Karaoke Forums

Should have stopped at "drag us into"......the metaphor that followed made you a player.....

That would be revenue enhancement for who? What you are describing is exactly what I pointed out: if you believe your show cannot be as profitable without any single brand, then there must not be much of a show to start with. This business is not "about the library" nor is it "about the sound system" because there are plenty of KJ's that have very large libraries or very large sound systems, and they still aren't worth a nickel.

if you don't believe that your show can be sustained on a library without that brand, then your business is not about what "you do" it's more about what "you have." And if it is simply a matter of having any singular brand, or type of microphone, or speakers, or amplifiers, or anything else not directly related to your own talent, there would be ten times the number of KJ's today than there are. Because it would not require any talent or business acumen to be in this industry – all you need is a credit card and some equipment.

Now, granted there are plenty of KJ's that are exactly that: no talent, but they have a great credit card. Take away one brand of song, and they fall flat on their face. Take away two brands, and you might as well put them out of business. On the opposite side of that fence, is a KJ that has a very small library – and has a packed house almost every night. This is not about the library (or brand) or even the sound system, it's about the atmosphere that the KJ creates, and the talent that the KJ has to start with.

In my personal opinion is fairly simple: if you absolutely must sing a particular brand of song and I don't have it, have a good evening, I will hope to see you again in the future. And while this might seem callous on the outside, I have always stated that I much prefer a room full of "party-goers" rather than a room full of "performers." My revenue is enhanced by those that party and add money to the till, it is certainly not enhanced by anyone that complains because I don't have any particular brand of song they're looking for.

I think if they had read some of the quotes from D.S. (one of the owners) I don't think they would've posted that at all. As much as they would like us to believe that they don't engage in personal attacks, the fact of the matter is they have in the past.

That is a false dichotomy. These things are a continuum. Living without DK? Yes, sure, that's one brand. But to be honest, in rock areas there is nothing that compares with Sound Choice. It is the gold standard. Chartbuster is near that in country areas.

And don't give me bogus hooey about brands of microphones. A star is a star, and Sound Choice is a star among karaoke brands. You may have sold some concert tickets with Freddie and the Dreamers and Sam the Sham, but it wasn't the same as having the Beatles.


Once again, you work the false dichotomy. If you want to claim you can pack the house night in and night out with a dozen SAVA disks, you're going to have to find someone else to buy that noise.

Losing Sound Choice would be a big blow to many shows, particularly ones with a 20-30-something crowd. They know what decent sound is, and THM doesn't cut it.

Would it kill me? Far from it. But I am in a country area, and I do just a few shows. But I appreciate having some great versions of the most popular karaoke songs. The SC Hit Me With Your Best Shot? It kicks the posterior of every other version out there, and big time. Same with Love Shack and Crazy Train and quite a few more. They make a real difference when you put them on a great sound system, and can make a show memorable.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

This is where I would have to disagree based on experience. I'm in a rock area. I'm also in a country area, an oldies area, and just about any other genre of music you can think of (except old standards). I don't use SC anymore, and I have not been using them for well over a year. Previous to that, I had their tracks in my library for fourteen years. And I've even purchased custom discs over the years.

Were there complaints when I dropped them? Sure there were a few complaints for about two weeks. And that was it. There are no more complaints, and business has not dropped one penny. I still have more singers than time, and not a single complaint about the brands of tracks that I use.

Like I said, I much prefer to have partygoers than performers. Party-goers aren't as concerned about the brand of speaker that you use, they aren't as concerned about the brand of microphone that you use, and they certainly aren't concerned about the brand of karaoke disc that you use. "Performers" and karaoke hosts, are concerned about all of these things.


Talk about an invalid comparison: I doubt that the best professional host in the world could pack a club "night in and night out" with just a dozen discs – of any brand– including SC.

You must be talking about a show that contains nothing but 20-30-something "performers." Not the same age group that are there to party with their friends. because the ones that are there to party, really don't care about what brand you use as long as they get their chance to sing pretty soon.

The crowds are you describe need to go to England, where a majority of the patrons sit silently focused on the karaoke singer while they put on the best show they can.


It's up to the host to make the singer's night memorable, not the brand of song.

It's all part of the equation. The host is important, but the material and sound are too. If you don't have much competition, you can do about any old thing, sure.

Make or break was *your* characterization, yet another of your seemingly endless store of false dichotomies. I am claiming that Sound Choice adds significant value, and that losing it is a blow to the competitive stance of a karaoke host. It can make a definite difference. Will it break the show? Depends what the margin of error is. In pro baseball, it's mighty slim. In sandlots, you can away with a lot.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Yes it was my characterization... because so many cheerleaders claim that they couldn't live without that brand...

And I'm claiming that Sound Choice is simply another brand of karaoke track. Not something that adds any kind of "significant" value over any other track. In all the years I've been in this business, I've NEVER (not once) EVER heard of a karaoke host given any kind of preference because they had SC tracks.

And I'm also claiming that you repeatedly put far too much emphasis on the "hardware" to sing through and the brands of "songs" and not the talent(s) of the karaoke hosts themselves. It appears that as long as there is a good sound system and a bunch of SC tracks, you're good to go... the host is something less than an afterthought. Which means exactly what I said earlier: If you have a good credit card, nothing else matters -- you don't actually need any talent at all, do you?

Yes, I know, you foster a party atmosphere and I should get a life.


Of course you completely blow off everything I said about all being important. And attempt to attribute another one of your false dichotomies to me -- that if I care about the quality of hardware I must have no personality and put on a lackluster show.

Again, Sound Choice is the star karaoke track. If you put on a show without any of their tracks, your material is in general second-tier. If you want to put on a show which concentrates on other things entire, bully for you. But your pooh-poohing of others models and aspirations is boring and ridiculous.

