Identifying Illegal Products
Illegal karaoke products come in as many different media formats as do legitimate ones, and then some. Considering that the overwhelming majority of karaoke products sold today contain on-screen lyrics, the media formats described in this section are rendered with these particular products in mind.
When a karaoke producer creates a sound recording with on-screen lyrics, the resulting product must then be digitized into a file or in some cases two files, the format of which will be determined largely by the final storage and/or file delivery system.
Bear in mind that when discussing storage media, it is important to not confuse storage media formats with file formats. With respect to file formats, a completed sound recording containing on-screen lyrics can be rendered into several different file formats. The two most popular being a PCM file (binary file) used to create but limited to an audio CD (CD+G format), and a compressed data file (CODEC) such as an MP3+G file which can then be stored on any number of storage devices.
Storage media formats on the other hand accommodate the various types of file formats as mentioned above. For example, all CD’s conform to the ISO 9660 standard. There are various extensions within that standard by which the CD can be formatted in order to accept a particular type of data. “Red book” audio is an extension of the ISO 9660 standard that is defined in a separate document whose cover is red, hence the term “red book”. This is the format used to store the PCM file format as mentioned above. For a more complete explanation of storage media formats please refer to the section titled: “File Formats, Storage & Delivery Systems”.
The following is a brief description of several typical storage devices and formats which are used for storing and delivering karaoke products.
CD (Compact Disc)
These storage devices are manufactured using the “injection molding” process and are often referred to as “stamped discs”. This has been the karaoke producer’s storage device of choice for many years, and has either a silk-screened or offset printed label. Almost all commercial CD’s found in major retailers and record boutiques are of this type and can only be replicated in mass quantities. As a result, illegal CDs are not usually made by casual users or small operations. Unfortunately, these CDs are virtually indistinguishable from the original legitimate ones. CDs can only be delivered via physical distribution.
CDR (Compact Disc – Recordable)
Up until the advent of the MP3+G format, illegal karaoke products were largely limited to the CDR in the CD+G or the rarer Video CD format. These products could easily be identified as illegal as most of these were “burned” on CDR media. The media at that time was then limited to either blue, gold or greenish gold dye and were almost always labelled with either a paper or handwritten label. Since that time however, the MP3+G format has emerged and has also found its way onto CDRs with the overwhelming majority of these products being illegal copies as well.
Because these storage devices use the “burn” process, they do not need to be duplicated in mass quantities, enabling anyone with a minimal investment to produce small to large quantities of illegally copied discs.
While not all CDRs are necessarily illegal, the majority are of questionable origin and when encountered mandate a high degree of scrutiny. Nowadays many karaoke labels along with some customization services (which as of this date are all to the best of our knowledge, illegal in the USA) now release some of their products on CDRs making it increasingly difficult to identify legitimate karaoke products.
Nevertheless, there are still a number of these products in the field with handwritten and/or paper labels. These CDR’s are either back-up or archival copies of the original disc. While leaving the question as to the legality of the commercial use of archival copies aside, the burden of proof as to the legitimacy of these CDRs lies with the individual using the CDRs. CDRs can only be delivered via physical distribution.
SUPER CD+G (DVD - Data Format)
Super CD+G is really nothing more than a specially formatted DVD data disc. Super CD+G is a proprietary format of CAVS, a west coast electronics manufacturer of karaoke playback machines. The legality of any of these discs is highly questionable, but there is little doubt that the majority of these discs are not legal at all. One tip off here would be if a Super CD+G is being offered with products from more than one karaoke label.
Super CD+Gs can only be delivered via physical distribution.
HDD (Hard Disk Drive)
HDD or Hard Disk Drives are mass read/writable storage devices that can contain huge volumes of content of any kind. There are two categories of HDD, namely internal and external drives. Currently these drives are commonly found on the market in either category that range in up to 1 terabyte in size capable of storing hundreds of thousands of songs.
While hard disk drives themselves are perfectly legal, pre-loaded hard drives are not. To date ANY hard disk drive containing pre-loaded musical content of any type is illegal. It does not matter whether the loaded content is included as a “bonus” or “value added” package, etc. Any unauthorized distribution of musical content whether it is paid for or otherwise is illegal.
Here are some tips and things to look for in helping to determine the legality of karaoke products.
- Handwritten or paper labels on a CD, DVD or Super CD+G
- Hard disk drive preloaded with content of any kind
- Multiple karaoke labels/producers on one CD, DVD, Super CD+G or Hard Drive
- “Generic” karaoke products i.e. any karaoke products offered without identifying the karaoke label or producer is illegal
These are just a few of the things to look for before making a purchase of karaoke products. Please Contact Us if you have any questions or have any suspicions regarding the purchase or use of karaoke products.
Please report any suspicious activity whether it involves the sale of karaoke products or the use and/or illegal copying of karaoke products to us.
For an interesting legal example follow this link to the official news release from the US Department of Justice to read about Stephen Freeman who pled guilty to conspiracy to infringe cpyrights in karaoke sound recordings.
Below is an example of an ad for a hard drive containing illegal karaoke songs. You can see other examples here.
