I tried to do this legally, and it's impossible.

I went to the Harry Fox Agency (who represents the majority of the publishers) and to individual publishers who don't use the HFA.

The results were:
  • It took up to 6 months to get an answer for each song file. (BiaB rights are not covered under any standard contract like mechanical rights are.)
  • Many of the publishers just flat out said "No" to putting their melody or lyrics being put into Band-in-a-Box
  • The publishers who said "Yes" wanted from $1.00 to $2.50 per song. Since that averages to $1.75 per song, and my fake disks usually have between 100 and 800 songs per disk, it means I'd have to charge from $175.00 to $1,400.00-US PER DISK in royalties alone. IF I could get the rights for all the songs (and I can't).
  • The publishers also wanted me to prepay the royalties up front for up to 5,000 copies before I could sell the first file.

So I wrote to HFA about the high per-song price and told them I could buy a fake book for less than $0.10 per song, and the answer was "Buy the book."

So I create my files so you can load the song, open the book, and play the melody from the book while the song plays.

I input them in the same arrangement as the book, and in most cases don't use any BiaB repeats and tags so if you want to add an ad-lib solo, you can set the repeats yourself and extend the song.

Then I send them out to sub-contractors to pick the best style for the song from all the currently available styles for BiaB. If I did this myself, I'd favor my own styles because I know them best. So I tell the subcontractors not to favor my styles but to be as true to the music as possible. I also tell them if one of my styles and a PG style work equally as well, choose the PG style. (And I pay the subcontractors a piece of every disk I sell.)

Of course my fake disks are not disks anymore, When I started I sold them on 3.5" and 5.25" floppy disks. Then I moved to CD-R. Now that they are instant download, I still call them disks because I don't know what else to call them.

To answer your original question; If someone is selling song files in BiaB format for less then $5.00 PER SONG it is is definitely illegal ... and it's also illegal for you to purchase them ... {not that the odds of you getting caught buying them are great - but if you do, the penalty is severe).

In the USA if caught, it's up to $5,000 and 5 years in prison. For a business it's double that. That's why I took my lawyers advice, and I sell chord progressions only, since chord progressions cannot be copyrighted.

I think many of the publishers simply don't want to take the time to investigate BiaB so they either say "No" or price it arbitrarily too high to be practical to discourage anyone doing it.

Insights and incites by Notes

Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com

100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks