Karaoke Forums

Hey Guys,

I have been trying to do an audit with Sound Choice, but they refuse to bend from their demand to have you sign documents that give up many of your rights and basically give them carte blanche. If you have not seen the VOLUNTARY audit paperwork or are contemplating one, here is some info you might want to know.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0e-1R6C ... t_received
[youtube]I0e-1R6Cwdk[/youtube]

I gave up and for the 2nd time I am posting video showing our discs. Sound Choice is always welcome to contact us and come out and look through discs and do an audit, but only under terms that are mutually cooperative.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJ_GkCkcKTo
[youtube]BJ_GkCkcKTo[/youtube]

Here are my Sound Choice discs only. Posted up video of all discs three years ago. Would love to see other folks post up video of their discs or all discs. If you have em' show em'

The Sound Choice Cheering Squad should have fun with this post. You DO have people that will back you up and believe as you do, here, though. Thank you for the information.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Ooops!... Now that's going to leave a mark!


Oh, Happy Dance! Happy Dance!
Bright blessings and I'll lite a blue candle for you!

Well done, don't give them "carte blanche", just stay on your position... They can make their own rules but you do have rights

SC doesn't deserve your business and all the promotion you're doing for them

There should be exceptions on paying for people who paid them so much already. They don't seem very thankful to those who have treated them well.

You would think, but it seems, for them, it's just about making MORE money. Personally, if you volunteer for an audit they should do it as a courtesy for being a good customer.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Having gone through through the audit process and having noted all of the points called out in the Starz video (and other items I considered) I still accepted the terms.

I was ultimately okay with the clause that any future legal issues be dealt with in North Carolina since I believe the risk of a suit against me in the future is basically zero.

I brought my entire disc library in to show them and asked them to take pictures of it specifically to ensure that I was compliant with not just Sound Choice, but also 1-1 for every track, by every other manufacturer on my system.

I see paying the audit fees as a part of doing business. The bigger the business, the more operating overheard you have. The audit fees compared to the expense of acquiring the hardward and software is negligible to my business model.

I bought sealed packages of Foundations 1&2, Bricks 1-5 as well as my recent purchase of a sealed SC8125. I opened them specifically to ensure that the contents were accurate and because I don't believe there is any reduction in resale value. This is of course only my opinion. I know others lean more toward the collector side of things and so sealed has more value to them.

I have no issue marking discs and we did so during my audit. I have pointed out to Sound Choice some flaws in the process though. It can certainly be improved.

I appreciate the video and the straightforward, level-headed approach taken with it. I have not watched the longer video showing all the disks. I hope it takes the same approach.

Again, I agree with the WHY portion of what Sound Choice is doing, but not entirely with the HOW. This video is an example of pointing out out some of the issues without making a personal attack as some do on the forums.

Well done.

-Chris

PS - I don't like that Starz lost business as a result of the Sound Choice mailings. As a new host, I did not have to go through that. That is something Sound Choice needs to seriously consider as it potentially has a substantial impact on hosts.

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-Chris

Just giving this a little *bump* in case any newbies missed it...

Thanks for the info...but, nothing I didn't already know with respect to signing away to SC....

SC, lately, has been stating that, if they take you to court, an audit will, then cost, $500. Again, ROTFLMFAO.

If I didn't do an "Audit" to begin with, what makes SC believe I will do it upon going to Court?

You see, SC wants to drop the suit...I DO NOT! I WANT TO CONTINUE to its logical conclusion. So, I won't be agreeing to ANYTHING! EVER!!

Se 'ya in Court, SC.

If they take you to court, it will be free since it will be part of discovery... they will absorb their own costs and you will too.

The actual inspection should be done by a third party only, (wearing white gloves so they don't leave as much as a fingerprint on your property.)

The difference is that they won't be "marking" anything. Discovery will allow them ONLY to see what you own under their trademark and that's it. And, if your attorney pushes hard enough, there is a possibility that they won't be allowed to see anything that they can't specifically name that was "observed" in the club.

There currently is no law that they can cite -that I know of- where ripping a karaoke disc to a drive is somehow illegal, if the trademark is not displayed in a commercial setting or otherwise. (i.e. having the datafile on your machine is not illegal, "displaying" their trademark might be.)

Contrary to their assertion, this is not like U.S. Customs raiding a shipping container looking for counterfeit Taiwanese Rolex knock-offs in a criminal action. And if my guess is correct (and it is a guess), that's what all the hub-bub was really about with them keeping the investigator's report a big secret.

It's real easy to say "show us all your discs" but when pressed as to "which track did your investigator see?" they'd best have a name and not say "show us what you have, and it wasn't any of those."

It's far too much a trap that way. It's much better and cleaner to simply say show us the disc for "song A by so-n-so" and "song B by so-n-so" and "song C by so-n-so" and so on... Along with some definitive proof that those songs were actually played because is far to easy to simply say "yeah, I saw counterfeit marks!"

(even if it was a "mistake.")

Don't know about the rest of the KJ's out there, but I have a record of every song requested - and who requested it - on any particular night right down to the time the request was made and the brand of disc and many of you have software with singer histories, but it may not show which night any particular song was sung. Or maybe it does, I don't know.

Thanks Chip!

My counter-discovery would be for SC to disclose the name and address of their "investigator(s)..."so that he/she can be named as co-conspirator in the counter-suit.

