All Event and "Bar Night" Organizers Only!!

[ArtGuitar]

We're looking to hold some tournaments in the SoCal region utilizing our Headliner Showcase System. It's a fully contained event system based on RockBand. The self-contained "roadie" box contains the game console, the LCD Monitor, as well as all of the instruments (including 2 ArtGuitar Riffmasters) and microphones.

The system can work out of the back of a pick up truck or van, and can also be a simple plug and play utilizing the house system.

One of the really good features of our HSS, is we have already negotiated BMI and ASCAP licensing, and what that means is our system could be used as a fundraiser, meaning charge to play, without fear of the royalty issues.

We are looking for some “Rock Master of Ceremonies” to assist hosting the tournaments. Any one know of any potential candidates in the Southern California area?

Riffmaster
www.artguitar.com

[RockBandAtlanta]

You should check out www.rockbandnightsla.com.

He is in SoCal and hosts regular gigs.

[RockBandAtlanta]

Hey folks,

Anyone have experience hosting Dance Central centered events?

I have my first dual Dance Central and Rock Band gig coming up and wanted to check in and see if anyone could share their experience.

Thanks.

[YRDaddy]

Hey folks,

Anyone have experience hosting Dance Central centered events?

I have my first dual Dance Central and Rock Band gig coming up and wanted to check in and see if anyone could share their experience.

Thanks.

It's suprisingly a hit! We have done it a couple times now and Dance Central has now seemed to replace DJ Hero as the "duel" setup for larger events. There are 2 things that suck about it though:

1) Kinect DOES NOT work in the sun! You should see the ridiculously elaberate canopy set up that my crew had to come up with in order to get the damn thing to work for an outdoor event. Of course the set up came after 2 hrs. of screaming and cursing the suns name, lol! Indoor lighting and darkness seem to work just fine.

2) If the Dance Central station and the Rock Band stage are set up near each other, the sounds clash. In our case, Rock Band tends to drown out Dance Central. But the speakers we use are still audable enough for the "dancer" to here and play. It can just be a little off-putting to people who are trying to listen and are hearing both audio sources. Headphones seemed to be a little ackward for Dance Central players to use too.

Good Luck!

[backinanger]

hi to everyone...
i've read in this forum and in facebook about some rock band nights party around the europe...
i would like to organize it in a pub in italy (normal karaoke+roclband)...
but how is with the rights and the copyrights for rock band?

-the list of the songs
-the use of the game and the instruments of harmonix
-the use of the playstation

For a karaoke, the pub pays the rights for the song he played...
what about rock band nights?
do i have to contact harmonix and sony, or i need only to pay the list of the songs i will play?
Obviously the client of the pub doesn't have to pay for playing rockband!

[NoahsArcade84]

Technically speaking, yes. Bars pay karaoke companies, who in turn play karaoke tracks. However, the bar is paying for the time of the host, the sound equipment, marketing, promotions, and a lot of other things than the karaoke tracks themselves. The karaoke company purchases the tracks, which have been licensed and rerecorded by the manufacturer, and uses them in the fair, legal, and intended use of the product. Where does the original artist get their compensation? Both from the karaoke manufacturer and from the bar itself, which is typically pays annual fees to a group called ASCAP whose purpose is to handle collecting royalty fees for public performances of non-public domain music. Most any bar that hires bands, DJs, karaoke companies, or even owns a jukebox, pays an annual fee to ASCAP for a blanket license.

That all being said, it does not violate any legal rights that I am aware of to provide Rock Band in a public setting. Just to be safe, it is an understanding I have with my venues that the fee I charge does NOT include my Rock Band services; technically, I do not get paid to offer Rock Band. Instead, I am paid for my time, sound equipment, expertise, marketing/promotions, and everything else that comes into hosting a karaoke show. I just happen to also offer Rock Band at my shows.

