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There has been much conjecture in the past 8 months over the cessation of CDG production at Pocketsongs and the subsequent fate of their 14,000-song library. Pocketsongs had not produced a new disc in a few years and last year the company sold its catalog to Sybersound Records, who produce Party Time Karaoke and Billboard Karaoke. Many of you are probably familiar with these brands, which have been sold for over 20 years. With distribution in major retail chains in the US and Canada, their limited catalog (1400 songs) has been focused on a mix of chart hits discs and traditional favorites that are family friendly. Sybersound was founded on the principles of quality production and meticulous attention to licensing. Their reputation with music publishers is impeccable.

KSF has been at the forefront of innovative technologies focused on the karaoke market in Europe with offices in Finland, Sweden and the UK. We own and operate Customburn, have developed karaoke computer systems for commercial applications, Esongbook services and streaming services.

Our company entered into a distribution partnership agreement with Sybersound with the goal to create the largest licensed library of high quality karaoke tracks in the U.S. and beyond. Over the past few months we have expanded to the U.S. and have undertaken the daunting task of audio remastering, graphic branding conversion, creation of HD versions and extensive database work to facilitate the smooth rollout of a variety of services that will soon be announced. The acquisition of Pocketsongs by Sybersound was but one of the steps taken in the last 6 months. Additional library purchases and an aggressive production schedule have filled in what we felt were critical gaps in the library.

We look forward to releasing more information on these exciting developments and will do so at the earliest. In the meantime, there is light at the end of the tunnel for what we feel is one of the most important karaoke markets in the world - the USA and Canada!

Sincerely
Michael Yelvington CEO
KSF Entertainment US

Is there some place we can go to for more information or future updates?

First, I am very glad that Sybersound plans on sticking around - I love their product.

Second, does KSF - like Sybersound - operate under any other name that I might recognize?

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

I look forward to the announcement.

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Electro-Voice Evolve 50... Taking Sound To The Next Level.

KSF has evolved into being primarily a technology company that distributes content. We do this via the Customburn website, our professional touchscreen computer system and through streaming systems. We also create high quality content for game designers for the Xbox platform and the Karaoke Party web site. We are European distributors for Stingray (The Karaoke Channel), Priddis and most of the major European manufacturers. We own the largest catalog of Swedish and Finnish karaoke and we also created the "Heavy Karaoke" DVD series featuring the hits of Iron Maiden, hits of Kiss, hits of Pantera and Nightwish.

We licensed our computer system to Allstar Karaoke 18 months ago which was marketed as "The Karaoke Kiosk" until the agreement was terminated when the company went into receivership. It was a costly lesson for us, both in time and resources. In retrospect, it ultimately helped create this collaboration with Sybersound for which we are very excited about.

Lastly, KSF is now the owner of the most prestigious karaoke competition in the world - Karaoke World Championships (KWC). The competition began in 2003 and features the best amateur singers from an average of 30 countries. KSF has run the technical production since 2004 and took over the company last year. Unfortunately the US partnership has suffered under poor management after sending the winners of "Karaoke Battle USA" to the World Finals in Ireland in 2011.

There are plenty of sad stories associated with the US operation of the contest from previous years and there are many hosts who view the competition in a negative light. The US and Canada has some of the best singers in the world and last year the male winner was from Arkansas and the female second place winner was from California. We have a new partner who will take the competition to the level befitting the talent. The competition is featured in a new documentary on karaoke called "Karaoke The Enchanted Machine" and you can see the trailer here:
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=854765084547004&set=vb.108856145804572&type=2&theater

As I said in my earlier post, there will be some very exciting news released shortly and I will post the information and links for you here in due time.

Thanks
Michael

http://www.ksf.net
https://www.facebook.com/karaokeworldchampionships
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRpoD2wNVjg

I have used the customburn site, very nice quality, even the custom discs they make have improved since the first one I ordered a couple of years ago. The addition of the pocketsongs library would indeed be some very good news, as they seem to have the best renditions of all the broadway music that they produced.

that being said, we have had NUMEROUS announcements like this before and NONE of them have panned out, so you'll forgive me if I remain skeptical until the actual announcement.


-James

So you will use Sybersound to distribute what you can in the states - and keep those restricted from the US to Customburn since most of the US cannot gain access to this site? Keeping the Stingray tracks over at Customburn.