And you sell the customers short as well. They may not know why they rock out at some shows over others, but they know the feeling. And they'll chase it even if they aren't quite sure what they are chasing.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

This is YOUR characterization, not mine. No one would know better than you if you would (for any reason) need "a life."



Not a all, you're the one that continually and repeatedly puts the hardware into the equation. There are hosts with packed houses and lousy equipment as well as hosts with spectacular equipment.. and an empty house.

But for some reason, you take the "Field Of Dreams" attitude that "if you buy SC, they will come" which is entirely false.


Just because a host doesn't carry SC doesn't automatically categorize them as "second tier" or second-anything. And I don't believe I've "pooh-poohed" any models or aspirations. That's YOUR "invention" and a pretty crappy one at that. (Were you personally aspiring to some karaoke greatness and your hopes dashed against a rock like a floating wine bottle?)


Sell them short? That's simply your obviously uneducated opinion.

They'll chase the venues where they have the most fun with their friends. If it's at an "all SC show of performers" where they examine all the minute nuances of sound, library and rotation with a microscope - then bully for them. If it's at a show where the sound system might not be a cadillac and the library is not the National Archives but crowd is participating, clapping and whooping it up, - then bully for them too.

I like chocolate - you must be a vanilla kind of guy, and that's okay too.

OK, this bothers me a bit. I was the one to use the word "twit" in regard to a real life ( no one on the forums) SC investigator.

The reason this bothers me is that I explained the the person in question was NOT a twit because he worked for SC, but because he was not doing his job well. In fact it was done horribly. He was, in my opinion, actually ripping SC off due to his poor performance. In other words, he was a twit because he was a slacker, and not because of any tiny bit of a connection to SC. Therefore, I never used "twit" in relation to SC. I don't know why Mimi ignored my original explaination, but I wanted to RE-clarify it just the same.

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

I like to mix it up.... I like Strawberry and Coffee flavors.

Love the coffee... can live (for a very long time) without strawberry though.

Adding to the fun, these particular couple of banned folks have finally started their very own cheerleader forum after some temporary banning at that other site in question. The Administrator is a "several named" person, and there are about 4 or 5 others from here that are there as well.

I stopped in for some light reading, and found myself being bashed- and this is at the very inception of the site. I neither registerd nor replied- I figure everyone needs a place to vent, I guess.

Basically, what I saw was quotes from other sites brought over, pasted, and bashed.

Fun to watch, but I have no interest in participating. If they want to beat me to death ( Apparently I'm one of "The Big Three Know-It-Alls here, whatever that means- I have no idea who the others are...), I say "have at it!".

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

Big mouthed anti type guy that I am, I still have to agree. I don't really remember CB posting any negative personalizations or flames. I could be wrong, but I just don't remember any.

As for Kurt: I don't like the way he does business, and am probably SC's most vocal adversary, but I don't know the guy personally. For all I know he gives to charity, or feeds the hungry, or whatever.

I may feel that he has no BUSINESS ethics ( actually I DO feel that way), but I see no reason for PERSONAL negative statements, and have no basis because I never met him.

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

You continually attribute things to me that I didn't say. That's argumentative and dishonest.


You are a piece of work. Constantly mischaracterizing what other people say. That is not OK.

I said their *material* was second-tier. And it is.


Don't make me laugh. You have been a leader of the "it's only karaoke" crowd all the way along. "Karaoke greatness"? How about "non-mediocrity"?


And crappy sound and material helps that? I won't do like you do, and make a false dichotomy though. I will just say sound and material are part of it. They give an edge, and are not make and break.


Again your false dichotomy and descent into absurdity. It's almost as if you attempt to provoke people with these types of departures from logic. Oh wait -- we call that trolling.



That's the first thing you've said that I agree with.

Bottom line, despite all your twisting and turning, is that by eliminating all Sound Choice from your show your material descends into the second tier. Can you keep the show going and even successful? Sure you can. But it isn't going to be quite as good a show, nonetheless.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

I'm curious since there's been no new SC tracks since Jan 2010, what's your go to manu for for rock from 2010 to the?

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My statements, opinions and conclusions are based on my own personal experiences, observations, research and/or just my own $.02. I'm not a "cheerleader", but that doesn't make me a Pirate.

Zoom or Sunfly. But I will confess, I don't have a lot of rock at my show.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

I don't like to rehash the same thing over and over again. I say my thing, someone else says theirs and I figure that people who have been following the drama can decide for themselves who is telling the truth. But it seems I must clarify from where I am coming from on this--my point was that bad stuff has come from both sides.

So for the name calling, the explanation that it is not name calling if it was an accurate description fell a bit flat with me. Especially as one doesn't know for sure if the SC person was really an SC person. I mean, is it ok to call someone an ah as long as you can prove that they really are an ah?

As for personal attacks, maybe it is quibbling over minute differences but to say I don't like the way this person runs their business or I think a specific thing is an unethical business practice seems different to me than saying a person has no business ethics. To say a person has no ethics is an attack on that person's character and so a personal insult in my eyes.

That's a random stranger, not identified by name. Not something that we worry about trying to regulate. If they call a forum user a twit, that's different.


Yes, that's how I see it as well. You can attack a behavior or an attribute, not a person.

The one line I see being crossed here is ascribing motives to others. ("Asking a question" is a transparent way of doing that.) If that continues I would think people should be warned about it as well. Being argumentative is one thing -- constant resort to ascribing motives and mischaracterizing statements is plain trolling. I am not sure if this board warns trolls, but if they get out of hand I would think they should be warned.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

I see... so you've simply decided that if someone disagrees with you, they're trolling? How convenient.