Karaoke Forums

This company suing that company, KJ's getting sued for infringement, ...
I know two KJ's that said "forget it" and don't offer Karaoke anymore and just DJ only.

What's the most complete "subscription" catalog out there nowadays?
I was thinking about SC "GEM" series, but is Sound Choice even in existence?
What's the best road to take right now?

The best way to "go legal" is to only play from original manufacturers discs.

Frankly I wouldn't spend to much time worrying about being legal if you plan to bring a computer into the mix.
Once a computer is introduced you have stepped over the line of being legal and have crossed into a gray area that may place you in a position of legal action by the one, possibly two manufacturers that care about shifting.

Another option if you want to all but eliminate the possibility of legal action when using a computer is to not have any of the one, possibly two manufacturers songs in your library.

Hope this helps.

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Music speaks to the heart in ways words cannot express.

The "EZ" answer to your question "What is the best way to go legal"....is...don't steal. You only run the risk of lawsuits & problems if you have stolen (ie: pirated) music.

If you buy your music, be it a download, CD or MP3, you are not going to run into any trouble. You will hear stories of "Well so & so was legit and STILL got sued!", but these stories always have extenuating circumstances. I am GEM licensee #1 and love it...best base set in the business, BUT that will only form your core. No matter what you choose, you WILL have to piece together what works for you from other vendors. There is no perfect one-stop-shop anymore. Get the foundations, or the CB Essentials, or GEM, or one of the many base sets that exist and build from there.

If you boil down all the BS, it's really very simple: Buy your music in good faith. Keep your receipts. No problems.

Sound Choice offers the GEM series. This is a large disk set, but they contain 320k MP3+G files that you can drag and drop to a PC. No ripping required.

Digitrax offers the karaoke cloud subscription service, but to effectively use it, you must use one of their partner software packages.

Tricerasoft offers a streaming option as well, but you have to use their proprietary software which IMO is absolutely horrible.

Of these options, I would go with Sound Choice.

You can also peruse Craigslist and eBay for disc deals and bulk purchases.

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-Chris

No KJ has ever lost a lawsuit when they owned original manufacturer's discs in a one-to-one ratio with digital MP3+G files on a laptop. If you want to assure that you are legal, buy discs and burn them to a laptop.

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C Mc
KJ, FL

But they HAVE been annoyed, harrassed, paid out legal fees, had time used for which they were never compensated, etc...

Heck, this has even happened to hosts who weren't even using a PC, making it impossible to have displayed a trademark from one.

Even so, SAFEST is still Original Mfr. Disc based. However, even I admit that this is getting tougher to do if you're just starting out, as you wouldn't have the same amount of sources as us long-timers.

Unfortunately, downloads are not OMDs, and there are questions and gray areas in regards to professional usage as opposed to personal usage.

However, if you are willing to risk them, the next best bet is to make sure you save each and every receipt for whatever tracks that you buy, and make sure that ALL RECEIPTS ARE ITEMIZED. A blanket receipt from the source that is not itemized doesn't serve as prove of purchase for any particular track. Not sure if this will be of any help if professional usage becomes a major issue, but it couldn't hurt.

If it were me, I would build from the discs still available. Helpful hint: Invest in a pro resurfacer, then get some terrific deals on bulk buys of used discs. The resurfacer will more than pay for itself in no time.

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

I have a GEM set and have gone through the audit to use SC's product. As long as you follow the manufacturer's policy for media shifting then You should feel safe. Personally I have amassed a bulk of my extra tracks by purchasing on ebay and on various download sites.

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

So if you are running Pandora/DMX for DJ music and streaming karaoke music through Tricerasoft what are your licensing responsibilities? According to Pandora -they have it covered. It sounds like the Karaoke Cloud is managing that as well?

No one "has it covered". Thes sources may have licensing allowing them to download / stream tracks, and seems like the recipients may use them at home, but so far no agency of any kind has given blanket licensing for professional usage, i.e. as a basis for running a karaoke show.

On the other hand, no one seems to be making much of a stink about it - YET.

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

i wouldn't worry about it to much. there is no agency that can license for pro use, nor can they license for home use. those licenses do not exist, there is only a license for use. to use it in a live show (dj / karaoke) your venue must pay the PRO organizations (ASCAP, SESAC, BMI) to allow them to be used in a live setting. that responsibility falls on the venue as none of those organizations can or will deal directly with the DJ (except for exceptional circumstances... playing in a park etc.)

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