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Does All Star actually have a LOGO or any kind of copyrighted design? Is a star something they can copyright?

How often does one have to pay the $150 for the audit? Is it a one time deal, a once a year thing or what?

AND STAGE STARS IS SELLING POCKET SONGS STUFF?????..ok what is going on

Stage stars only does broadway stuff and Pocket Songs had a few good ones. the movie version of Chicago is awesome from Just Tracks (pocket songs) so it fits their theme well.

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Paradigm Karaoke, The New Standard.......Shift Happens

pay once, but you need another audit after i believe it was adding 2% to your SC listing.
have 300 SC discs, pay for audit, when you add another 6 discs do another one. not sure if subsequent audits are cheaper or not as they still have the same overhead for the audit weather it's 20 discs or 200.

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Paradigm Karaoke, The New Standard.......Shift Happens

so if what you are saying is right
lets use a round number 18 x 6 =108 +150 audit = 258.00

258.00 for 6 disc yeah right not in this life time
no disc or compay is worth that

No offense Paradigm...

I am not sure this is correct. I haven't found anything to support that you "need another audit" or that you must "pay for audit" when you add 2% or more.

I understood that you should inform Sound Choice when you have acquired (and shifted) approximately 2% "more" Sound Choice (discs or tracks?) than you possessed when you were audited.

I don't believe that an audit would have to be performed (at least not to the extent of the 1st audit). I also don't believe that a fee would necessarily be charged.

Perhaps this should be clarified by one of their representatives?

BigJer... give them a call. Get the information directly from them.

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Never the same show twice!

As for All Star, I'm thinking that they are a compilation company, such as many others were over the years. In other words, they get permission and use other producers' tracks. If that's the case, then it's not strange to see those producers selling AS as well.

Actually, not a bad idea, and probably thought of by AS. It's more exposure for AS, and a profit margin for the producer.

BigJer: The reasons so many folks are disgusted with SC include:

Sue first and ask questions later. In other words, they will initiate a lawsuit against anyone displaying an SC logo from a PC, without knowing whether they are "1:1" ( a concept invented by SC) or not. No evidence of wrongdoing required.

AFTER SUING, they MAY drop the suit after making money on an audit, THEN finding the KJ compliant to their wishes- OR the KJ pays "settlement" money.

They have initiated suits against KJs who weren't even using a PC, KJ's who weren't even working at the venue ( info from old web sites, I guess), and claimed KJs were working multiple venues on the same night when they never did.

Call it over-sensitive, but some folks find this unethical, especially since Sound Choice's own track licensing has been shown questionable through the years.

Some folks believe that many of the legal concepts on which SC's suits are based are weak and/or completely invalid, and don't think that what's left of the company has any authority to dig into their privately owned businesses.

Some folks feel that SC is doing more to damage the karaoke hosting business than anyone else.

I actually think that the audit fees,
though unnecessary, are the very least of the problems that some folks have with SC.

Of course, some folks don't care about any of the above and have no problems with SC. Opinions vary....

UP FRONT APOLOGY: I guess my reply to BigJer might seem like a hijack, but this is where he asked the question. My apologies for aiding and abetting a hijack?

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

way back I replaced "Chicago" movie tunes from sc to just tracks version. I agree. jt's arrangement/instrumentation is awesome!

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To be fortunate enough to derive an income from a source as fulfilling as karaoke music has got to be as close to heaven as we can get here on earth!

1:1 was invented created by JOLT users LONG time ago.

They will drop the suit provided the kj is 1:1 and then pays for the audit (which goes up at that point to cover court costs now as well). If a company doesn't have any discs to begin with (stolen) then a settlement would be in order. If a kj are found to run from discs only, lawsuit would be dropped as this is a rare occurance - happened twice in the past 3 years.

Yeah people SHOULD be allowed to steal their tracks & make profit on them.

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According to a sales rep, they are offering the all star product so their customers have a source for something new until they can start producing in 2013. At that time they hope to work with All Star on coordinating releases so they don't directly compete with each other releasing the same songs. I had an order to place so I asked while ordering.

Sounds to me like a shrinking industry looking for creative ways for everyone to survive

Thanks to all of you for your answers. I'll give Sound Choice a call and share what they tell me.

1) As I said, they will SUE FIRST, whether they have any evidence of wrongdoing or NOT, and may THEN drop the suit after SC first finds out that they had no grounds, and SC makes some money off of the audit.
Since you said:

"They will drop the suit provided the kj is 1:1 and then pays for the audit (which goes up at that point to cover court costs now as well)." , I assume not only that you agree with the above, but also feel that it's ok for an INNOCENT KJ to deal with SC's court costs.

If one cares, one cares. If one doesn't, then they don't. Up to the individual KJ. However, to make an informed decision on ANY matter, one must have full information. A question was asked, and I added my reply.

BTW- the "twice in 3 years" for dropped suits is grossly inaccurate. We don't have all of the "whys", but a whole lot of suits were dropped. Some, because the KJ was disc based ( NEVER using a PC in the show), some because they named the wrong KJ completely ( wasn't even working at the time supposedly "witnessed"), some were "1:1", some like the- what, 26 cases in Vegas, plus more- because of default losses due to deadline no-shows, etc..., some because their "investigators" disappeared or "lost paperwork".

2) First, no one on either side of these debates has stated that, or believes it. I don't understand why it was posted.

Second, simply put, SC doesn't sue for stolen tracks (piracy), which would make the statement a non sequitor anyway. They sue for the display of their logo from a PC, and their suits are Copyright Infringement suits. Nothing to do with music theft.

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

The All Star discs are actually being supplied by Karaoke Warehouse. I used some of the credits I have for when i got the Gem series. No worries to all of you who do.

For anyone interested...

I talked to a "Chris E" in Sound Choice customer service about the audit program.

According to Chris.

The audit is a ONE time fee. They don't do recurring audits unless there's some sort of huge leap in your library where you suddenly have tens of thousands of songs. If Sound Choice does decide to audit you again, all future audits are at no cost to the KJ or his company.

The 2% figure is what Sound Choice allows KJs for broken or lost discs. If you have a playable disc for each rig you run for 98% of the Sound Choice tracks in your book then you are considered in compliance with the 1:1 ratio.

The audit strictly applies to Sound Choice and no other brand.

I'll probably go ahead and do the Sound Choice audit soon and if anyone wants to know more about the process I'll share it when I find it out for myself. I think it'd be a hoot to become the very first Sound Choice Certified Host in my two state area given that I'm strictly a small potatoes, mom and pop operation playing one show, one night a week in a dive bar.

I just wish you could do all the audits for all the manufacturers at once for one fee and be done.

"I'll probably go ahead and do the Sound Choice audit soon...."

the process was actually kinda fun. Kurt did mine and it took a bit longer than it could have because we just kept talking. just make sure your discs are well organized to keep it quick.

"I just wish you could do all the audits for all the manufacturers at once for one fee and be done."

SC is the only company doing audits, there are no other companies to pay.

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Paradigm Karaoke, The New Standard.......Shift Happens

This is true. Organization is key. If you don't use manu numbers (ie SC8148) but use some sort of custom numbering, make sure you have a quick reference. I have all mine in numerical order & the auditer sadi it was literally the easiest audit he's done to date. Everything in jewel cases and was able to pull every disc they asked for at the drop of a hat. No needing to find which book they are it and flip book binder pages to find the disc - this will all unnecessary time.

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