Karaoke Forums

I finally got my 2nd rig up and running. My host was scheduled to do a gig tonight at one of my regular venues (in the next town) with it, with an arrangement for the next 2 weeks on Saturdays and then see where it goes from there. He picked up the gear this morning at around 11:15 am. At 11:45, I see posted on his Facebook status that he's doing an afternoon gig at one of the hotels from 1 - 4 pm and is inviting everyone to show up.
He mentioned nothing of this to me when he picked up the gear, nor did attempt to call me about it at any time, even though he knew I was home all day and has my phone number. Needless to say, I was rather miffed about it. I posted "?????" as a comment to his status.
I called my hubby to get his thoughts and after much back and forth, we decided to send an employee of his, that the host knows works for hubby, to do a walk-through and make sure the host at least sees him. We also decided that I would approach him about it in the morning when he drops off the gear.
He still also owes me for a gig he did 2 weeks ago with my gear. It was to be a flat rental fee of $100.00. Well, when I went to pick up the gear after that gig, he told me that he never used it and only had it as a backup because they guy putting on the party already had gear. I was a little miffed about that as well, but he offered me $50 so I decided not to make too big a deal of hit. HOWEVER, you don't go and rent a carpet cleaner, bring it back the next day and say you don't want to pay because you never used it....
Anyway, back to the current story.
He messages me through Facebook at 6:00 pm and tells me it was a last minute thing and that someone he knew asked if he minded setting up because it was a charity for kids with cancer. He said he thought it would be a good "dry run" (his words, not mine) to test setting up the gear. He said he hoped I didn't mind.
I think this is his way of setting me up to tell me he made no money from it and so won't want to pay for using the gear.
Well, I DO mind, very much!
While I think charity events are a good thing, I would, at the very least, like to be ASKED before hand.
As it stands, I think it's a very worthy cause, but I personally choose to donate to other organizations and would not have done this gig. Even if I had, I would have probably offered a reduced rate and not done it for free because I feel quite strongly about doing gigs for free. My personal opinion, but it's not really pertinent to the problem at hand, so please don't give me opinions on charity events.
Now what I plan to do is tell him in the morning that I mind very much and in no uncertain terms is he to use my gear unauthorized again.
I will also try to explain to him that there is wear and tear on every piece of gear every time it's used, and that I really can't afford to start replacing gear before I've got my investment out of it. I will try to explain to him that I have thousands invested in it and I need to recover that. I will also let him know that while this may be a fun pocket money side job for him, it is how I put food on the table for my family and while I enjoy every minute of it, it's not a game to me.
As for his next 2 Saturday gigs, I will have to make the half hour trip to the next town myself each night and drop the gear off a half hour before his gig and I will return again at 1:00 am to pick it up. The original plan would have had him picking it up from me on Thursday night after my gig at the same venue and then returning the gear on Sunday morning.
But he can't be trusted at this point and I do not want to risk him undercutting me with my own rig!
I must also say that were he not one of my regular singers originally and if he didn't have a lot of friends who karaoke I would have gone a got the rig from him earlier today and kibosh-ed the whole thing. But I can't risk alienating that many singers.
I have another guy (new in town) who's interested in hosting and apparently has experience. He's coming out to my gig tomorrow and I will see what he knows. He looks promising and if that's the case and he works out, I will replace my current host.
Any other advice you can give me?
What would you have done?

You were awfully nice to him. My reaction would have been VERY different. Sounds like the guy has issues with honesty -- like doesn't have a clue what it is? I'm not sure I'd have him use my equipment at all, anymore, ever.

I wasn't nice to him. At least not YET. I have yet to speak to him about it at all.
I'm still livid and trying to get a grip.
What would you do?

He has an ulterior motive. He is going to screw you. He wants to see everything you have in the system down to the last wire. He is going to build his own rig and will be your competition in 6 months. Right now it's practice to see how many people he can build as his own following from your jobs.

It's all so he doesn't have to start out cold. With a following he can get hired or take over your job with a price cut that the bar owner won't be able to turn down.

Do you want to keep that job?

Do what you want but....
If it were me, he's gone.

Wow.
I have to say I agree with my hero on this one.
This guy is not on your side.
Check out the new guy asap.

I'm going to tell you how i know this. It's me....wrong gender.

Seriously, one of my people did it to me. He found out where i bought my system and he told the guy to sell him the exact stuff. He had a deal with the bar owner he was working at. They came up with a plan and he was the new KJ with my job and his new system.

He ended up being my competition with all the things i taught him. He trained for 4-6 months. So he knew everything i did.

Fast forward. He is not the only one of my people to become a KJ.

I have lost count but i think at least 7 did it. I teach them too well and too much.
5 are still working against me. I'm not kidding.

Cut this guy off now before he gets too smart on your dime.

Do you have a written agreement with him for the lease of your equipment? You mentioned that he leased your gear on a previous date, and agreed to pay $100 for the use on that day; however, then he claimed that someone else had set up equipment, so he didn't need to use yours. I agree that he should have paid you the full $100, because that's what was agreed upon.

It sounds like he used your gear for two shows yesterday. I agree that what he did was wrong, but was it the same agreement... flat rate of $100 for the day? If so, you need to change the agreement to a flat rate for each show that the equipment is needed for. Also, make sure that you have yourself covered in that agreement just in case your gear comes back damaged. Have something put in writing that would make him (or anyone else) liable for any damages or malfunctions to the equipment while in his care.

