7.1 Karaoke, Tributes, and Cover Bands

With karaoke, tribute, and cover albums every effort should be made to ensure that the consumer is not misled to believe that the original artist is performing or is involved in this particular version of the recording. Listed below are some best practices that help avoid confusion for karaoke, tribute, and cover material that are generally accepted by Digital Merchants.

The original artist name must not be listed as a MainArtist or any recording of karaoke, tribute, or cover material. Also, unless it is part of the legal entity name of the artist (as in ‘ProSound Karaoke Band’) do not include the word Karaoke in the MainArtist field.

Most Digital Merchants prefer that version information be included in both the AlbumTitle and TrackTitle to indicate that a track or album is an instrumental or karaoke version. When using DDEX, the Karaoke Version and Instrumental Version, whether on album or track level, should be communicated in the SubTitle element.

While this applies as a general rule, below are some more specific examples for other instances.

Album Titles

Care should be made to not begin an AlbumTitle with the name of the original artist for any recording of karaoke, tribute, or cover material. This is in order to avoid confusion with original releases by said artist.

CORRECT ALBUMTITLE

INCORRECT ALBUMTITLE

Artist Karaoke Series: Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift Karaoke: Fearless

Sing Like Christina Aguilera, Vol. 5 (Karaoke Performance Tracks)

Christina Aguilera Sings, Vol. 5 (Karaoke Performance Tracks)

For tributes, while “A Tribute to...” would not be appropriate in parentheses following the title, “A Tribute to (original artist name)” can be used as part of the album title itself where appropriate.

Track Release Titles

Karaoke TrackTitles can make reference to the original artist as long as clarifying information is provided so as to not mislead the consumer to think that the original artist is performing. Phrases such as “Originally Performed by... (original artist name)” are generally accepted. In a track or album title needing multiple parenthetical details, using parentheses first and brackets for all further details helps to avoid confusion:

CORRECT TRACKTITLE

INCORRECT TRACKTITLE

I Will Possess Your Heart (Originally Performed by Death Cab for Cutie) [Karaoke Instrumental Version]

I Will Possess Your Heart [Originally Performed by Death Cab for Cutie] (Karaoke Instrumental Version)

As opposed to karaoke titles, never use “Originally Performed by,” “Tribute to,” “Cover of,” etc. for tribute or cover songs. These phrases for tribute and cover songs are not generally accepted by Digital Merchants as appropriate language.

When using DDEX, this can best be achieved by sending more than one SubTitle:

TITLE

I Will Possess Your Heart

SUBTITLE

Karaoke Instrumental Version

SUBTITLE

Originally Performed by Death Cab for Cutie

In Reprtoir