Karaoke Forums

That certainly explains a lot. I have the CB Dave Matthews disk. I wanted to see if there was another version of Crush out there. I got the MM version from Tricerasoft. Wouldn't you know it, it was the same version. I was annoyed. But I have come across that alot. Is this guy still doing it??

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Quite accurate description of Mr. Blank. He was sued pretty much put of existence and the fallout had several implications for the karaoke industry. The Blank productions that were sold to many karaoke companies made them targets by the publishers. It changed the rules dramatically for the production of tracks. In order to get a license now, a manufacturer must agree that that once getting an approval to create a track, they also state that they are creating it under their own studio.

SBI is pretty much taking over that role in the UK. They create the tracks for themselves as well as other brands like SF, Abbraxa, Mr Entertainer and a few others. If you listen to a song, especially newer stuff, you will see they are identical. Some manufacturers try to disguise this by slightly stretching the time of the track or replacing the background singers...but the music is the same.
http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/new-york/nysdce/1:2011cv07927/387250/36/

hmmm does any moderator want to move my response over to the karaoke legalities forumn. RANT MODE ON


This is what I despise about the music industry the sheer stupidity and greed. If a karaoke producer actually goes to the trouble of getting the licenses for a group of songs and pays good money for those licenses why the hell does it matter where the music comes from?

Do these greedy bastards actually expect to be paid twice for what essentially is the SAME music?? What if the producer in question doesnt HAVE a studio, does that mean they are suddenly SOL?

ugh i am so livid and disgusted now i can't even talk..

RANT MODE OFF

In case anyone failed to notice, Zoom is off Tricerasoft, as of last night.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

You mean like Phoenix Entertainment Partners who also doesn't have a studio?


I don't know if they'd by S.O.L.... but you can bet I'll look into it because it apparently wasn't "just semantics" with Warner Chappell....

Believe it or not, Blank STILL has a site up for licensing of his music. You can sell a backing track but have to pay Harry Fox Agency and also pay a percentage on each song makes per-sale. Once you reach that limit, you have to re-new the contract. He did not do this and licensed his tracks out without paying proper avenues such as publishers etc. This is for the backing track only.

The authoring part is a whole other ball game.

For backing tracks you have to pay a flat rate down for so many sales. In karaoke the same applies for CD+G to get the synch (graphics) rights to make it a subtitled song. You not only have to pay HFA but ALL the publishing companies involved. You have to pay in advance so many sales of the song and once again re-new the contract agreements made.

If a group wrote a song but each person was with a different publisher that means more money and they also have the right to say "No". If one person says no but the rest of the group says yes, they can not release a subtitled track. This is what happened with the Eagles and other writers such as B. Adams and many other artists.

I own a recording studio and have some very unique backing tracks but they are shelved. I have no desire to even attempt to get into making my own line of CD+G / Hi-Def songs for sale.

The authoring part...
There are companies who offer authoring services as many of the programs out there now days are using visual basic. Even the MP4's are not so attractive.

I own an authoring software/hardware system that is quite amazing allowing me to do CD+G and also VCD/DVD/Blue Ray/ /mpg .avi and mp4.

I would not dare author anything unless there was a contract agreement that it is work for hire which would also include the master file I saved sent to a karaoke manufacturer. They might not be able to open it but it would be cleared and if any alterations were needed, they would have to send the work-file back to me. I am able to do very neat things with even CD+G and AVI. Rap is one of them while keeping the outline in a bigger font besides Arial 12 bold.

I had to pay a lot of money for this subtitling workstation and have not yet been able to use it. I see so many companies who have been using KBStudio and Power with some rather poor effects. Even the Futureware and older workstations would cause lyrics to hang. KBStudio emulates everything through visual basic and can even cause lyrics to hang with no outline being used. There is even ghosting on some tracks.

Basically I own a state of the art authoring system but have not been able to get work to use it.

Perhaps you should go the route of Dancing Frog and other "home made" track producers.

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-Chris

but that is my EXACT whole point. If a karaoke producer is going to the trouble of licensing song a third party should HAVE to pay for licensing if the finished product is going to that specific karaoke producer.

If the same song get's sold to 100 different karaoke companies and every single one of those companies got a license from the music publishers, the music company still get their money for 100 licences. They should NOT get money from the karaoke company AND the person who actually made the music.

After all, look it from the other prospective. Is it fair that just because a company does own their own studio that they should pay less than someone who doesn't?

I believe that even KSF has stated that they oursource some of their music. i'm sure they will correct me if I am wrong..

-James

Chris,

I fear ever doing a home made series. If I can't use it in a show, I don't want to use it. It is tough but that is how things are Companies do outsource to many companies to author and or do guide vocals.

As far as licensing backing tracks, you can do it. You have to make sure the licensing is paid. There is also companies who outsource to get their tracks done in a timely manner. One thing I have taken a poll on is if people prefer line bu line or page by page method.

