If you don’t have the time to read everything right now, these are the important points on this page:

• The KIAA member producers have begun suing karaoke hosts and venues for infringement of their intellectual property rights.
• If you use pirated material (any content that is not original manufacturer supplied media) or you made an unauthorized media transfer, you are violating copyright and trademark laws and the producers policies.
• If you downloaded your karaoke tracks from a legal internet site these cannot be used for commercial purposes and, of course, if you use karaoke tracks from illegal sites or preloaded hard drives you are operating illegally.
• Your venues are at risk for vicarious trademark and copyright liability if they hire a KJ who is operating illegally.
• Your venues can be shielded from liability from member producers in part by having you fill out a 2-page form and returning it to the KIAA.
• You should read all the information on this website, download and return the form to protect your venue and you should have your venue fill out the venue form.

If you are a Karaoke Host

Karaoke piracy is a big problem, and it’s killing the karaoke industry. Even though karaoke is more popular than ever, karaoke producers like Chartbuster®, Pop Hits Monthly® and Sound Choice® see fewer and fewer legitimate sales as karaoke hosts use illegal pirated music to put on their shows. When a karaoke host plays tracks from a hard drive without buying legal product that host is stealing from us.

No business can survive if 90% of its potential customers steal the product instead of buy it. To fight back, the member producers have begun suing karaoke hosts and venues for infringement of their intellectual property rights. They don’t want to sue, but they are out of other options.

If you’re operating illegally it is in your best interests to become compliant. If you do, some karaoke producers will work with you to provide a set of products with a volume discount and possibly even some financing.

Running a Compliant Show

The KIAA member producers sell karaoke accompaniment tracks such as Compact Disc plus Graphics, MP3G format on CD, SD cards or other original manufacturer supplied media. If you are going to use the producer’s tracks for any commercial purpose, you must acquire those tracks on an original producer’s product.

If you use pirated material (any content that is not original manufacturer supplied media) for a commercial purpose, you are committing infringement of the producer’s intellectual property rights. Pop Hits Monthly and Sound Choice have never licensed anyone to sell preloaded hard drives and Chartbuster only authorized a very limited number over 5 years ago. 
 

• If you acquired your karaoke tracks via downloading, you may not use those tracks for any commercial purpose. You should read the Terms and Conditions for the sites; if they are legally licensed sites, they will state that the tracks are for personal, private, home use only. Further, MANY sites offering Chartbuster, Pop Hits Monthly or Sound Choice tracks are illegal sites and obtaining tracks from these sites, whether purchased or obtained free means you have acquired pirated tracks. If you have any questions as to which sites are legal sites for PERSONAL home use, you should contact one of the producers.
• If you acquired your tracks by buying or otherwise acquiring a hard drive-based system (such as an external hard drive, a laptop, a desktop, a CAVS system, or another similar dedicated karaoke music player), with the tracks pre-loaded, you have acquired pirated tracks.

Verified Compliance SAFE HARBOR Program (VCSH)

The VCSH program is designed for Venues only, not for Karaoke Hosts. However there are benefits to you if you cooperate and participate by helping you:

• Keep your gigs
• Defend your pricing
• To have a way of reporting karaoke pirates that are destroying the industry

Your venue may have sent you to this website because they have an interest in joining the VCSH program. When they join then they will be protected from a Chartbuster, Pop Hits Monthly or Sound Choice lawsuit for intellectual property infringement.

Your Responsibilities

You can download the simple 2-page form which you should fill out and return to us. The KIAA producer members know this program won’t make them popular with karaoke hosts who are operating illegally – but that’s ok. They’re interested in customers who will buy their products and in helping compliant hosts get more value for their services, so they can continue buying products and the producer members can continue to create them.

It is in your best interests to cooperate, because venues are being encouraged to hire only the hosts who do cooperate and demonstrate that they are compliant. Although it is 100% voluntary on your part, failure to comply puts the venue you work for at risk and increases the likelihood that you might be named in a lawsuit.