This guy has already broken a trust with you, and it's a shame that you now have to do all that extra driving because of it. I would hope that this other person you mentioned works out, and replace the first guy as soon as possible.

No, Cue, it wasn't a flat rate agreement for yesterday.
He was to be working for ME last night and in fact has an invoice of mine to give the bar owner. Last night, he was a hired KJ, not a rental. The first gig was a rental, though.
To me there's a big difference.

Very big difference.

That is the very reason that I work by myself! I have worked very hard for years to hone my skills and to put together a system that works very well for me and my customers are impressed with the sound. I 'd pull the plug on this guy. I never have a problem letting someone know what brand or model of equipment I have. If they are smart enough they will figure out that part. When I set up and tear down I do that by myself. I am way to protective of my stuff according to my wife.

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I know someone who had their library stolen/copied by someone working as an employee. Both she and all of us now have a new competitor.

What I know of that employee I didn't think he was honest. From what I gather your man isn't very forthright either.

Don't let let your trusting nature confuse you into believing your employee is trustworthy

I wish I COULD do the gig myself.
However, I have a 6 year old at home and hubby generally works Saturday evenings doing gigs as well. I value the time I get to spend with our daughter and because of the commitments I already have and the fact that she has started school, that time is already too short.
We have agreed that unless the gig is high paying (ie: a wedding or one-off party) that it's not worth it.
I simply can't be in two places at once and hiring a sitter, with the exception of the occasional one-off gig, is not an option. A sitter can't replace me and the time I spend with her.
Having said that, I need the extra income.
The trouble is finding someone reliable AND trustworthy. The two don't always go hand in hand, unfortunately.

I wouldnt be playing cat and mouse games with him. Also he wouldnt be picking the system when there is a money conflict on the first gig.

If he hasnt copied your music already thay will be the next step.. I know you have to show trust but from the way you decribe it I wouldnt trust him.

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This employee worked for me while I was away last year on holiday and used my computerized rig.
Something he said on Facebook last week made me think he copied at least some of my files and programs while I was away. I don't think he's stolen the whole library, however, because he was really pushing to use the computerized rig, rather than the CD based one and I suspect that was the reason. What he said was this: "(Karaoke host at another venue) says not enough hard drive space....i say heres the patch that plays zipped files."
The other venue is computerized, but they do not play zipped files. I know this because I'm the one that they hired to make the transition to computer from disc.

At this point, if I go away again, I will send out the CD based rig, but NOT my computer rig. That will never leave my possession again. At least not until I can find a way to make the copied files unusable.

Diafel, I wouldn't trust this guy as far as I could throw him. At one time he may have been your friend, (doubtful), friends are far and few between, but I think he is NOW a snake trying to con you into letting him use your own equipment to promote, and showcase himself (charitable gigs,etc.), until HE becomes your competitor. Seen it happen in this area also, guess there are snakes everywhere you go. You don't want to end up like Cleopatra, do you?

Srnitynow

So let's look at this situation from a different angle.You say that you have two rigs; one that is disc based and one that is computer based. Are the songs that you use on your computer systemthe songs that you ripped from your disc based system??? If they are and you are using both systems at the same time, you are breaking one of the cardinal rules of karaoke yourself......unless of course you have two original discs of everything in your computer hard drive? Just wondering.

Two wrongs don't make a right but if he copies your hard drive, he isn't doing anything different than you are when you run two shows at the same time off of the same set of music. It's just a matter of degree. He is 100% pirate and you may only be 50% pirate.

On another side note:

Kind of ironic when someone who buys a hard drive with 100,000 songs gets upset when one of his employees makes a copy of it and goes into business for himself. LOL

Bruce, you're an (@$%&#!).
Obviously, you never paid attention to any of my other posts that I KNOW you've read, when I've mention putting together my second rig.
It is LEGAL all the way.
Not copies of what's on my computer at all.
Oh, and just so you KNOW. I DID NOT buy an illegal loaded hard drive.
What's on my computer is the result of over 7 YEARS of HARD WORK.
What I DID do was copy the discs for the second rig and put the originals in storage and I run off the backups. That way, if someone breaks a disc, it's not the original.
Your comments, therefore, have ZERO relevance to this thread.
And thanks for the vote of confidence.

There's no reason why your disc library can't be copied either.

And if he copies just the tracks he is really interested in, it wouldn't take too long to get the job done.

This is still a matter of honesty. If the person isn't honest they can hurt you in many ways!

Hope this "new" fellow works out better; drop the "old" fellow like a hot potato IMHO

I know he could copy the discs as well, but theoretically, it should take him a year or two with the time alone he has available with my discs.
So much more difficult than just copy and paste.

D, I would have such an iron clad agreement with this guy that he wouldn't be able to take a pixx without me knowing about it. This is really a bad thing he's done for his reputation. Seriously, if you haven't spoken with him yet, I would tell him that your business relationship is over, that he has proven himself untrustworthy.

I think any of us who care enough to invest well (music and rigs) will be targets for the unsavory amongst us who are looking for shortcuts. I'd be concerned about the music as well - - I know you can't demand to see receipts for music he has in his possession but I'd never let him use the computer again. What you say is very true - it would take him a long, long time to copy your discs. However, he shouldn't even copy ONE!

Oh, and I WOULD lurk on his FB, if that is the way that you can determine exactly what he has done that wasn't in your agreement. What a JERK!