Karaoke Forums

"Since investigators for Sound Choice discovered a growing level of Sunfly Karaoke, Zoom Entertainment and Mr. Entertainer songs being played, they are in discussions with these UK companies to represent their Intellectual Property interests in the U.S., with possible lawsuits for these brands in the future."

translates to me:

"Hey they're not playing our tracks anymore so much, but they are playing these ones instead. They must be stealing those now, too, since nobody buys karaoke music legally. Let's file suit against them so we can audit them anyway just in case they have any SC music, even though we haven't seen any."

That's how I see it to. This would be the only way it makes sense.

That is the way I see it too...however some like to twist things and make it sound much different. I did not see anywhere that it said SC was going to be suing on behalf of anyone else and don't think it is even a legal possibility

Athena

_________________
"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

Ok, so let's say SC were to get permission to audit on behalf of the UK manus. I have been downloading stuff from Sunfly, SBI, and Abraxa. I just downloaded ten songs today from Tricerasoft that I want to sing tonight at my buddy's show. If there were an SC inspector he would not know where I got the songs from, even though I have my receipt. Meanwhile, I have no SC on my computer. Do you think I would be willing to pay for and submit to an audit by SC based on some inspector that saw SBI come up on the screen? HELL NO!!

_________________
I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Actually downloads are a no brainer. Simply KEEP YOUR EMAIL RECIEPTS. yes, these can fakfaked if someone is willing to put in the effort, but seriously most people who are willing to steal music, in my opinion, are too lazy to bother.

If you don't have a receipt, most download sites will have a record of what you have purchased anyway.

-James

Keep all emails for online transactions and take screen shots of the final pages. Also, any online retailer that doesn't have a customer accessible online record of transactions should be avoided.

-Chris

_________________
-Chris

Are the UK companies suing UK hosts?

I will be keeping all my download receipts, but it is not Sound Choice's business who I buy my songs from, as long as they aren't Sound Choice songs. I will NEVER pay for an audit for material that is not theirs.

_________________
I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Yes we know

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

no. All the other companies besides SC & CB allow use on computers for no fee. they have nothing to sue hosts for, only hard drive sellers.

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

So far, that is what i am finding. As I have said before, and showed the e-mail I got, I can even shift my CB Dave Matthews disc. So actually, the least lenient company is Sound Choice. Hence, why some will just not use them.

_________________
I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

What the hell?

Sunfly isn't a teenager stuck in a foreign country somewhere. They do business here, and they're perfectly capable of obtaining a U.S. lawyer to do their legal business stateside.

Sound Choice news is like something out of The Onion, I'm telling you.

Roche Coach,
You are correct...."Sunfly isn't a teenager stuck in a foreign country somewhere"

If you Read Kurt Slep's statement nowhere did it say that SC would be suing on behalf of Sunfy or any other overseas manufacture. He said they would be representing the interests of. They would still have to hire a US attorney and file suit themselves.

Prepare your self to not get lead down a twisted path by some who try and twist sentences or words into meaning what they want them to mean. I am sure you are an intelligent person who will soon see what threads and posts read and re-read before jumping to any other's opinion.

Blessings
Athena

_________________
"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

Ignoring the excessively patronizing tone of your post, I will say that Sound Choice still has no excuse for "representing the interests" of a competing company. This couldn't be any more transparent. "Hey Sunfly, uh, well, if you give us a small cut of your money, we'll find out who's pirating all your music!"

Sound Choice stopped being a karaoke company, and they've just become professional litigators, and you know it.

I apologize if my post sounded patronizing as that was not my intention at all Roche Coach.

There is IMHO are good reasons (not excuses) for SC to be offering to represent oversea's
Manufactures interests.

1. It is cheaper by far for the overseas manufactures than them having to start investigations in a country other than their own.

2. It helps in the fight against karaoke piracy...the more brands the track thieves can't use the more level the playing field for those who have paid for their music.

Again I am sorry if my posts are measured...it is something I have had to get used to doing here due to some who like to make "word salad" . I in no way want to come across as patronizing

Blessings
Athena

_________________
"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 there's any solid evidence that Sound Choice has become a professional litigation company, this is it. Instead of letting Sunfly hire their own lawyers and U.S. team, they're just going to hire Sound Choice to be their "team" for half the price. Depending on how you look at it, Sound Choice is now offering a service where they will do legal investigation for your company. And they have the nerve to say, "yeah, we're still a karaoke production company."



I'm all for ending karaoke piracy, but at what price? Are we just going to let these people legally stomp all over our consumer rights so that they are allowed to make money? It's absurd. If they want to start making legitimate money now, they can start using efficient methods at stopping illegal hard drive dealers, and producing music again.

This situation kind of mirrors the "war" on drugs. The government began wasting all this money going after recreational drug users, and effectively ignoring producers and dealers, and they made a bunch of money off of it. Drug use is as high as it ever was, except now there are a lot more people in jail.

They're not solving any problems. They're making a great deal of money suing people, but making sure people are still pirating their music, because that's their primary source of income.

I am sorry you already have your mind made up and do not want (at this time) to look beyond your anger Roche Coach....Hopefully your opinions will change in time and you will not become just another "angry little man" in these forums or in life.

Bright Blessings
Athena

_________________
"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

Uh... I'm not angry at all. You don't know me, or anything about me. My opinions aren't diluted by my emotions. I'm calling it exactly how I see it, as objectively as I can.

And I don't see where you get off making judgments about my character, when nearly every discussion I've seen you have on this forum has ended with you withdrawing and just spouting ad hominems, just like you're doing now. You've just proven to me that you don't have a leg to stand on.

You can take back your pretentious, condescending "blessing" as well.

I was not making judgement about or against you Roche Coach read some the the older threads and find out about "the angry little man"

Good Luck(since you find Blessings pretentious)

Athena

_________________
"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

As far as I can see, there has been no evidence of Sound Choice doing this. Several members in this Forum have recently gone through audits with SC (I believe Chrisavis and Sevarin were the most recent ones), and all that was stated was that SC only checked for SC material, and NOTHING else. Even Mr. Harrington (one of the Lawyers representing SC's interests) has stated that they have no authority to view any contents other than that of SC's. Now, I have seen it mentioned that if you are sued and found to be guilty of owning an illegal Hard Drive, then part of the settlement agreement is that you turn over that HD to SC for them to destroy all the illegal files on there (not just the SC files). IF this has actually been done, I have neither seen nor heard any evidence of this (which could be attributed to the "Confidentiality Clause" that they set forth with each person they "Settle" with).