Compared with the cost of acquiring music as a DJ, via a record pool or a subscription service such as Pulselocker, karaoke music is expensive.
Digital 1 Audio Inc provides support for two professional and commercially viable karaoke subscription platforms; Digitrax Entertainment’s ‘Karaoke Cloud Pro‘ and Party Tyme Karaoke’s Subscription Service, in our PCDJ DJ and karaoke software.
Karaoki, a product built exclusively for hosting karaoke, has in-app support for Karaoke Cloud Pro while DEX 3, the do-it-all DJ mixing software, supports the new Party Tyme Karaoke Subscription, respectively. Both platforms are designed for commercial use, so they are legal for public performance whether the user is in a venue or a private (and paid) event.
Karaoke Cloud Pro (currently provides 3,800 karaoke songs) will cost a subscriber $49.99-a-month while Party Tyme Karaoke (current song count is at 13,400 or so) runs $99.99-a-month.
Not exactly a drop in the bucket by any means, but I’ll explain why it is the market value for a professional product designed to help generate revenue for your business…
THE WHY
From licensing to manufacturing, the process of creating quality karaoke music is an expensive endeavor for everyone involved, especially in the good ol’ U.S.A.
Not only can the cost of licensing a song be steep, but the time involved in making a deal comes at a price as well. Each licensing deal for each song a karaoke manufacturer wants to re-create in the studio with paid musicians and apply on-screen lyrics for, for the most part, is unique.
The cost of licensing a specific song ranges wildly from song to song, as do the terms of the arrangement. Often times a track can be co-owned by different publishers, and the final say if the track can be licensed for karaoke goes to the song writer/s themselves. Thus, the return on investment for a karaoke manufacturer is pretty low and they need to price their downloads or subscription service accordingly.
If you want to purchase high-quality karaoke songs ala carte the average price your pay for a single karaoke download in the USA is $2.49, with many services providing MP4 video versions for $2.99. So, for comparisons sake, if you purchase Party Tyme’s Karaoke Subscription 13,400+ song catalog outright instead of ‘renting’ it with a subscription you’d be on the hook for over $33,000, and that wouldn’t include free updates like subscribers receive on a weekly basis!
Unlike regular music in the DJ world, there is no such thing as “promotional karaoke”, making it a more expensive business venture than simply being a DJ. DJs have access to promotional record pools and music-only subscription services for a fraction of the cost the public pays. That doesn’t exist in karaoke land.
When you add it all up with a now-deeper understanding of the inner workings of the karaoke licensing/business side of things, the Karaoke Cloud Pro and Party Tyme karaoke professional subscriptions are truly affordable options for the working KJ or karaoke bar.
Have questions about the professional karaoke subscription services? Please leave them in the comments section below!