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

Ok, after reading Michael's post and also researching the company, I am actually hyped - and knowing me, that is saying a lot.

This company has an extremely different background from certain others who never seem to get "the announcement" out. I actually have some hope this time.

Welcome aboard and please keep us informed.

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

Lon, our initial focus in the US will be distribution of the new Party Tyme library. A concerted effort is being made to provide as much content as possible using various means of delivery.

Thanks for your welcome Joe.

regards
Michael

Man that's too bad. I don't care for the PT library and have most everything they release months before they release it. Well hopefully more manus can be added eventually.

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

I dunno Lon. Sybersound quality is much better than Stellar and WAY better than All Star.

Also, except for maybe the Fasttrax/Quik Hits/ Singers' Solution stuff ( no better than Stellar at best) who is coming out faster ( on disc) these days? I'm sure you must be referencing download tracks -which I don't use - so I have no idea who comes out when in that regard.

I'm always willing to wait a couple of months for Sybersound discs - just for the quality. Of course, the older stuff gets more attention at my shows anyway. Newer stuff takes at least a few months to kick in with most of my singers.

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

i have been pleasantly surprised with the Sybersound stuff. As long as they catch up with Zoom and SBI with their timing, they would be the best in the U.S. One of the reasons i stopped buying another manu's material was it may have been good, but came out 3-6 months too late. since Zoom, SBI, etc have equal or better versions and come out in a timely manner, Sybersound may have a hard time catching on if they lag behind timewise on releases. i hope they do come out timely, it will be nice to have another option.

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

I like Sybersound but do have a problem with some of their tracks in a "bar" setting. There was a dou waiting for a long time to do Katy Perry's "Dark Horse" and when I finally got the Sybersound one in, it just had music playing and a blank screen for the rap part. They try to make their tracks family friendly which is good for some things and not so good for others.

Well, I learned something new. I love Zoom, but anytime I wanted new stuff it seemed to be just behind Sybersound. I'm glad they caught up!

As for Black Horse, I hate to admit it but my best version is on an SC Power Picks disc. Unfortunately it is the only "keeper" on the disc.

More keepers on the Sybersound discs.

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

Black Horse? She was talking about Dark Horse - Katy Perry. Sound Choice never released Dark Horse.

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

Oops, that's what I get for skimming........

Apologies.....

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

They are the last legit manufacturer standing in this country for obvious reasons. They have never catered to the KJ market, they sell to the consumer market via big chain stores like Walmart and others and they run a very tight operation. So it goes without saying that the lyrics of some songs will be "sanitised" in keeping with the selling standards placed upon them by the buyers of these chains. If thats the price that has to be paid to survive as an American manufacturer - so be it.

I think they are evolving at the perfect time. The OP makes it clear that they want to be the dominant player in the consumer market in the future and for that everyone should be grateful. Will the KJ's support them? I doubt they really care. They can't afford to. The rules they follow are in black and white.

They can't compete for the KJ business when the competition does not have to follow the same rules. Foreign companies like TriceraSoft, SBI, Sunfly, Zoom, Selectatrack (until they were forced to stop) or Karaoke Version knowingly play in grey areas to sell in the US. Their unfettered access to this country combined with the effects of pirates contributed to the accelerated death of one karaoke manufacturer after another. Tom at Stellar being the latest victim. And lets not overlook the modern day karaoke bootleggers. Whether it's called Singers Solution/Fast Trax/Big Hitz - it's nothing more than a guy in his garage using Karaoke Builder with rudimentary skills, burning his own compilations on cheap printable blanks for a few dollars each. There is no legit company behind them. There is no licensing being paid. They are a ghost. And there are supposedly legit distributors on the East Coast selling them to any store they can which lends an air of credibility.

As a retired veteran of this industry who has done everything from music production, authoring and distribution for many now defunct karaoke companies, I am rooting for them and hopefully they will be supported by the KJs. Time will tell.

What happened to the previous part of this thread?

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

It was in the regular forum, but since the exact same topic is now here too, I put them together.

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

I think it is great that PocketSongs and the parent company are diversified enough to stay in the game.

However......from the viewpoint of being a KJ, unless they can put out relevant music in a timely manner, then I won't be buying from them. So long as the overseas manufacturers come to market sooner and with music my singers want, I will continue to buy what works for my business.

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-Chris