Karaoke Forums

I have to say that having read the agreement I'm not overly happy with some of the restrictions it effectively places on my business practices. I maintain a 1-1 ratio of songs to shows but I do have backup drives.

Master drive at home - never used in a show
Rig 1 drive
Rig 2 drive
Rig 1&2 combined drive

When I have only one show going on I use the combined drive, when 2 shows are operating I use the individual rig drives. Per the agreement the license sticker must be affixed to the device and be easily visible.

Also the songs are sold as a set so I can't buy one set and split up the individual discs (not songs, but discs) to different rigs to fill in the blanks. Granted I can just move my existing SC discs all to one rig and put the GEMs on another.

If you don't own the discs and have only licensed the content for a period of time do we treat this as a license expense for accounting purposes rather than an asset (like a CDG)

The license renewal / term doesn't seem to take into account how much of the gem series you have bought, does it cover multiple sets to the same owner? How about if you slowly build up the GEM set over a year or two, where would the licensing expiration / sticker certificates / etc etc work from there.

I'm still interested in this set but it does seem a little less flexible than I had hoped.

Jonn

It says that in the event that SC does nothing you can renew for 3 years by default by sending in your $100

They can revoke the license at any time if you breach the conditions.

$33 a year isn't too bad, multiply that by however many KJs go for it and you (SC) effectively have a nice reliable income stream for very little work.

Jonn

Seems like a peppercorn fee. I can live with that!

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Jeff Wheeler, moonlight DJ/KJ

You and me both, Vamp

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

This may be the funniest, most "bend over for SC" thing I have ever read.

This is a joke, right? I mean seriously?

They really want a CUSTOMER ( assuming that they actually release the series) to jump through hoops, leave themselves unprotected, give no licensing documentation ( theirs, to prove THEY can legally release the tracks- keep in mind their past troubles) for their MP3 ( lower quality than CD+G) tracks?

Yup. A TERRIFIC business move...

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

It all simplifies to "pay us $4000" and we might still sue you if you violate the fine print.

When I BUY someting I want to actually buy it.

If they want us to RENT the songs, then charge us a fee.

SC wants the best of both sides. Renting for the control, buying for the up front cash.

Reading that contract it seems to have more opportunities for SC to sue a KJ (or reclaim the CDs) than if they were a simple old time pirate.

With a pirate a KJ must get a court order to be searched by SC, buy the GEM series and you appear to give up that right.

As long as Selectatrack is in business, they'll get MY business. What a crock.

All it essentially is, is a lease on the CDGs and their content. You aren't BUYING anything. A small per month fee would be better if that's the route they want to go, but to pay near full price (sorry, 15% off isn't that great of a deal, considering what you're actually getting) for a RENTAL???
And they try to make it sound like you're BUYING, when you AREN'T.
Insane.
Hard to believe anyone at all is buying into this, much less lining up for it.
I'm with the others.
CDGs for me! (and non-SC ones at that!)

I've decided to invest my money in new music to expand my library but it won't be the GEM series. For less than the down-payment for the Emeralds and five Saffires, I can get more songs on five SCDGs.

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The Line Array Experiment is over. Nothing to see here. Move along.

The days of $30 or $40 or $50 or even higher priced CDGs are gone. If SC would realize this like they should have ages ago, and price their product accordingly, they might sell more.
A bird in the hand, after all.

I must admit I am severely conflicted.

If the songs I wanted were available on CDG, then most likely i would buy them instead. However currently they are not.

I understand why soundchoice has done it this way. The first payment is for the cost of producing the music. The second is a liscensing fee.

This model has been used by other companies before. In canada, instead of paying a license every year directly to the AVLA you can 'buy' a licensed drive that is full of music and then pay a monthly*or yearly* fee to receive all their updates via secure download, so your music stays current and legally licensed.

The difference is I believe you can sell the harddrive at any point as long as the other person is willing to pay the subcription fee.


On the other hand, stellar is offering all its current music on mp3+g discs, and once you pay for them that's it. But again stellar doesn't seem to be having the problems that soudchoice is in regards to the volume of tracks that are being stolen. It's almost as if somehow they were able to obtain 'fairer/cheaper' licenses to make their tracks. *shrug*

The rest of it I was kind of expecting and I personally don't have a problem with it. Right now, it is all pointless because I am not working, but if I ever get a new gig, I'm going to have to seriously consider which route I want to take.

I must admit, it would be nice to have a set of tracks that I wouldn't have to carry the discs for. The sticker would be my proof of purchase/legality. *Note carrying your discs with you is not a legal requirement where i live, but it is the only way that the local distributor for karaoke in Calgary/Alberta will leave you alone*

Maybe by the time I find new work custom cdgs will be available again

-James

That's not quite true. The average cost of a pocketsongs disc is $29.95 plus shipping. Of course the music is usually highly specialized, so I only buy them when I can't get what I want elsewhere or because their version is the best quality in my opinion.


The stagestars disc of the musical 'Chicago', for example, is the best version you will ever find anywhere *again in my opinion*

Most of the discs/sets that are below the average of $20/disc never paid ANY licensing at all.

Several examples are Stage Starz, Quick Hitz and Big Hit, Supercore and Karaoke Kurrents *same company i am told* and Sweet Georgia Brown.

Of course, I still use some of these discs because it was a cheap way to get a starter set and I replaced the tracks as I could afford it.

-James

There's the rub. It's highly specialized, so of course if that's what you're looking for, you're going to pay for it. I would, too.
However, for a general library, I'm not willing to pay top dollar when I don't have to. Particularly if I will have the manu breathing down my neck all the time as thanks for purchasing it.
I'll just buy from someone else who doesn't work on that premise. There's enough choices out there that I think a pretty good library can be had without having to purchase SC at top dollar. I have very little SC in my library and I know my singers are more than happy with it.

Pocket Songs are now available through Selectatrack.com so some of those may be able to be purchased as individual tracks on a custom disc, just fyi.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

So, none of you have ever leased a car before? The difference is that THIS "lease", unlike a car, has a $100 extension clause at the end and the discs stay in my possession forever. And that's IF they even enforce it, which personally I don't believe they will. It's called a "Peppercorn Clause". It's there purely for legal reasons, but rarely, if ever enforced. Read up if you wish: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peppercorn_%28legal%29

Why the "Mountain" (8 pages) of paperwork? It comes down to semantics for legal reasons. If my number pops up on the internet in a GEM torrent, they have the ability to come after me. THAT'S what it's all about.

Yes, by the letter of the law I don't legally own the discs. BUT, they are mine to USE forever, which is all I care about. Honestly, do you really think that SC is going to be knocking at my door demanding the return of THEIR discs in 2015? All this legal-ese means squat UNLESS I pirate them!

At the end of the day, it really doesn't bother me in the slightest...probably because I work in a niche software industry by day and this is the norm. I still believe I got a great deal for the "best of breed", and can't wait for the UPS man.

Pictures tomorrow.

In case you were wondering, we are in 110% agreement...

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

I won't get this. I don't have the time or interest to make a whole lot of money on karaoke anymore. I'd much rather focus on my full-time work and take my one night a week of fun for some extra cash. It's not worth being audited for, though.

Well technically you do not actually own the rights to any music even on discs, you just own the format in which it came 'technically'. Doesn't mean anyone will ever ask you to return it.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Exactly.

Well SC realized this and decided to go the route of repacking a disk with 8 songs, 6 of which the serious KJ might already own from a different series from the same manu, effectively charging $8 a song for the selects and star series to their best customers. Many of their songs on the spotlight and star series are only out in that series.

A big reason why they ended the custom disks, and have fought downloads.