lyric request sometimes moves
with a writers publisher.
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- Synchronization Rights
Using visuals or graphics with the music. In the sense of CDG it is
a mechanical and reprint right all in one. Sound Choice will probably
go directly to each publisher to ask for this permission. We will pay
an advance against future sales as well as a fixing fee which allow
you to "affix" the music with the visuals. MTV, movie scores and movie
soundtracks and Karaoke LD’s are clear examples of synchronization use.
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