Recording Rules?

[jean225]

I need to know the rules to recording a song. Can you use karaoke and record any song? Or does it have to be a song thats written by me only? If you can, can you take it to a radio station to have it played on the air? I am new to all this so any help would be appreciated.

[FALKEN]

technically, no, you can't.

however nothing will happen if you do.

and you CAN take it to a radio station because they've paid for the liscenses.

[Bobby Darko]

I need the rules to make a sandwich.. Can I eat it when it's done?

[The Ghost of FM]

Originally Posted by jean225

I need to know the rules to recording a song. Can you use karaoke and record any song? Or does it have to be a song thats written by me only? If you can, can you take it to a radio station to have it played on the air? I am new to all this so any help would be appreciated.

A lot of artists start off by covering other people's work. As musicians, almost all of us learn how to play that way and then given enough talent and creativity, many musicians who ever hope to stand up on their own will try to write and perform their own material.

Unfortunately, there is no "carved in stone set of rules" out there in the music business about how to become famous via radio play, concerts and healthy record sales and as time marches on, what little structure there used to be, is quickly eroding away and now the most likely path to musical fame and fortune seems to be tied to how young and sexy you can appear in front of the cameras and how much trouble you can get yourself into to bring the press forward to follow your downfall.

Of course there is still the less traveled paths to musical income by doing things like going to recognized schools, getting degrees that will get you paying gigs in orchestras, or bands that play weddings and parties but after that, a whole bunch of other factors come into play like having insider connections to the industry and a certain amount of dumb luck combined with tons of hard work and actual talent, trying to get discovered.

Good luck!

Cheers!

[jjones1700]

If you get really lucky, you can get a cult following on Myspace and get noticed. The chances are like winning the lottery but...............

[FALKEN]

I write my own music because I'm not talented enough to do covers

[themaddog]

Originally Posted by FALKEN

I write my own music because I'm not talented enough to do covers

I second that, but at least I'm admitting it!

-MD

[Whale Bone]

While the Karaoke company has secured the rights to re-record the music for use as Karaoke, you have not secured the rights from the Karaoke company to redistribute their work. Granted, Karaoke is designed to be performed LIVE by anyone, but to be altered and repackaged/redistributed almost certainly represents an infringement of copyright. And if you are using the original song's lyrics you are reproducing those without permission.

So, I'm confident you are violating copyright laws if you don't secure rights/permission from both the Karaoke company and the original artist(s).

Will you get caught? That's another issue...

[elly-d]

will anyone want to hear that? on the radio?

[trancedental]

Originally Posted by elly-d

will anyone want to hear that? on the radio?

I'm sure that the purveyors of crap that are modern major record companies & radio stations / reality TV shows have enough room for another cover version to get airplay!

[toobalicious]

So, I'm confident you are violating copyright laws if you don't secure rights/permission from both the Karaoke company and the original artist(s).

+1

and you probably wont get "caught", but if you do, there may well literally be hell to pay. you read stories all of the time about record companies and publishers "making examples" of copyright violators. just how much risk are you willing to take?

a

[toobalicious]

BTW, a mechanical license for what you speak of is generally a lot more inexpensive than you think. try harry fox.

http://www.harryfox.com/index.jsp

there seems to be a slight shift with artists releasing material with creative commons licensing, but you can bet that material wasnt released by sony records. more below:

http://creativecommons.org/

a