I would like to firstly open with this as a warning to anyone purchasing karaoke music on ebay, and anyone selling it.

BUYERS: Be warned that there are Sellers on ebay who claim that the items that they are selling are "Brand New" or "Legal" versions of karaoke, but some are not. Not all sellers are in the practice of piracy and most are legit, but I have fallen victim to the "Brand New" description. After years of buying karaoke music online I have only run into this twice, and recently my first experience here on E-Bay.
I can not stress to you the importance of reporting anyone who sells copied/burned disc's on E-Bay.
Even if you dont think its worth the effort, or they wont get caught, putting an end to piracy will also end the battle of job loss and billions of dollars that the actual license owners have lost due to piracy.

There are ways to know if the music you purchased is a copy or legal. Even with technology getting very good at re-creating almost perfect bootleg copies of CDG's, if you know what you are looking for you can almost spot it right away.

First, the LEGAL disc will have a serial number inscribed on the center inner ring of the disc. If it says anything pertaining to Recordable Media / Recordable CD-R / Writeable / Re-Writeable or has anything listing amount of time example: 80min located on the inner ring, it is a fraud.

Turn the disc over, an original disc will be silver in color, if it has any color tint to it whatsoever it is a copied disc. Also, if you can see track marks in rings on the disc, it is a copy. If you have burned your own disc's compare them to an original and see the difference. Some copied disc's are very good at masking this, but again if you have a doubt, contact the seller.

Some disc's will not have anything inscribed or printed on the inner ring, those are also fraud. If you receive a disk that has no information including the manufacturer or company name on the disc it is highly questionable.

Another way to check is the surface of the disc, check to see if it is labeled, or has a printable surface, if it has a printable surface you may be able to identify a dot or laser printed surface.
Check for any "blurry" printing, any ink that would normally not belong on any other part of the disc.

These ARE NOT LEGAL to use in any business, sell, or use in any commercial manner. If you are caught using them in a commercial manner you may face federal charges for copyright violations. The charges are very serious, and not worth taking the risk.

If in doubt, contact the seller.

There are many sites that you can go to that can better educate you in the laws of Piracy, and what to do to help end it. Report violators, including karaoke host's that use illegal media, External hard drives, or computerized karaoke. None of these are legal.

PRE-Loaded / Copied Hard drives: ARE INDEED ILLEGAL. And if you are caught using one in a commercial manner you may face federal charges. DO NOT PURCHASE THEM, they are not worth the fines and charges, and the venues loss of a liquor license.


SELLERS: As a warning that if you sell illegal copies of burned/ copied karaoke music, there is no excuse for the crime. You can not claim ignorance, or even lack of knowledge. If you buy a disc and make multiple copies for sales on the internet, you are breaking the law.
If you pre-load an external hard drive or Laptop you are breaking the law. If you create any copy of a karaoke disc and sell it you are breaking the law. Charges are far greater now than what they have been in the past, and they will find you.

If you think that technology has gotten so great that you can re-create these disc's to an almost flawless and undetectable format, be warned because technology has also gotten so great that you can be tracked to your front door and found for doing so.

If anyone would like to look up any sites that can educate you in this please search the following:

KAPA
KIAA
USA Karaoke Alliance

You may also contact the

FBI
FCC

And the following media licensing depts:

BMI
ASCAP
SEASAC

General information:

Some sellers may take the original disc out of a jewel case for shipping purposes, this does not make it an illegal copy, if you want the materials and disc information that comes in a jewel case request it on your check out, or send the seller a question regarding this.

Also, some sellers may include a disc with the purchase of equipment, contact the seller and ask them if it is a copy or the ORIGINAL LEGAL disc.

Anyone that Claims that they have no idea what you are talking about, or claims that they didnt know they were not legal is more than likely not being honest.
Remember, power sellers dont care about the consequences only profit.

If a seller pays 12.99 for a disk, and invests 60.00 for disc's and ink and then charges 8.99-17.99 per disc, they have just made a huge profit for no real investment. This hurts our industry, and those who rely on legal companies and sellers out there.

FILE A CLAIM, Contact E-Bay report the items,Contact any organization that helps fight Piracy, Contact the actual disc manufacturer, Take photos of the questionable media, keep all contacts, conversations and correspondance between you and seller. Gather all information about a seller to make sure they are reported. The more complaints and suits violators face the closer we are to fighting this industrial crime.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me, I can give links to all the necessary companies for legality information.

HELP END KARAOKE PIRACY!