People said they prefer to see new lines so they have a reference que before singing the new line or page of lyrics. I've noticed Sunfly and even CB and not to forget SC are now using the page by page lyrics which people are not happy about.

I have the ability to do rap and keep the outline as well as doing duets where the male and female are on the same line singing different parts without having to create a new line. (You can also draw hearts and spades next to each singer.)

I also have the ability to do DK style lyrics where the outline wipes one color and the inside wipes another. (For instance a black outline with white lyrics, as it wipes the white lyrics can turn black and the outline can turn green or any color.) When doing this in KB Studio, it is impossible even when drawing the lines to replace right after the line is drawn and erased. This is due to the visual basic method used. Also in Power Karaoke, you can't use syllables with outline as it breaks the outline. It also has a slow drawing mode which is why many use no outline.

Sorry for the long note. I could talk about the Red Book Code and also backing track/karaoke market all day.

no they stated when I asked them about buying pre-made music, that it is prohibited by the licensing agreement to outsource and that they must show proof of creating the music themselves.

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

Since technically, I am a "manufacturer" of a couple of discs, I use two authoring systems: one that sold for $12,000 (which I got for only the cost of the hardware) and KBStudio Pro. ($99).

Each has their own strengths and weaknesses, and all can be converted to any kind of "movie format" like mp4, avi, wmv, mpg, etc.

C. Stanley,

My system was built in the last year. The designer knew my needs and what KB Studio failed to do. He made it where I could do everything inside my hardware/program. I know Alpha 10, Futureware and MTU had authoring workstations.

I do have to say that I like the format that the Hi-Def does because I can get an extremely smooth redraw and can change settings from CD+G splashes and slideshows to a work of art. Granted my CD+G does not require dithering or a limit to only 16 colors in .bmp format.

He does not offer this in his subtitling station with the CD+G / Synch options in his $15,000 movie subtitle workstation. It is only for working with bigger companies which makes him a lot of money. His system is not for the karaoke subtitle market. He implemented the red-book code and other options I needed all without the use of anything that uses visual basic. He only offers me this part of the software as I am a long time friend. He is an amazing programmer and artist in his own right.

The time to author a song in CD+G (Binary) format takes the time it does to sing a song. There are times when I have to go back and re-do a line but it is nice because I just re-do one line instead of going backwards. I also don't have to mess with a timeline. The Hi-Def video is something I take a few extra moments with as I can use more effects and do some neat effects behind the lyrics.

I really wished KBStudio eliminated the Visual Basic and ran only on C++ as it slows down their features. I have used the rendering of video and it is ok as long as you use the right encoder and fps. The trick a lot of companies use is to draw no outline by eliminating certain settings. For me I knew there had to be a way around it and he solved it so I could keep outline even in rap songs.

I would love to see some of your work sometime.

Cheers!

easily done. Head over the the red peters karaoke site and check out the karaoke track demos. I believe he did the grapics

Or....ask for them at a karaoke show. Those tracks have all been pirated.

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-Chris

And how exactly would you know this?

I will have to say I asked a similar question to Bazza and his reply was "Because that is the part of his job" (that is no where near an actual quote). Chris too, is heavily involved in software and the internet.

My answer to all that is.... why and for what purpose?

ALL of the Red Peter's tracks are on Torrents and iRC sites.

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-Chris

I've always wondered why you would go on IRC and torrent sites..... What's the purpose other than piracy?

I've never been on either one.... ever.

How many of his tracks did you download?

Actually, all of his Karaoke tracks are on his site.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Interesting......

You aren't an attorney, but you try to convince people that you are capable of interpreting case law like one.

You claim to be a programmer and seem to know more about computing than the average person, but you don't know what iRC and Torrent are used for outside of piracy.

Perhaps that admission is enough for people to discount you in both arenas.

Let me educate you.....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent
Pay particular attention to the "Adoption" section of the BitTorrent link

Both have many legitimate uses beyond piracy. In fact, iRC was first and foremost a social chat tool with file transfer capabilities added later. I have been chatting with people via iRC for 25 years.



I don't believe you, but, if true, too bad for you. You have missed out on some really cool stuff on the Internet in the past 27 years.



I have downloaded exactly one Red Peters track - "The Closing Song" - on Jan 18th, 2013 when I purchased it from the Red Peters site .....

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Thank you for purchasing with Red Peters Karaoke, any items to be shipped will be processed as soon as possible, any items that can be downloaded can be downloaded using the links on this page.All prices include tax and postage and packaging where applicable.
You ordered these items:
- The Closing Song (Get The (@$%&#!) Out) (Professional Karaoke MP3+G (*.zip) - $2.99) $2.99 Click to download:

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Total: $2.99

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-Chris