Karaoke Forums

To all our loyal customers and fans:

Chartbuster Karaoke is closing the doors after 24 great years. Folks who have purchased our digital products are legal and will remain so, as the time of purchase is the only relevant factor.

We’ve had a great run, and truly appreciate each of you who have supported us over the more than two decades we’ve been serving you.

Thank you for singing, thank you for being our customers, and thank you for the love you have shown us through what has been a difficult time.

Wow what a bummer...

Hey Gretchen...

Is Digitrax Karaoke going to be offering credits to unlock locked songs on the KJ Media Pro?

I'm sure they will be making an announcement soon.

What the Hell???



Was the closing the doors the big announcement?

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

Wow, what does this means for those of us that were going to buy KJ Media Pro?? I don't understand, Gretchen, your last post was about how we would never look at karaoke the same. Now you suddenly close your doors??

Well, for the very short time I knew you, it was a pleasure. Good luck in the future.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

What about those that were planning on getting certification? Is that not possible anymore?

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

Told ya'll.

No new karaoke music.

No new website updates.

No facebook updates.

AND... remember this...

Guaranteed interest free financing is a poison pill.

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

Really???? A neener neener????

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

Lon,

I am somewhat saddened to see CB go out of business, but the way they screwed those of us who loyally purchased their music really put a bad taste in my mouth.

As I said before, what has generally kept most people from getting into the karaoke business has been start up costs, most of which are generated from the purchase of music. For many years (before the proliferation of piracy), it was those of us who purchased new music regularly who often had the upper hand in the marketplace.

But then, they start basically giving their music away (i.e. commercial streaming for $35/mo). That had a profound effect on the value of my music that I purchased from them.

And THEN, they want me to be a local observer to report suspected pirates in my area, but refuse to even pay me for gas? And then, they don't seem to want to prosecute the pirates - instead, they turned them into legal competition.

And as far as it being a neener, it wasn't intended to be.

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

This is the way it works with any mature business. The early adopters pay the highest price. The people that bought the $600 Version 1 iPhones helped make it possible for me to buy one for $49 just a couple of years later.

The value of the "music" is still the same. But anyone who thought that they would have significant resale value down the line just didn't think about it very well. Just like Sound Choice cassette tapes are essentially worthless, in a reasonably short amount of time, CD's are going to be worthless as well.

There is a local KJ that is getting out of the business after 22 years and wants $30,000 for two rigs and 1500 discs. They are claiming >$50,000 in original disc purchases for the high cost of selling their system. By my calculations they are trying to sell the 1500 discs for about $15,000. If they sell them one at a time on eBay they *might* be able to get that back. But I have seen their disc list and they have a significant number of discs that simply won't ever get played....ever.

Weigh that against $8.00 for 17 Tracks CUSTOM disc from All-Star (and other sources) and no one should expect to get 10/disc for a bulk sale.

That is not to say that sets like DK, Legends, Sound Choice and others won't hold their value for some time simply because no one is going back to make Karaoke tracks of the old stuff. But over time, as musical tastes change and music is forgotten or loses it's appeal, even those sets/discs will lose value. Case in point, Eagles SC8125 doesn't sell for $800 any longer.

-Chris

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-Chris

FYI, I emailed CompuHost about the KJ Media Pro HD, and here's some key points of their response:

1) Chartbuster will cease supporting the system, effective May 10, 2012.

2) The KJ Media Pro HD will offer access to the DigiTrax library at some point in the near future, and will honor outstanding credit, except....

3) Everyone should withdraw their credit BEFORE the May 10, 2012 date. Only credits withdrawn to your local drive will be honored. All credits residing on the Chartbuster accounting system after May 10 will be forfieted.

4) CompuHost NOW OWNS the rights to the KJ Media Pro, and will manage it from now on. This could mean MULTIPLE SONG VENDORS, and support for new releases!! The system might actually improve!!

Better news than I expected!!

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C Mc
KJ, FL

Hell if that happened - i'd switch from Hoster to Compuhost!!!! In a heartbeat!

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

I got the same response from Compuhost. Hope they make the change quick.

Gee and I was just getting ready for my Chartbuster audit! Now what will I do??????? The sky is falling. Karaoke as we we know will cease. Now all the CB pirates will run free in the streets with wild abandon. Our prices will drop even more without the threat of CB lawsuits........etc, etc, etc.

Golly, and I was just about to buy that hard drive!

oh well.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Hell if that happened - i'd switch from Hoster to Compuhost!!!! In a heartbeat![/quote]

Ditto Lon. could you imagine havinf CB, Zoom, Sunfly, SBI, Tropical Zone (Spanish), complete libraries already on the drives ready to be unlocked one at a time as needed?
i am sad to see CB go, in the last few years, they put out material that kicked the hell out of even SC as far as recording quality.

wonder if Piracy Recovery LLC is the new company, or unrelated and hired by Debbi & Norbert.

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

Wait does that mean if I suddenly started doing gigs again that I wouldn't be able to get a drive which Chartbuster's current library on it?

i'm confused

-James

Get it before May 10th & you should have one! After that, probably not.

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