Karaoke Forums

I'm not going to comment on the ethics of Chartbuster, because I do not know enough of the details to even make an educated guess.

However, what ticks me off is that MILLIONS of dollars of music are stolen EVERY SINGLE DAY by the actual MUSIC PRODUCERS, is 100% legal and no one ever says a single word about it or questions the morality of their practices.

How do they get away with it? Its thru a little loophole that allows a compainy to label a piece of music as 'unclaimed' thereby negating the orignal author's rights, and allow them to use that work for free.

Then there is the whole fiasco of getting the copyright for works extended so that music producers could make more money. And now they are working to have the entire concept of Public Domain works abolished entirely.

-James

This is true of any music. If you buy a Van Halen CD or a Beyonce download from iTunes, you never own the actual song. You own the right to use it.

So litigation "is" more lucrative than producing karaoke tracks?......

In the piracy-heavy environment in which we operate, litigation is currently more lucrative than producing karaoke tracks...but that is changing quickly.

Does that mean litigation is becoming more expensive than producing music or producing music is becoming cheaper than litigation? or....?

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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.

how so?

side note, after reading the entire AZ complaint......nicely done Mr. Harrington. this is the kind of operation you should keep focusing on and make an example of.

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Paradigm Karaoke, The New Standard.......Shift Happens

What it means is that litigation is more profitable than producing new music, because the proceeds from the litigation we are undertaking exceed the costs required to undertake it. Producing new music is--right at this moment--not profitable because there are not enough people willing to buy that new music to allow us to recoup the costs of producing it.

If you purchase music, it costs whatever it costs--could be $1.99, or $23 for a disc, or $4500 for a whole lot of music--but that number is not $0.

If you pirate music, your direct cost is $0 or nearly $0, depending on where you source it.

Unless, of course, there is somebody out there enforcing the IP rights represented by that pirated music. In that case, the pirate's potential cost is much, much higher than just buying it in the first place.

Litigation drives sales by driving up the cost (to pirates) of piracy. As pirates begin to realize that the cost of stealing is higher than the cost of acquiring the material legally, they stop being pirates and get legal.

In a couple of months we will mark 3 years into this project. It has taken longer than we thought it would, but the tide is starting to turn. Sales have been good--not just litigation-related purchases, but just from people looking to acquire a high-quality catalog to use in their businesses. We're very nearly at the point where we can reasonably expect to turn a profit on a new release.

I'll be very happy on the day when Kurt says, "Jim, looks like we've done all the legal work we needed to do. Thanks for your help." Even though it will mean the end of a job, it will also mean we accomplished the mission. I don't expect that day to come soon, but it will come eventually.

No especially when you can now turn right around and sue those you sued before but now
because they have CB tracks ripped to their computer that you couldn't sue before and CB
didn't have the time to get involved before they got shut down.

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I like everyone when I first meet them. If you don't like me that's not my problem it's YOURS!
A stranger is a friend you haven't met yet

And if someone stole those CB songs, why shouldn't they be sued?

You what pisses me off about this whole thing? None of this should even be an issue. We bought this music, we should be allowed to shift it. There shouldn't be all this nonsense and worries about lawsuits. I have bought SO many products in my life and NEVER have had to worry about what I do with them. These companies needs to cut the crap, modernize and let us go on with our lives without investigations, audits, and all this bull!!!

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Except you don't actually own the music, that is the misconception many have.

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

Well, it's about time that changes. It's not like a karaoke company can come to my house, or a show, and take the discs away from me. They also can not come and take the music off those same discs, so it stands to reason that we should own what we buy. Something has to change. It is a ridiculous thing to have to worry who is going to sue you for what, just because you bought some music and put it on your computer. Get the HELL off our backs and let us run our shows, and that is that!!

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Yup, kinda like expanding your "litigation customer base"..

Nope, I don't see anyone changing from a more lucrative business to a less lucrative one, and since there are so many hosts that media shifted, HL just gave me the impression that SC is out of the production business for at least good long time...


EDIT: Question removed because I just read the answer elsewhere... nevermind... sigh....

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

He's saying the laws are about 10 years behind the technology, and it's rather deceptive to offer a product for money while assuming the customer understands he/she doesn't actually own it.

I'm not saying they can take your discs away, but you don't actually OWN what you bought, you just bought the means (beit download/disc/or whatever) to play it. You never actually own the music to say what you have the right or think you have the right to do - be it karaoke format or an original song you downloaded.

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

Yup but until those laws are changed, you can't just assume & pre-empt any laws to the point.

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

Did your nose grow on that one? A lawyer who bases almost his entire practice on suing KJs for trademark infringement is hoping that someday soon his main client will fire him? Let's at least be honest here. You didn't get into this because you're an altruist. I would imagine you're now downright giddy that Chartbuster has been added to your client roster.

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Birdofsong

I sure a few minorities in the '50s and '60s thought the same thing.

It will never change, you will never own the song. It's owned by the person who made it, wrote it and/or bought those rights from them.

The same goes for a DVD movie. Just because you bought the Mission Impossible DVD, does NOT mean you can do anything you want with it.

If you feel strongly enough about it to compare what is going on in the karaoke industry to an undediably important civil and human rights issue, then I suggest you start organizing and marching. Get the laws changed.

But I seriously doubt your 1 Million KJ March will be comprised of anything except a much smaller group of KJ's that believe that since it was on the Internet, it should be free to download and they should not have any obligations.

-Chris

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-Chris