Legal question regarding selling Karaoke-produced CDs...

[FMiguelez]

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Hello. I'm seeking some info regarding this:

A local producer hired me to record the vocals for a Karaoke CD he got in the internet. The CD is for the Broadway show "Godspell". The Kk CD sounds more decent than I thought it would.

Anyway, he wants to sell those produced CDs. He has not gotten any kind of permission nor licences to do so. We're located in Mexico, but I still feel compelled to tell him about any possible risks of just doing it disregarding any legal issues I'm positive he needs to take care of.

I will NOT want any credit in those CDs if he goes ahead with this anyway. I know the FBI won't come after us, but I'm just not comfortable doing this kind of things like that.

He insists that, since it is a totally AMATEUR gig, it won't matter, but if he's planning on selling the CDs... I don't know.
He's doing the show with a bunch of churches and priests. Some of the priests themselves will be the actors/singers . The audience will be church-going people, grandmas, aunts, etc. It is all amateur time, and it is all church stuff related.
He wants to sell the CDs after the show, to the audience (4-5 dollars a pop).

I've NO idea what this entails, but I would like to know what the proper and legal way of doing this would be. Whom should you seek permission from? Licenses? Is he supposed to pay some kind of royalty to someone?

Again, I don't think he'll go through the "trouble" of doing this the proper way, but I just want to let him know about it anyway. And kindly ask him not to credit me, nor my studio, in the CDs.

I realize we have different laws in Mexico than in the US, but copyright stuff is borderline-less, is it not?

Thank you for your enlightment.

[FMiguelez]

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I'd bump this up, but it's got nowhere to go... I'ts been sitting on top here for a few weeks...

Any Unicorner-Lawyers out there?

[johnnytucats]

I worked for a large, independent (at the time), old music publishing company in Nashville several years ago. In my position I needed to talk to our sub-publishers around the world about catalog promotion. Every (and I mean every) time I called our sub-publisher in Mexico the phone rang and rang and rang...no answer...no voicemail. Same with the fax number.

I don't know the copyright laws in Mexico. In the U.S. he would need to obtain master licensing for the karaoke tracks (from the owner of the tracks which may or may not be the record company on the karaoke CD) and mechanical licensing from the music publisher. This is probably close to what he'd need to be legal in Mexico.

You are wise to steer clear of any mention of you or your business on the new CDs if you are uncertain of their legality.

[FMiguelez]

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Hi, Johnnytucats. Thanks for answering.

I worked for a large, independent (at the time), old music publishing company in Nashville several years ago. In my position I needed to talk to our sub-publishers around the world about catalog promotion. Every (and I mean every) time I called our sub-publisher in Mexico the phone rang and rang and rang...no answer...no voicemail. Same with the fax number.

Now, why am I NOT surprised by this??? Surely they were taking their permanent siesta

Also, sometimes mexican dealers are listed in certain companies' websites for local contact info (such as Steinberg, etc). You try to call, and... never an answer. Sometimes the listed phone numbers are just wrong. Mostly, if you are lucky and get someone on the phone, it'll be some secretary who has NO idea of what they sell, there's never someone with knowledge to answer any questions, etc.

My description is easily sumarized as follows: Take Sweetwater. Do the EXACT opposite of what they do. The result is your every-day Mexican dealer/business

I don't know the copyright laws in Mexico. In the U.S. he would need to obtain master licensing for the karaoke tracks (from the owner of the tracks which may or may not be the record company on the karaoke CD) and mechanical licensing from the music publisher. This is probably close to what he'd need to be legal in Mexico.

I assume they DO answer the phones?

You are wise to steer clear of any mention of you or your business on the new CDs if you are uncertain of their legality.

Yes. I know the producer won't bother with this, so that's what I'll do. Like we say here: "when in doubt, there's NO doubt"
Guess doesn't make much sense when translated into english, does it?