Karaoke Forums

Most people wouldn't.

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Electro-Voice Evolve 50... Taking Sound To The Next Level.

"Smoothedge69 wrote:
but there is no way I would EVER pay $199, $99, or even $59 a month to get nothing in return."

"Most people wouldn't."

Really? Tell that to people who lease/rent cars, homes, furniture, etc. Like those people you get the use of those items and that is what you get in return.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

This is nothing like the GEM series. Apples and oranges. I never have to give my GEM discs back, and have zero monthly rent/lease payments. I can use them (and "have something to show for it") as long as I wish.

As for The Cloud being a "rip off", it's an entirely different business model. Unlike GEM, the cloud IS a subscription or "rental" with a hard end date. If you are a major market KJ bringing in a few thousand every week, it may make financial sense. But that isn't most of us.

As I have said from the beginning, it's not about the service or concept itself. It's all about the price, which is too high.

I have stated somewhere else that I already have 3 of those cards. To date, I have only ordered 29 tracks out of 140 that I can choose (the 1st card had a bonus of an extra 5 songs to choose if activated by a certain (past) date). While the All Star collection may be a decent brand to pick and choose from, it has a very limited selection. They may be offering a great deal (at roughly 40 cents per song), but if they don't have the songs I'm looking for, what good is having the card in the first place? Therefore, I wouldn't be so quick to Poo Poo the thought of seeing what karaokecloud.com has to offer just because they are charging $2 per song instead of 40 cents. You should still keep your other options open.

I sent an e-mail to Tricia asking about that....



From: Steven
Sent: Friday, October 12, 2012 8:28 AM
To: Tricia
Subject: Re: Questions about the site

Tricia,

I have a few more questions....

1. When I go into http://www.karaokecloud.com and hyperlink into the FULL LIBRARY:

a) Is there a way to skip ahead to a different letter of the alphabet as versus having to do a complete scroll from top to bottom?

b) Can you have the selection list changed/modified to reflect which brand the tracks are from (Chart Busters, Music Maestro, Sound Choice, Pocket Songs, Stage Stars, Sunfly, Zoom, etc...)?

2. What is Karaoke Cloud + ?

From: Tricia
To: Steven
Sent: Friday, October 12, 2012 8:40 AM
Subject: RE: Questions about the site

Hello Steven,

a) In the search bar (top left corner) you can enter either the song title or artist or portion of and it will give you a list of all the songs that have that word or name.

b) at this time the songs are not branded, although they may be in the future.

2. The Karaoke Cloud + is the library for at home use, it is $9.99 a month. It contains about 3-4000 songs at this time. You may purchase downloads from that library without having the subscription service .

Tricia

From: Steven
Sent: Friday, October 12, 2012 10:29 AM
To: Tricia
Subject: Re: Questions about the site


Tricia,

Based on what I would be using the song tracks for, I guess that means that I would not be legally allowed to use the Karaoke Cloud + (since I would be using the music as a KJ in a professional/Commercial setting).

With regard to the fact that your song listings are not branded, I would strongly suggest you look into changing that quickly. A lot of KJs would NEVER buy a song blindly (without knowing which Manufacturer produced it). I know I wouldn't.

From: Tricia
To: Steven
Sent: Friday, October 12, 2012 11:25 AM
Subject: RE: Questions about the site

Hey Steve,

No you could not use Karaoke Cloud + for your show, nor would you want to, those songs are rendered in 240P which would be very blurry on your screen. The Pro songs are in HD.

Regarding the branding, they should be adding that to the Pro service, I will need to check if it will be added to the Plus library for identifying reasons for the KJ’s.

I love the feed back! Keep it coming!

Tricia

Yes really! I said "most" people. Here, we're talking apples and oranges. "Most" of us running a karaoke business would not "rent" our music. Most of us have more than the 8000 songs that they're offering access to. Most of us want something to show for our money.

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Electro-Voice Evolve 50... Taking Sound To The Next Level.

Established hosts with libraries wouldn't and I think that has been said by you, me and others. For those starting out it is a very viable option. So if you had said most established host wouldn't, that would most likely be true.

As with any business one has to establish what way one wants to run it. Buy or lease equipment or a hybrid. What works for one doesn't work for another.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

It would be a nice "filler" concept if it were priced right and had quality content. I guess even sub quality content would be OK if priced as just that. One of my other issues is having to use PJDJ or whatever is "cloud friendly". I'd also need to be able to add the "cloud friendly" concept to my own app and I doubt they plan to release a SDK.

If you are truly running a business and not a hobby, the gauge should be how much money you put in the bank at the end of the month. Not the method by which you acquire your tools/supplies or how many artifacts you have on a shelf to show off to your friends & family.

That being said, it's still too expensive for what you get in return.

Most of US is true. We wouldn't and don't wan't nor need this. This is not designed for an established kj. It's for a kj starting out that don't have a disc.

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Scenario: A new kj subscribes to cloud with 4 gigs a week @ $150 per. Then down to 1 gig a week due to competition (more kj’s becoming legit) & accepted a pay cut to hold on to one gig a week @ $100 per.

Income of $400.00 a mo, less $199 for cloud fee, less $200 for gas, equipment maintenance, clothes, food, & income tax to IRS. Profit: A dollar!

He needs to have, & be able keep 3-4 gigs a week to afford cloud monthly fee & be profitable.

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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!

Still a big fat no. I want discs. Burning to a disc still leaves you with a burned copy only.
Your way I'd have to retain a receipt pretty much indefinitely in order to prove that I actually paid for my music. My way, I have the actual manufacturer's discs and don't really need to keep receipts indefinitely. The ONLY downloaded songs I have are 3 or 4 Jonathon Coulton songs, and the only reason I have those is because they were a special request from a very good customer. The only delivery method of those songs, unfortunately, is via download. I certainly won't be making a habit of it.

Right.Good luck with that, because eventually, you'll have to pay more to keep them and/or they'll be recalled.
Why else would there be a clause regarding ownership of the discs?
Use your brain.

Even more reason for a no. Why would I pay (and a pretty high price at that!)for a crapshoot?

I'll also add this: if I was just starting out, I still would not choose this method. It's simply too expensive, for one, and even if the price came down, I MIGHT consider using it on a temporary basis, but certainly not long term.
The smart way to do it is to buy your music outright. It may take some time to realize a clear profit, eventually, you will and you'll play your music for free.
With the cloud, all you'll ever do is pay for the same songs month after month and never get to the "free" point.

The download prices are in line, equal to something from Selectatrack or Karaoke-Version, a tad more than Tricerasoft. Most of the kj's that download use these sources. But not knowing which brand you are getting is definitely a downfall.

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

If I were just starting out I agree. What i'd probably end up doing is trying to buy the songs that get used the most so I automatically have those. Maybe working toward getting a core library in the meantime and eventually dropping the Cloud altogether.

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

My understanding is that for the pro version, which you'd need to legally run a show, there is no permanent download option., so no, the prices wouldn't really be in line with other sites. Any price is too much to pay when you don't know exactly what you're getting.

I just got another response back from Tricia regarding the "Branding." I have modified my earlier post.

Yes I may have to pay $33 to extend the license. And I don't think I'll ever get a bill for that even.

No rent. No payments. No lease. No fictitious "recall".



I did. It cost me 1/3 the price you paid and I can use them forever.

Again, no comparison. Apples & Oranges.