Such a thing as commercial backing tracks for use on albums?

[brassplyer]

Ran across a local entertainer who sells CD's at their show, almost all cover material. I bought several and what struck me is the instrumentals don't sound like the typical self/locally-produced tracks - i.e. synth, midi strings, maybe live drums & guitar, more likely midi drums. These sound like pro karaoke tracks - real orchestral string sections, backup singers, horns, percussion, real Nashville-esque band etc.

They have a bunch of these CD's for sale, I didn't ask where the tracks came from but given their circumstances I'd be hard-pressed to believe that they had the budget to pay for the instrumentation to do this on all these albums. I know someone who had a couple of albums produced in Nashville and I know it's expensive.

I assume that licensing on karaoke tracks wouldn't cover using them on an album for sale. I'm wondering if they're just using karaoke tracks and gambling they don't get busted or is there such a thing as pre-fab pro tracks available to use on a retail CD?

[[email protected]]

Brassplyer:

In recent years a pool supply store I frequent
started playing playlists of versions of pop
songs from 1980s to present. I'd hear versions
of what I'd clearly recognize as "Get Lucky" by
Daft Punk or "Only Want to be with You" from
Hootie. Same exact key and tempo as the
originals, but obviously NOT Hootie or Daft.

Although I think the stuff I describe is licensed
to be played royalty free in retail stores, so
I don't know if it describes what you heard on
those CDs.

[brassplyer]

On Sunday, April 17, 2016 at 8:34:25 AM UTC-4, wrote:

> Although I think the stuff I describe is licensed
> to be played royalty free in retail stores, so
> I don't know if it describes what you heard on
> those CDs.

To clarify, these CD's are the particular entertainer singing with aforementioned backing music.

[[email protected]]

Brassplyer wrote: "To clarify, these CD's are the particular
entertainer singing with aforementioned backing music. "

Oh. That clears things up. Did
not pick that up in your initial
post.

[John Williamson]

On 17/04/2016 14:17, Brassplyer wrote:
> On Sunday, April 17, 2016 at 8:34:25 AM UTC-4, wrote:
>
>> Although I think the stuff I describe is licensed
>> to be played royalty free in retail stores, so
>> I don't know if it describes what you heard on
>> those CDs.
>
> To clarify, these CD's are the particular entertainer singing with aforementioned backing music.
>
The normal licence for the karaoke CDs requires the CD to be playing as
the singer performs. However, you could probably make a deal with the CD
maker to let you use their backing tracks on one of your releases for an
exorbitant fee.

Or just do it and hope nobody notices, which seems to be common over
this side of the Atlantic with some "pub" bands and singers.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

[Mike Rivers[_2_]]

On 4/17/2016 9:17 AM, Brassplyer wrote:
> To clarify, these CD's are the particular entertainer singing with aforementioned backing music.

You would need to ask the entertainer about licensing for your project.
He may have actually recorded the backing parts, or they're commercial
karaoke tracks that he's bootlegged. Find out how much he knows and go
from there.

Everybody has a hand out when you're using music that you didn't totally
create yourself. The publisher of the song gets his cut (some of which
presumably goes to the songwriter), and since you're using material from
a tangible recording, the publisher of the product is entitled to a cut
beyond the purchase price of the recording.

There's such a thing as per-licensed commercial music, the sort of thing
that gets used as background music for the snow report on the nightly
news, but that's music that makes you think about a song you know, not
the song you know.

--
For a good time, visit http://mikeriversaudio.wordpress.com

[JackA]

On Sunday, April 17, 2016 at 2:23:05 AM UTC-4, Brassplyer wrote:
> Ran across a local entertainer who sells CD's at their show, almost all cover material. I bought several and what struck me is the instrumentals don't sound like the typical self/locally-produced tracks - i.e. synth, midi strings, maybe live drums & guitar, more likely midi drums. These sound like pro karaoke tracks - real orchestral string sections, backup singers, horns, percussion, real Nashville-esque band etc.
>
> They have a bunch of these CD's for sale, I didn't ask where the tracks came from but given their circumstances I'd be hard-pressed to believe that they had the budget to pay for the instrumentation to do this on all these albums. I know someone who had a couple of albums produced in Nashville and I know it's expensive.
>
> I assume that licensing on karaoke tracks wouldn't cover using them on an album for sale. I'm wondering if they're just using karaoke tracks and gambling they don't get busted or is there such a thing as pre-fab pro tracks available to use on a retail CD?

A lot of multi-track escaped the studios that was solely meant for use by Harmonix Music, for their Rock Band and other products.

There is a "guitar" forum (don't have the URL address) that offers backing tracks, but I believe they are recreations.

Would be helpful if you named some songs you heard or even an era would be helpful.

Jack

[JackA]

On Sunday, April 17, 2016 at 9:57:45 AM UTC-4, John Williamson wrote:
> On 17/04/2016 14:17, Brassplyer wrote:
> > On Sunday, April 17, 2016 at 8:34:25 AM UTC-4, wrote:
> >
> >> Although I think the stuff I describe is licensed
> >> to be played royalty free in retail stores, so
> >> I don't know if it describes what you heard on
> >> those CDs.
> >
> > To clarify, these CD's are the particular entertainer singing with aforementioned backing music.
> >
> The normal licence for the karaoke CDs requires the CD to be playing as
> the singer performs. However, you could probably make a deal with the CD
> maker to let you use their backing tracks on one of your releases for an
> exorbitant fee.
>
> Or just do it and hope nobody notices, which seems to be common over
> this side of the Atlantic with some "pub" bands and singers.

Still have an unopened boxset of Motown karaoke, not rerecordings. Must say, Universal Music got their money out of Motown material!

Jack
>
> --
> Tciao for Now!
>
> John.

[Peter Larsen[_3_]]

On 17-04-2016 07:23, Brassplyer wrote:

> Ran across a local entertainer who sells CD's at their show, almost all cover material.
> I bought several and what struck me is the instrumentals don't sound like the typical
> self/locally-produced tracks - i.e. synth, midi strings, maybe live
drums & guitar,
> more likely midi drums. These sound like pro karaoke tracks - real
orchestral string sections,
> backup singers, horns, percussion, real Nashville-esque band etc.

There are many loop libraries, some of them very well sounding.

Kind regards

Peter Larsen

[brassplyer]

I saw her against yesterday and eventually casually asked her where she got the tracks. They're karaoke tracks from various sources. I just said oh okay, cool. Didn't discuss the copyright ramifications.