Karaoke Forums

Again, why would ANYONE bother asking the mfrs about this? Whether they have problems or not, do really think they will TELL potential customers?

" Yessir, we have licensing problems, but hope you buy our stuff anyway..." ???!!!!

If you have a desire to check licensing, you go to the publishers or their reps, not the mfrs.

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

"Also, the new GEM Series products will be including EMI songs from our NEW Digital License with them."

wasn't digital in the U.S. too expensive for only 750 copies to be sold?
if there are only under 400 that will be allowed to buy the new discs (only GEM and certified owners can buy SC material) how will a more expensive license be profitable?

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

I'm sure James will spin, I mean explain all of that. I really think if production is resumed on a very limited scale it is not with the objective of making a profit. Rather it's function will be to silence critics who say SC is no longer a viable company. It's interesting one company that is no longer viable SC is using the legal process. While a still viable CB/DTE through PRLLC. really hasn't started any new suits since the collapse of CB, just continued with the cases already started. Have a blessed day.

One of Mr. Harrington's posts in the past mentioned that digital licenses had been prohibitively expensive plus there wasn't a mechanism in place for easily obtaining them. Then he said that the publishers were starting to come around, if I recall. Maybe they have finally worked something out.

I'm pretty sure, no members on here, or at least their numbers would round to 0, as a percentage of members, are supporters of pirates. They simply dont like SC's tactics, though personally, I could give a rat's a$$.......but I do care about SC putting a label on our members. You come here, and read very few of the thousands of posts, and you start name calling........makings of a very negative M.O........

As opposed to posting malicious allegations that have been proven wrong?

Malicious allegations that have been proven wrong? Like the ones in the lawsuits against Rodney Burges, Athena, and a number of others that had their suits dismissed?

Pot, please meet kettle.

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Birdofsong

I did that once........made a sweet water pipe......

Being against your ridiculous audits, and your ridiculous policies about computer use, and stealing music are two different things. Who are you to accuse people of piracy just because we don't like the way your company does things or the way you treat your customers. Your company almost went belly up because of YOUR actions, not anyone else's. YOU allowed the piracy to cut into your profits. YOU allowed the torrent sites and the irc networks to provide your music to people. You did nothing while it was ramping up. Now you are stuck, and taking it out on the people who ACTUALLY bought your products, and who just want to use it on their hard drives. You charge people for audits who already payed for your products, and you name people in lawsuits who decided to copy your stuff onto their computers to protect their investment. So you tell ME who is being sanctimonious here!!

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

You crack me up. Every single music, movie, software company has had practically all of their assets placed online in spite of the law and in spite of attempts at copy protection. based on what you said, *ALL* of them allowed it to happen so it is their fault and their fault alone. Never mind the people that crack copy-protection and upload it anyway. Never mind that you are singling out Sound Choice while every other karaoke manufacturer was in the same boat.

Sound Choice simply took the step of trying to figure out a means of retaliating after the fact. They may have been able to do it differently, but they at least attempted to do something. Meanwhile, every other karaoke company seems to be content with allowing their merchandise to continue to be stolen without the thieves worrying about any consequences. So who is truly at fault here?

-Chris

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-Chris

Says Smooth whose first post was I want to get into the karaoke business but, I don't want to pay for music.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

Actually Tim, in the beginning.........I think it was Sound Choice.......

It *is* their fault. They were warned about this in the late '70s initially, received a loud-and-clear warning i n 1981, then multiple other warnings over the years. They were told copy protection would never work, and that digital was coming and would throw everything open to massive copying without possibility of enforcement of copyright.

They had every chance, as an industry, to get their digital act together. Instead they chose to spend their legislative resources to punitively act on the consumer by extending copyright law from its original 25 years now to 75 and effectively 150 years in some cases.

I have zero sympathy for the industry. They could have come up with a framework to responsibly allow use of the content for a reasonable ala carte price. Instead they chose to preserve short term profits by attempting to bolster CD sales, bought the snake-oil of DRM companies, and spend their political capital on changing copyright law. A change that, by the way, contradicts the original intent of the laws.

They have received their just deserts. Not that I think Sound Choice, in particular, is responsible for all this. But they own their tiny bit of responsibility for it too. It is exactly what they were told would happen, and they did nothing to forstall it.

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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.

