Karaoke Forums

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

"Sound Choice Studios which was responsible for production of new material, was driven out of business, and the assets sold to ex-employees because the companies lost money on every recent new karaoke disc. The most recent new disc did not produce enough revenue to cover the production and licensing costs associated with it-yet the songs from that disc can be found on as many as 30,000 karaoke systems around the United States. Because it's primary purpose was to record new music for karaoke and it could no longer profitably produce new music, it was shut down. In the future Sound Choice will have to subcontract to the ex-employees if/when it is are able to profitably release new titles again."

- SC vs Lady Luck July 2011, Page 3

i know i know.....hearsay......

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

Not necessarily hearsay. You claim it from "SC vs Lady Luck" but you don't name the person/entity. If this is a direct quote from SC that is part of legal action, it's NOT "hearsay" it's "testimony." It simply needs to be able to be viewed as NOT being authored from you. (refer to the court docs)

If you say; "SC told me that...." or "I heard that..." or even "KS magazine reported that..." then it IS hearsay. So hearsay is pretty much dependent on the source. Usually, if you are "passing along information" that you've heard or read, it is hearsay, but show me the court docs directly and it's not.


Another surprising definition is EVEN if you authored the original statement - it can be hearsay:
ATTY #1: "Mr. Paradigm, did you tell WallOfSound that you had just talked to Sound Choice and you specifically told them who to sue?"

PARADIGM: "Why yes, that's EXACTLY what I told him as a matter of fact!"

ATTY #2: "Objection your honor... hearsay!"

JUDGE: "Sustained."


Sounds weird that your own testimony about what YOU said to another person is declared hearsay.... but it is.

A "Producer" is one who generally puts up the money.

In making a movie, a "production company" will rent the Panavision movie cameras from an outside source.

"Sound Choice Studios" is out of business & the ex-employees that hold the assets will most likely get the contracted work to create the new material under the SC brand.

Also this is SC's "goal", and making the "goal" may, or may not, be attainable. Time will tell.

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

They lost money because they couldn't (chose not to) compete with Top Hits Monthly, Pop Hits Monthly and Chartbuster - all of whom put out monthly releases of songs that were popular and on the radio today - rather than waiting 3-6 months down the road to put them out. By then, most KJs that were into buying new disks every month or so already owned them.

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I'm not a cheerleader, but I paid for my pom poms with my own money!

I disagree with that, SC put out songs requested by their users which was much more useable IMO than the monthlies that tend to be flash in the pan to coasters within a few months.

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

sorry Chip, you're right, here is the link.
http://thekiaa.org/images/ComplaintLadyLuckFiled.pdf
page 3
having to now subcontract just made their nut much larger to crack, meaning more sales per disc.

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

There are plenty of talented musicians who can make karaoke tracks of high quality that would be happy with relatively modest fees. The main cost of karaoke will always be royalties to the artists, legal departments, sales and distribution. Even at it's height SC probably had few if any musicians that they employed full time. With the current economy finding decent musicians should not be hard.

i agree Dr. Fred, but the fact still remains that they not only have to find the musicians again, which would be the easier part, but then they have to rent the studio from someone else, they no longer own the studio. that is a major expense. ever record in a pro studio? far from cheap.

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

Got to think Chartbusters was pretty smart for locating their business in Nashville -- full of aspiring professionals and good studio musicians and when they aren't making karaoke they can rent their studio out. Surprised Sound Choice hasn't considered doing the same, if not in Nashville perhaps in NYC or Los Angeles...

i thought they were. it is still going under the same name SRS studios as far as i know. but i may be mistaken (like it would be the first time )

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

I am still willing to bet that they have some clause in the sale that they have access to the studio.

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

I can't speak to the specifics... but I can tell you that SC's facilities are still available to them. They still have inventory and ship product. Among other things, their rather large headquarters building contains the corporate offices, reception, and conference rooms. There is on site storage and shipping/receiving operations. The studios are on the premises in Charlotte and they are fully functional. I know because I've toured them.

Having taken advantage of several opportunities to have face to face conversations with Kurt Slep, I have formed the impression that he is sincere in his wish to return Sound Choice to producing new karaoke tracks.

I'm not gushing or drooling over the product when I say that I look forward to receiving quality tracks from that source again in the future. It remains to be seen, but I figure a little help from host/KJ's can't hurt.

That being said, and without dithering opinions about the varying aspects, I think it should be said that the GEM series product released in 2010 was unprecedented in this industry. This was completely different model of supply and protection/licensing. I'm not talking about piracy here, I am talking about the fact that a manufacturer created a product specifically for those who utilize karaoke in a commercial setting. Up to 6000 unduplicated tracks that can be purchased in a single transaction. This simply was not possible to do before. Credit SC for innovation and taking the lead... even if you disagree with "them"

Less than a year later we have KJMP and streaming options. The industry is slowly moving. I believe that as it's moving in the right direction, it looks more likely that SC will have the opportunity to achieve their stated goal.

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Never the same show twice!

Studio rental does not need to be overly expensive (<100$) hour. Yes top studios are far more than that but the extra value from going totally top of the line is probably not needed for karaoke.

The main cost of the studio is the techs who will be running all the mixing etc. It probably would cost far more for SC to have their own techs and studio than the cost of renting a studio if it is only for 1-2 disks a month.

Save your breath, Fred. You're talking to people who think you need a spectrum analyzer in a bar for a Karaoke show. They will no doubt be insulted if you suggest that their heroes don't use the optimum circumstances to create their masterpieces.

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Birdofsong

Access I would expect would be in the form of "rental."

Never said you need one. I was bridling at someone pooh-poohing the desire to use one to improve sound.

Tearing down the aspirations of others is pretty easy, but I don't find it appealing.

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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.

Never said that either!

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

What I don't get is some of the same people who have such sensitive ears that they are bothered by disc vs mp3 and what speed things are ripped at don't find any problem with the difference in sound quality between a Karaoke Bay or Backstage vs a Sound Choice.

Last night a fellow sang to the SC version of "Pancho and Lefty" and the music on that one was almost transporting-- just pretty to listen to and crystal clear. I just don't see it as taking away from one's hosting abilities if one appreciates hearing a good track.

I hope they do get back to producing music. It looks like the studio got renamed to Satellite and is keeping itself busy recording musicians and doing sound alike tracks for movies, TV, etc. So guess it is all still in place for them to jump in or subcontract if it becomes profitable to produce songs again.

You are correct Dr. Fred. As MtnKaraoke noted, all the basic "ingredients" (equipment, facilities, engineers, local musicians, etc. ) are still in place and available, just not the fixed overhead we used to have. With most recording these days being "direct to digital", the influence of the ambient conditions (i.e., the physical room) are much less than they used to be. So the actual cost of doing the music production with "hungry" musicians and new studio owners (who will produce for us at a discount) are actually less than when it was all staff employees. What hasn't really changed are the publishing royalty fees and hassles as was also noted by another poster. Given the excessive level of piracy (both Chartbuster and Stellar Records ARE struggling) we have elected to take a more aggressive Asset Recovery strategy than these two companies and are putting more efforts into that area than recording new music.

We are in communication with the publishers in trying to discuss more cost effective methods of delivering content (for example LEGAL downloads for commercial purposes), but for for all the pirate KJs, the delivery method is not the real issue - it's just a smokescreen. It's that any price is more expensive (on the front end) than "free". For those that steal our products on disc, what would lead us, or anyone, to believe that they would support paying for a download?