Karaoke Forums

"MUSIC IS COMING"
It reminds me of the catch phrase from "GAME OF THRONES" when they say "WINTER IS COMING".

Both sayings come from fantasy enterprises.

Except Winter Is Coming on Jan 20, 2017.

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-Chris

I may have some good cheese to go with that wine!...

All-in-all i await patiently for Pep's new offerings to come. cheers!

So far, all that appears to be (Pep's new offerings) is price increases across the board for their Auditing procedures, GEM Licenses, and HELP licenses.

So... which price increase are YOU (KNF) looking forward to????????????

I hope you have a lot of patience. You're going to need it.

Most of the songs that get done at my shows are Sound Choice. But that is what I have the most of. Occasionally I will find a better version of a song on manufacturer of karaoke songs that are normally inferior to SC but it is rare.

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The Line Array Experiment is over. Nothing to see here. Move along.

Venue Blanket License...

From the PEP Website:
We've combined the previous Venue and Blanket licenses into one license type. Venues now use the same Venue License whether they own their own karaoke systems or hire someone to come in.

We changed this because there was a lot of confusion among venues about which license they needed. The resulting program is simpler and easier to understand.

I am reading this as: If you are hired as a CERTIFIED PEP/SC/CB KJ, a HELP KJ, or even an Original Disk User, the VENUE can still be sued because it doesn't have a license.

Wow, talk about a double dip!

As for new music, I won't hold my breath... we've heard this all before, and some people have credits from the last time. PRIME members (if any) have been waiting too I'm sure.

Also in regards to the idea of new PEP music, I have these fears:

1) I Figure the cost per track will be much higher overall then what the current mark price is, as KJs will most likely need some form of license from PEP to get them.
2) If they are anything like the GEM set, their may be an additional cost for use of these tracks in the future.
3) The GEM history also means that even though you bought the track from PEP, you do not own it, and might have to show proof that you have removed your 'purchases' from your system if you ever decide to not use PEP services any longer.
4) Because of all the lag SC had in the past: Karaoke tracks from other manufacturers may already be out by the time PEP gets there.
5) Unknown quality of the karaoke tracks. Sorry but it's been a while since the band was together.

Sorry, but until I get some serious information about how these tracks will be handled, I think I'll keep my money in my pocket for now.

No.

We have never sued and will never sue a venue for hiring one of our licensees (Certified, GEM, HELP).

We used to have two different types of HELP licenses for Venues:

The HELP Venue License was specifically for venues that own their own karaoke systems.

The HELP Blanket License was for venues that hired karaoke operators and wanted to be able to hire someone who wasn't our licensee. I'm not sure we ever sold one of those, but it was primarily designed for venues that have multiple operators so that they could get into compliance.

There were no price differences and, despite some language differences, they were functionally the same license. We decided that it would be simpler to have a single license for venues.



We expect the cost per track to be in the range of $2-$4. We are exploring several options for rewarding licensees, including: (a) lower cost for existing licensees, (b) delayed availability for non-licensees, and (c) limiting distribution to licensees only. We are also considering releasing a lower-fidelity (192kbps) version for home use that would include graphics that can be differentiated. Any commercial use would result in a suit for copyright infringement.



Because these will be downloads, we can do an outright sale without losing control of the track, so we won't need the GEM-style licensing setup. There will, however, be certain contractual obligations.



We aren't planning to do that with these tracks.



That's always been an issue. If you need the absolute latest tracks available, we're not the brand you want. If you want the best tracks and the power of our name brand, then it will be worth the wait. On the other hand, it is not our intention to put out every possible track in a race with other producers.



The studio that will be doing our tracks is the exact same studio that did them before. They will hire the same musicians. They are the same studio engineers. They've continued to work on other projects even though they haven't been working for us.



We're not asking for your money right now. When we do produce new tracks, we'll make an announcement, and you can make your decision then.

Even with the price increases, it's still the best price. $1.00/track vs. Triple everywhere else around $3.00/track. Yes I will be comfortable with any price increase. SOUNDCHOICE ROCKS!!!

Maybe they can strike a deal with Sunfly (USA)

Maybe they'll skip the mp3+g altogether and release SC HD tracks.

* lest we not forget they have a sale every year on the Pep site.

OK then... Good luck getting Blake Shelton's "Sangria" or Carrie Underwood's "Dirty Laundry" from SC for $1. Let me know how that one goes.

I suspect this is a dumb question, but I'll throw it out:

Is there any provision for those of us who have certified our discs with Soundchoice to become GEM licensees without paying for duplicate tracks? It seems like it would be pretty easy technically, and even if the GEM copies as-delivered still contained the duplicate tracks, PEP still wouldn't be licensing anything for free, and the recipient wouldn't get any benefit from the dupes.

It'd sure make it easier to pop for GEM, and for PEP it would expand the market beyond newbies and people adding rigs. I'm kind of new to this, so I apologize if I'm missing something obvious.

And WHO will be ALLOWED to buy these tracks??

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Have you checked out KV?? Some of the stuff they have been putting out, lately, is amazing. They are working with a new band, and are even going over their back catalog, and redoing some of their older stuff, that wasn't so good. They released Dazed and Confused, from Zeppelin, and it makes the SC version sound like SGB. Their Sabbath has been better than SC, and so do quite a few other old SC songs, that KV has now released.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

I'm not sure that we would be able to do this, but we'll look into what it would entail, and I'll try to get back to you quickly.

It just amazes me at how long PEP can string the gullible along into believing they're some kind of relevant source of anything other than contracts, oldies and lawsuits with empty promises... year after year....

The brand is simply toxic.... there are plenty of KJ's other than myself --- on this very board -- that have stated time and time again that they don't use the brand and they've not suffered any loss of business at all other than a few whiners...

SMH.....

I've always stated that I'm in the "karaoke entertainment business" and I am NOT in the "playback soundchoice brand tracks business." Whether a KJ cares to believe it or not, karaoke is usually found in a bar where it's more of a "drinking game" and not "the music business." We are not creating new, original music in a club like a garage band that makes it big one day, we playback tracks for drinking people.

If they don't buy drinks, we become unemployed. I have yet to find a bar owner that keeps karaoke around because they "like the music."

[aaaannnndddd... go!]

I'll make a formal announcement when we have it set up, but we are going to do something that's similar to this. If you own SC CD+Gs and want to upgrade to the GEM series, with proof of ownership, we'll give a per-disc credit (with a generous cap) against the cost of the GEM series license, and you keep the CD+Gs. (In other words, it's not a trade-in.) More details later this week or early next.

That would be interesting!

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

Jim, just a question for you, why do you not offer a streaming service for your whole catalog, including SC & CB ? At a reasonable price . I'm sure you'd have many KJ's and probably many venues buying that service if it were affordable.

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I only do private parties, and you're not invited

Unfortunately Jim cannot lower the price since as he has put it "there wouldn't be enough meat left on the bone". You see by his own admission suits drives sales. They cannot get a host to license unless they use the threat of legal action. I personally I feel that if the price were made reasonable more hosts might obtain a license. At least that is what I understand the problem to lowering the price is, if that is not the case the Jim can correct me.