Karaoke Forums

Murray C wrote:

Fine, boycott their products. Therefore you won't have to worry about obtaining their permission to copy their products. therefore you won't have to pay them anything to get the permission. Therefore you can stop bleating like a lost sheep about them charging you for granting the permission to copy their products. And we can all bask in the knowledge that the dead horse will have some relief from it's incessant beating!

Get up on the wrong side of the planet today?

If anyone is beating a dead horse it is the cheerleaders. That horse (manus) is not only dead the vultures are coming to the feast. The only sheep are the ones going to be paying for the yearly shearing the manus will be giving them, that is if they are still around?

Murray, great post. Someone doesn't like something, then don't get it, do it, or whatever but then STFU about it.

Just remember when manufacturers can longer afford to produce new music, don't go crying about it.

_________________
You can be strange but not a stranger

It really don't concern me if new product is produced or not. I have all the music I will need for the rest of my shorten lifetime. Considering my target market the baby boomers, new material is not really an issue.

Nobody is forcing you to read anything you don't want to.

_________________
Birdofsong

Where is that LIKE button????!!!!

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

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

Maybe we won't need to have a license at all, if the big three manus go under like I think they will. All I have to do is wait until this whole process falls due to it's own weight. If they cannot bring some of these suits to a conclusion that establishes some kind of legal history, it's end game any way. Then the hosts will be able to operate their business, without the threat of outside interference. They wouldn't have to pay for audits, and yearly checkups. The down side is that hosts will have to compete with pirates, but that has never been a problem for me. There may come a time when the manus wished they would have compromised and gone with blanket licensing, especially when all the bills come due.

And how exactly do you know there is no way of tracking? Just guessing?

Well as long as we are guessing I would bet that every time the CH system "phones home" to get new content, check your credit balance, or anything for that matter, your unlock/purchase history is also sent with it, knowing what songs you have unlocked and when.

I'm pretty sure the Manufacturers were hoping to operate their business, without the threat of outside interference from pirates.

_________________
KNOW THYSELF

The material that is out there now that is pirated is just not hosts, but also many of the home users have their own illegal hard drives. I don't believe that the manus will every get back the broad market they once had. It is not right that they try to balance their books on the backs of the hosts alone. They need to start right now with using technology to protect any new product they make create. It will be fruitless to try and use the court system to recoup whatever monies they can. Sound Choice has already made the decision not to produce any new product, for the fore see able future. What the manus are hoping for is that they will be able to bring all hosts under their influence, and be able to charge all, for allowing them to ply their trade. With only 5% of the hosts being legal, you can see it is to the manus advantage to make the pirates customers. That would be one way of bringing the outside inside, wouldn't it?

It's interesting. I talked with one of the bartenders of another one of the clubs listed (they come to our club on their off nights - go figure) and she knew nothing about it. I gave her the link to the pdf to check out.

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

Not all labels are taking the same approach. I happen to know first hand that Stellar's approach is different in that it won't require audits, and believes in the "innocent until proven guilty" philosophy. It still maintains solidarity with the other labels in their goals toward eliminating piracy, but just has a different approach which is basically not to punish the innocent for the acts of the guilty.

Which seems reasonable and balanced approach to the situation, since the current methods are not really getting the desired results. To the contrary it is making some hosts angry and they just drop the Sound Choice product all together, as a form of protest.

BarryTone wrote:

Not all labels are taking the same approach. I happen to know first hand that Stellar's approach is different in that it won't require audits, and believes in the "innocent until proven guilty" philosophy. It still maintains solidarity with the other labels in their goals toward eliminating piracy, but just has a different approach which is basically not to punish the innocent for the acts of the guilty.

"First hand?" Do tell....

So you agree that the "other manufacturers" are "punishing the innocent for the acts of the guilty?"

I wonder how many people have voluntarily signed up to pay Stellar for what they stole--or how many would at all if they didn't fear a lawsuit.

I think it would depend on the discount offered and whether or not the offender would get a shiny "certification" in the mail. Then they are simply selling certificates...

http://www.stellarrecords.com/cap2.html

Basically they're saying, "Give us $3200, and we'll put it in writing that you're legit with everything we put out between 1995 and 2007 - no matter HOW you got it."

Talk about supporting the pirates . . .

_________________
Dave's not here.

Moonrider wrote:

c. staley wrote:

leopard lizard wrote:

I wonder how many people have voluntarily signed up to pay Stellar for what they stole--or how many would at all if they didn't fear a lawsuit.

I think it would depend on the discount offered and whether or not the offender would get a shiny "certification" in the mail. Then they are simply selling certificates...

http://www.stellarrecords.com/cap2.html

basically they're saying, "Give us $3200, and we'll put it in writing that you're legit with everything we put out between 1995 and 2007 - no matter HOW you got it."

But if you mail your discs back in, can you get a discount?

Okay, I'll sell you a certificate MUCH cheaper than that....

That's $3200 for them to say its ok if you have any of their product during that time frame regardless of where you got it and if you don't have all of it feel free to acquire it however you want?

_________________
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.