April 2018
We have evidence to prove that OneMusic continues to lie and mislead the public on who and what they represent in the music business. Head of OneMusic will go so far as to say to venue owners (playing karaoke in their bar) that they (OneMusic) “represent many karaoke producers”, when in fact they don’t represent, and never have represented ANY karaoke producers. The truth is backed up by two documents from RMNZ and PPNZ (who represent and represented sound producers and who are under the “OneMusic umbrella”), stating they do not (and therefore OneMusic do not) represent any karaoke producers. Rendering any public performance licence for karaoke from OneMusic invalid (without the AKPA licence) and leaving you as a bar owner exposed to potential lawsuits under S32 of the Copyright Act 1994, if you continue to play karaoke in your venue without ALL necessary licences in place. Don’t be fooled. We can back up everything we are saying with solid proof to anyone out there in search of the absolute truth.
August 2017
AKPA has recently received a retraction and public apology from RNZRSA, regarding a notice they released in August 2016. It is an important message for all in the karaoke industry, and especially venue owners/managers, in New Zealand and Australia. Click the following RSA Apology to view the statement as it appeared on the RNZRSA website (prior to their website update). Since the RNZRSA statement, we have also had corrective statements published by Hospitality NZ and Clubs NZ, CLICK HERE to view.
July 2017
The court case between the Plaintiffs – Laser Direct 2011 Ltd., K & L Willis vs the Defendants – APRA (NZ) Ltd and AMCOS (NZ) Ltd has been discontinued with APRA AMCOS removing “karaoke” from their Casual Blanket Reproduction Licence.
KARAOKE PUBLIC WARNING:
1. Any person(s) / business that has been sold a licence from APRA / AMCOS / OneMusic to copy, replicate karaoke tracks (e.g. Casual Blanket Reproduction Licence), and believes they are legal to copy the karaoke tracks with this licence alone, they are not. Without permissions/licence from BOTH the writers/lyricists/publishers (APRA/AMCOS) AND the karaoke producers, copying of karaoke tracks contravenes the Copyright Act.
2. Any venue – bar, cafe, club etc., that has been sold an APRA / AMCOS / OneMusic public performance licence for karaoke, believing they are legal with this licence alone for karaoke to be played at their venue, they are not. APRA/AMCOS/OneMusic collect public performance fees for the song writers portion of the karaoke performance (musical works), but they do NOT have (and never have had) mandate to collect for the karaoke producers (karaoke recordings).
In other words, as Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ) do not, and have not had mandate from any karaoke producers to collect on their behalf, therefore the OneMusic hospitality licence does not include the public performance of karaoke recordings. The OneMusic licence for public performance of karaoke is only giving the venues permission from the song writers i.e. for the musical works embedded in the karaoke tracks. In short, the OneMusic hospitality licence does not cover karaoke recordings, as no karaoke producers have given them permission to collect public performance on their behalf.
AKPA (NZ) Ltd has been set up to protect the karaoke industry, and to collect the karaoke producers portion of the karaoke public performance fee, which is then distributed to those producers signed with AKPA.
February 2013
Adams of Rotorua gets 4 months imprisonment for breaching the New Zealand Copyright Act 1994 as it relates to Karaoke Music. Click the below link for more details: https://www.copyright.com.au/2013/02/jail-time-for-nz-copyright-infringement/
14th April 2011
To view the Sundown Karaoke / Des Adams story regarding piracy on Close Up CLICK HERE – you will need to log into Facebook to view this footage.