Which, as I have said about a million times, I turned away from that plan when I found out I could get into trouble with it. You seem to forget that part, quite conveniently.
That doesn't mean I have to agree with Sound Choice's policies and their way of enforcing their trademark.
That also doesn't mean that I intend to become some crusader against piracy. I won't pirate material. If others want to do that it's their (@$%&#!) if they get caught. It's not my responsibility to police the karaoke industry. I didn't cause the problem. The Karaoke companies, themselves, caused the problem by not figuring out a way to shut down the free download sites and the hard drive sellers.
As has been mentioned, the music industry helped it's problem by allowing single song downloads. Some of the karaoke companies have joined that model. Sound Choice refuses to. It's their loss. They would rather limit who buys their material. That doesn't help because all their music is already out there, free for the taking, if people want to take that chance. So, yes, it IS, at this point, SC's fault for not modernizing and growing with the times. They are missing out on a massive opportunity to create capital, and make new product.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

It isn't just the karaoke industry that is a part of this. Every industry that distributes content digitally - music, movies, software, TV, - has fallen victim to this.

They were all warned and to date, no one has been able to prevent it effectively. There has been no effective means ever developed to prevent the piracy of the material short of what we are just now starting to see taking place with having to check-in or maintain a connection to a service to have access.

Sound Choice could no more have resolved this issue by themselves than all of the aforementioned industries combined.

-Chris

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-Chris

The word BULL comes to mind when I read this statement. IF Sound Choice, and the other Karaoke companies, along with all the music labels and the movie companies were to have joined forces and go to the government something may have been done. They didn't even bother. Now the ONLY ones still crying about it are SC and Piracy Recovery,(and PRS isn't crying very loudly.). Al the other entertainment entities moved on and figured out other ways to distribute their material which would lessen piracy. Nothing will ever stop it, but unless one is a true crook, they will be happy with the steps taken to make entertainment more affordable.

SC just flat out refuses to modernize and grow with the times. As I have said before, I would be ecstatic to start buying their material again IF they would offer single song downloads. In this economy it's not very feasible to spend $25 for two songs, while getting 10 other songs I don't want. You want to sell me those same two songs for $4.00 I will buy them. If you want to make it so I can buy on the fly, as I need songs, I am all over it. If DTE can do it, here in America, then SC can do it. If they refuse to do it, then it's their loss.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

SC can modernize and go the same route as SBI, Zoom, DTE and put things in place to allow for single track downloads but piracy will still take place. Everything that every vendor produces whether it be a disc or a single track is available within 24 hours on a pirate site.


-Chris

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-Chris

Well, why is it that every other vendor is surviving and making new music but SC can't? Everyone else is busy making money, while SC is busy litigating out of their customers. Piracy won't go away. Not with what SC is doing. They aren't fighting piracy, they are enriching themselves through litigation. If you believe they are fighting piracy, then more power to ya.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

They've always said they are recouping their losses. If it helps (not saying stops) fight piracy in the process by making illegal operators legit or taking them out altogether giving legit kj's more playing field, more power to them. It's had a couple effects around here. Some are still operating as normal, but now have less SC tracks because they had to purchase the GEM. Some dropped SC altogether where those singers are now looking for clubs that have SC - although many of those operators I hear are using them again because they DID lose customers (I know I gained quite a bit).
Piracy has destroyed the pricing of what kj's used to be able to get. $250 per show was an avg price back in the 90's around here. Now, because all the pirate shows charged $100 or less (thousands of songs & crap equipment not knowing how to run anything), a qualified, 'legit' kj (one who actually buys music) is lucky to make $100 per show.

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

Some REALLY good points made on both sides here.

I do agree with what Chris A said about there not being a real effective method of stopping piracy from happening in ANY industry.

SC ran out of money to produce, so their only recourse was to try and recover some monies owed to them by outright theives, although some legit kjs got caught in the mix.

I met Kurt Slep at mobilebeat in vegas a few weeks ago. He was very nice to me, but as i watched a dj ask him "what's the big deal about file-sharing and copying product", he went into a frenzy and had a hard time controlling himself. I got that.

His assistant was pretty cute, but couldn't answer a single question i asked, while Kurt was busy with many others.

Unfortunately his booth was in the way back of the expo, and not up front where it should've been imho, where every single person would've been introduced or aware that piracy of any kind (karaoke, music, videos) is a big problem for the industry as a whole.