Karaoke Forums

Thanks for everyone's input. Since they were seldom used, and only in the book to fatten up the list a little, I think I'll just take them out. Just to be safe.

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My first choice IS Sound Choice.

Nah I wouldn't worry about the legalities of them honestly. I'd pull them because of quality before anything else. Never try to pad your books with a bunch of junk.

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

May I ask how long you hosted before you made the decision to stop?

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

So if I read this correctly Moonrider, your suggesting is that ALL karaoke in the United States should simply stop on your ethical basis?

How practical is that? How would you expect to actually get that to happen?

I personally think that there should be a class action suit against manufacturers for selling fraudulently-licensed material. It's a GIANT fraud that has made them MILLIONS of dollars.

I worked for a local company for about 18 months "learning the trade" and seeing if it was something I wanted to get into.

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Dave's not here.

Ohhhhhhh . . . about as practical as suing piracy out of existence, and about as easy as licensing a karaoke track in the US.

You CAN be aggressive about buying karaoke brands that do make a point of being fully licensed. Which means you probably need to focus on buying products made by companies in Canada and the EU. They're more likely to be licensed since it's easy to do - fill form, pay fee, done. Also, as I've pointed out before, there's reciprocal agreements in place to insure American artists get their royalties. Right now, there's powerful temptations for US based karaoke companies to skirt the laws.

The US laws need to change, so that the current outmoded, antiquated patchwork of licensing we have now is replaced with one that just makes it less hassle to stay legal than manufacture unlicensed tracks.

Netflix, Hulu and Amazon has displaced torrents as the #1 video streaming method by doing just that. They're so convenient people would rather just pay the 9-10 bucks a month rather than futz with searching limewire or frostwire or gnutella or bittorrent, and then dealing with an inferior or flat-out dangerous product.

THAT's how you you fight free. Make it an inconvenient option.

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Dave's not here.

So you got what you wanted out of the biz for a year and a half, quit, and now judge others?

Like an ex-drinker now down on all that still do..

That aside, you are here on this forum. Since you no longer host, I assume you are here because you still sing karaoke.

If you sing karaoke, or even just go to a venue that has karaoke, you are one of the MAIN supporters of the people that you have previously described as pirates/ pirate supporters.

Without the income from those who come for karaoke, the venue wouldn't pay to have it, the KJ wouldn't be buying discs, and the mfrs. wouldn't be making sales.

Might be best if you hold on to your stones yet to be cast...

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

Nope - don't host, don't go to shows any more.

Not judging anyone, just pointing out the hypocrisy of condemning SOME infringing companies because they inconvenience you, while joyfully rationalizing the use of infringing products of others. The CRIME is the same in both cases. You're using infringing products to make money, so be honest about what you're doing.

I hang here for the same reasons I hang at ODJT.

1) Some of the concerns are the same re: sound reinforcement and vocal technique. I have over 35 years experience as a musician and sound tech to share.

2) Learn from other people.

3) Keep tabs on my "competition."

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Dave's not here.

I was about to post something similar but you said it already.

I remember having a conversation with Tony Walstra of Stellar Records quite awhile back & asked him about a few songs on the Super Core label that looked a lot like some old CHM (Country Hits Monthly) lyric sweeps. Apparently the Super Core label hadn't been on the up & up either at that time.

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"Just Say NO, To Justin Bieber & His Beatle Haircut"

Moon, the bottom line is that the publishers know that there is a karaoke busines, and that it is widespread and decades old.

While they do go after unlicensed karaoke producers from time to time, they have shown no interest in go ing after individual Karaoke Hosts. I figure if what I'm doing is OK - or at least tolerated- by them ( and remember, THEY are the ones who count, not you, and not the karaoke producers) then I'm not doing anything unethical.

Again, if they decide on a "Cease & Desist", I would then be ethically and legally bound to do so, as would all other hosts.

As previously stated, the karaoke hosting business exists because the publishers/owners allow it to.

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

I go to one show where the host recently deleted all of his Sound Choice tracks from his hard drive. Now he only has 170,000 songs to choose from. When Chartbuster and Pop Hits Monthly start cracking down; he will delete those files as well and he will still have around 150,000 songs on his hard drive. If there is a song that is ONLY on a Sound Choice disc and I really want to sing it at his show; I just create my own cdg file for the song without any corporate logos that could put him at risk of being prosecuted by THE MAN. He won't even play an original Sound Choice disc at his show any longer. Now no potential customers ever see the Sound Choice loge and think about going home to check on-line to see where they can purchase their own karaoke music.

Kinda says it right there...

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

Bruce, care to tell us the name of the guy and where he does his shows ? The fact that you're even here posting says a lot about you. I guess it's the old birds of a feather flock together thing.

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My first choice IS Sound Choice.

Still working for Sound Choice as a part time investigator/snitch Skid? Since you're not being paid (are you?)as an "investigator", perhaps you should ask Athena how to stalk properly.

Your post was uncalled for and while you like to wave the peace flag, you never seem to miss an opportunity to throw an insinuation brick.

Well excuuuuse me.

Don't think I can really be called a stalker since I seldom post anymore. (Talking to some people here is like talking to a brick wall). I'm not on the Sound Choice payroll, and am not an investigator. (Where did you get that idea)? I'm just a Sound Choice customer who still buys their product.

Ya know, when ever I hear the word "Chip" I always think of "cow chip". You know what a cow chip is don't you Chip?

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My first choice IS Sound Choice.

You are a sound choice cheerleader asking for reporting information:

Why would you possibly even care who this person is or where he works?


And you can't resist to throw the insinuation brick whenever you can.


You really wanna go there?..... 'cause I always think of "mark" whenever I hear the word "skid"....

I can think of a LOT of alternate meanings of "skid mark" and you know what I mean don't you "Skid?"

Now THAT was good. I guess I deserved that one. Actually I would have gone with skid row meaning the bad side of town, but skid mark was good.

As for where this person does his shows, I don't really care, but I'm sure SC and CB read these posts, and maybe they'd care.

As for being a SC cheerleader, you're damn right. Out of all the songs sung last Saturday night, all but one song was Sound Choice. (Ironicly, the other one was a SGB song). Guess I'll keep them after all.

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My first choice IS Sound Choice.

BTW, this thread was originally about Sweet Georgia Brown. Somehow it got railroaded into another Sound Choice bashing thread. Sorry I took the bait. My bad.

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My first choice IS Sound Choice.

Don't worry Skid, those of us who have met you, know you're a class act. I do believe Chip should see your magic act.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

Next time I do my magic act, I'll dedicate it to him.

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My first choice IS Sound Choice.