I do agree with Klubby that based on my limited knowledge, charging people directly to perform Rock Band tracks would be a violation of the agreement implicit upon purchase of Rock Band. The only way I can see a tournament with an entry fee being legal would be if it was a charitable event (with proceeds going to the charity, of course) or if any fees charged went directly and exclusively to the execution of the competition i.e. prizes, compensation for hosts/judges etc., and other vital tournament expenses. If you were to, as you say, take "a little something for yours truly", you need to be able to justify any money you take, be it in consultation fee or something similar.

But that's just my 2 cents.

Here I come, two years later, to bring this back up.

I'm trying to start an event here in Phoenix, and the bar owner is super paranoid about the legality of playing copywritten material publicly. I had done my homework, and explained that all of the songs are bought an paid for, that HMX has secured the rights to redistribute these songs in this format, and that they are paying for my time/expertise/promotional work, not for Rock Band itself.

But they made a good point. If I bought a song on iTunes, then I do own the rights to that song, but, technically, I am not allowed to play it publicly. If the record company that owned that song heard me playing the song in a bar, the fines could shut the bar down.

That being said, I have scoured this forum and emailed HMX, to no avail. I was hoping somebody here was in possession of some kind of official statement from HMX that alleviates any legal gray areas, mostly to make the bar owners I'm trying to work with happy.

[RockBandAtlanta]

That being said, I have scoured this forum and emailed HMX, to no avail. I was hoping somebody here was in possession of some kind of official statement from HMX that alleviates any legal gray areas, mostly to make the bar owners I'm trying to work with happy.

You do not own the rights to any on Rock Band or iTunes even when you pay for it.

There is no statement. You are on your own. Even if you got a go ahead from HMX it would be to use Rock Band not any of the songs since they do not have the legal authority over the songs.

If you really want to do this I'd move along to another customer.

[AmpRack]

It may be worth mentioning that, while the overall legalities of performing music in public is a little strange (it's not really), something to be legitimately cautious about is business licenses regarding music (varies widely state by state, city by city, type of venue, etc...). Those are pretty good catch-alls for these situations, and already 'legally required' to play any music in public, down to even playing music off an ipod.

Here in SF, it's all controlled through the alcohol bureau of california. There's separate licenses for serving beer, serving wine, serving sake, serving liquor, having a mame cabinet, and playing music in public. While 99% of the time they'd NEVER check for that, it IS a liability to be playing music of any kind without a proper license.

The nice thing is that, if you plan on playing Rock Band in public, that place should/may already have the proper legalities covered.

[lilforbn]

hi to everyone...
i've read in this forum and in facebook about some rock band nights party around the europe...
i would like to organize it in a pub in italy (normal karaoke+roclband)...
but how is with the rights and the copyrights for rock band?

-the list of the songs
-the use of the game and the instruments of harmonix
-the use of the playstation

For a karaoke, the pub pays the rights for the song he played...
what about rock band nights?
do i have to contact harmonix and sony, or i need only to pay the list of the songs i will play?
Obviously the client of the pub doesn't have to pay for playing rockband!

Maybe i can help you, i sent you a private message.

[Razmataz89]

Hi All
I have not been in the forum for a bit now, but I thought I'd share this with organizers as it brings an excluive look to your setup.
You may not know that the RB stage kit now works on RB3 now. I've also did a Mod that replaces the fogger with a simple red green lazer light. you can buy on ebay for 25 bucks. They mount inside right on the fogger bracket and and you can power it using the terminals that run the pummper. Now instead of over fogging you out it give you a very nice lazer show durring the q's for fog. This unit has some nice modes that it play's to music you just need to drill a hole beside where the fog came out for the mic on the unit. I went a little further and removed the back fo the unit and cut out the back of the fogger to gain access to the verious modes. You have to extend all the wires to do that but not difficult to do. I was going to provide a video of this but the lazer kept hiting the camara senser and made it go out of focus.
I'll try again and send a link.