I would think, in addition, if it can be shown that two or more people entered into an agreement to purposely defraud someone of their livelihood, punitive damages might be awarded.

Siglos keeps a list but not of the times a song is sung. Also, if I clear and re-load the song database when I add new stuff (seems to work better than just adding) it gets confused and shows different songs in the history.

The new Hoster keeps track of names, time & date sung.
I would be interested to see anyone try to fight it in court & see the results either way.

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

Those documents were sent to me by Sound Choice on 3-19-2012. If they are not the one's that are in effect or someone there needs to get there stuff organized.

I was sent a response to Mr Harrington which I responded to but have got no response back on. I am more than willing to publish all emails back and forth, but he really does not want that and in telling me that there has been no innuendo and no bullying he again reminded me that he would be happy to sue me in Arizona.... yeah... no bullying at all

In our emails I have attached this document over 5 times and he seems to ignore it.
http://azkaraokealliance.com/karaokedocs/Bill%20Becker%20-%20Sound%20Choice%20Karaoke%20Press%20Release9-08-Highlighted.pdf

It was obtained after I spent my money to fly cross country to meet with Bill Becker, who was identified as the Sound Choice CEO to me at the time (he signed it as General Manager). We negotiated and after about a month and over 40 emails back and forth he gave me this document on Sound Choice Letter-head. It clearly states I can media shift ( and does not separate me form anyone else) as long as I am willing to provide proof I have legal copies of discs. I have been working ever since then to show my discs to sound Choice, but they keep adding on terms and conditions that were not part of the original agreement. Terms that they have no legal right to ask for and I do not have to give up!

Here is the document that was provided to me on the 19th for the Audit that I reference in my video:

http://azkaraokealliance.com/karaokedocs/Voluntary%20Pre-Suit%20Audit%20Acknowledgement%20of%20Terms%20and%20%20Questionnaire%20REV%201-10-2012.pdf

The purpose of a successful audit is to get a Covenant not to sue - Here is the doc they gave us for that -
http://azkaraokealliance.com/karaokedocs/5-4-11%20COVENANT%20NOT%20TO%20SUE.pdf

I already have a signed agreement on Sound Choice letterhead allowing me to have discs media shifted and agreeing not to take actions against, me, but Sound Choice refused to look at my discs unless I comply with their new audit terms which are all based on the fact that I do not have permission and must give up rights to get that permission. Problem is I already have permission on a document signed by an office of their company at the time it was issued.

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Eric Godfrey
http://USKaraokeAlliance.com
http://StarzKaraoke.com
http://Karaoke2Night.com network

My point exactly.. I have costs too. I am actually in the karaoke business and using my music, so to get all of this to one place at one time is going to take me paying about 5 different people for the day to bring it to one location, wait, and take it back so it can be used that night. I pay my cost, you pay yours.

At this point Sound Choice can not argue that they do not allow media shifting and they do not allow 1:1 compliance, so changing the terms of the original agreement that I have signed so that they can demand terms to the showing of discs is not going to hold up. I have tried to compromise and meet halfway to fit into their new program, however, since they will not give on anything, we will stick to the written agreement in place.

At this point I have over 3 years of emails proving I have tried to show them discs. When they refused to work with me I put video of my discs up online to show them what I had ( originally in 2009)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHu_6Epr1_I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pnejprh1OqY

Now I have tried again and they have not complied with being cooperative again. So I did it again:

Now all that said, you want to "SUE ME" - Please by all means do. I can prove that I have tried, I can show the agreement in place, I can show your lack of cooperation, and since I have made every effort to work with you and you have refused to look at the discs in person, you better have proof of anything you say is a violation and I will address each in a one for one basis. I will also immediately counter sue as you are dragging my name through the mud via the lawsuit and unless you have great proof, the legal system provides double my cost compensation to me if I can prove the suit is frivolous.

Point to everyone on this. I negotiated this agreement acting as President of the AZ Karaoke Alliance and the US Karaoke Alliance and it did not stipulate only me or my company. It said that it was Sound Choice policy moving forward. It does mention my company in the document, but not specifically tied to the paragraph on media shifting.

Here is the document - please use it in your case as well:
[url]
http://azkaraokealliance.com/karaokedoc ... ighted.pdf[/url]

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Eric Godfrey
http://USKaraokeAlliance.com
http://StarzKaraoke.com
http://Karaoke2Night.com network

Why do you always pick blue??

I have to find out what a chartreuse candle means....

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

Joe you burn blue candles for peace
chartreuse (or any green ) would be for drawing money

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"Integrity is choosing your thoughts, words and actions based on your principles and values rather than for your personal gain."
Unknown
"if a man has integrity, nothing else matters, If a man has no integrity, nothing else matters."
Lee McGuffey

if it's dark tonight Athena, you could burn me a few dozen green ones, I won't mind.

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

Paradigm Karaoke as requested a nice fat green one is burning for you.....and a gold one too. Hope they draw some cash your way

Bright Blessings

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"Integrity is choosing your thoughts, words and actions based on your principles and values rather than for your personal gain."
Unknown
"if a man has integrity, nothing else matters, If a man has no integrity, nothing else matters."
Lee McGuffey

much grass (thats thank you in spanish right? )
i even get gold? that may speed things up a bit.
Blessed Be

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