timberlea wrote: I'm not sure why you would say it surprises you that there is an increase of KJs in a down economy. It actually makes sense as karaoke is a cheaper form of entertainment for bars, even if a host were to make $250. Bands would cost a bar a minimum of $400 a night as would comedians, magicians, and the like.
As for the suits, they take time as you can't take on the whole country at once, so you take it a piece at a time and get the message out there as you can. At least it's better than doing nothing.
 Is it really better than doing nothing, or is it that another approach is needed? It is not taking a bite out of crime, and currently there are more supposed illegal hosts than when the whole legal process started. The legal process is not solving the problem, in some cases it is making things worse for the industry not better. I remember many certified hosts saying they were opposed to a cheap way to provide a path to legality for the pirate hosts. They shot down the idea of amnesty and some sort of operator's license. On a smaller scale that is what both SC and CB/DTE are offering. The wayward host is welcome to come back and will be treated as well as long time customers. They can either lease or subscribe to the new products and not have to worry about legal actions against them, by the only two manus using the legal process. You are right tim it is too little to be effective nationwide, and at best it will only ring up a few more sales for both participating manus.
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A great deal of information came out of the 2013 Summit II, one of the figures that hit me was a net increase of hosts or venues supplying karaoke entertainment. The estimate was a 10% increase in the number of karaoke shows, in a down economy. That is what really surprised me. I would think the number of shows would decrease because of the economic bad times, the shrinkage of the middle class and of course the efforts of the manus to stamp out piracy. Still there are 5,000 more hosts and venues out here providing karaoke shows. According to the summit it is a safe bet that the majority of these newbies are illegal. Now we are told by some supposed host that the hits just keep coming, to what avail? James has stated that over a hundred suits have been filed and roughly 1,000 hosts and venues have been made legal or put out of business. That is over what 4 years? Despite all of this effort there has been a net increase in hosts and venues, probably the majority of which are currently running in some form illegally. At least running illegally by the best estimate of the experts at the summit. One has to ask one's self if this whole legal approach is really working? Maybe in a few high profile areas of the country, where continual sweeps are made? There are still large portions of the country that are left untouched and illegal operations are on the rise. So I would have to conclude that the legal process has not been effective, and in fact has lost ground to the pirates, at least in the total number of legal vs illegal operations. According to Kurt "suits drive sales", James says "All material is free if you are willing to assume the risk". I don't understand why anyone would support a policy that is losing ground not gaining it. Personally I believe the suits are designed to achieve limited results to maybe get the manus involved a few more sales or subscriptions. It would seem that more suits need to come to court and be tried before any degree of confidence can be placed of the legal process, to solve the manus problems.