There are so many terms for it: Karaoke, karaoke backing tracks, negative tracks, instrumental tracks, vocal tracks, and the list goes on. But what does all that mean? In short, a karaoke backing track is a popular song recorded without lead vocals. That’s like a Beyonce song without Beyonce, Sinatra without Frank, and Faith Hill without Faith. For years, karaoke has been such a popular cultural pastime in many countries. Although it has only been around in the US for about 25 years, it has taken many forms during that time. Some companies, ProSound Music in particular, broke away from the onslaught by playing the highest quality karaoke backing tracks. They focused on the details and intricacies of each song, resulting in an almost exact match to the original recording.
The process for creating a new karaoke backing track is long and detailed. Let’s send our imaginary friend John on a journey to find out how it all works. In six months, John is performing at a benefit concert and wants to sing his favorite Michael Bublé song, “Everything.” John goes shopping online and discovers that no one has that lead…a quality one anyway. The only ones he can find sound like they were produced in someone’s basement with an old keyboard. Since this is a big night for John, he wants his performance to be top notch. He sends a quick email to ProSound, knowing that they have a reputation for providing the highest quality music for singers. Now that I find out, ProSound planned to acquire that song anyway and told John that it might be ready in time. Ready? John asks. The helpful clerk explains the process to John, a process he had no idea actually existed.
For a track to be eligible to download or sell on CD, a number of things must fit together. Legally, a person or company cannot simply take the original recording and remove the voice track or the person singing; you have to record your own performance from scratch. At this point, it would be nice to clarify a few things. First, there is a big difference between Performance Music and Karaoke Music. Performance Music is simply the music that someone can use for a performance. Karaoke implies that the individual is singing along with words on a screen. The licenses for these two categories are different. In order to create a Performance Music track, negative track, or backing track, a mechanical license or download license must be purchased from the publisher who owns the rights to that song (depending on your intended use).
For “karaoke” with the lyrics on the screen, highlighted in time with the music, a “sync” license is usually required. For lyrics printed on paper, a “reprint lyrics” license may be available. Then finding the right editor takes a bit of work. Information can be found through the Harry Fox Agency, the Association of Music Publishers, ASCAP, BMI, Public Domain Info, The Copyright Office, SESAC, Wikipedia, or the record label. Sometimes a publisher does not own 100% of the copyright, so in that case another search must be done to determine which publisher owns the rest of the copyright. Sometimes the publisher cannot be determined or license requests are not returned, so the company may choose to license under the Compulsory Licensing Act. Under Section 115 of this Act, persons wishing to reproduce music may do so if they adhere to certain guidelines, including consistent payment of royalties at a legal rate and accurate reporting.
Once all applicable licenses are purchased and accounted for, the fun begins. ProSound has a contract with a recording studio and karaoke label, such as Priddis Music, which brings together the most talented musicians in a database. They are contacted and brought together to record individual tracks for the song. Once the song is finalized and Priddis Music, or other record labels, make it available in their catalogs, ProSound markets and sells the song, after obtaining the appropriate licenses. That’s when our imaginary friend John comes back on the scene. ProSound uploads the song to their site. They call John and tell him the song is available, just in time for his benefit concert. After registering on the site, he downloads his favorite song, “Everything” by Michael Bublé. Because it’s the highest quality recording, and because John sings like a dream, his performance is actually top notch and everyone asks him where he got his karaoke backing track that sounds like a live band. . ProSound Performance Music, he says with a knowing smile, is NOT karaoke.
