Karaoke Forums

Although we can't buy downloads from the Zoom website on this side of the pond, I still get e-mails from them from time to time. This just came in from them today:

"Removal of Sony/ATV and EMI Karaoke Tracks

Sony/ATV Music publishing and EMI Music Publishing have decided to withdraw their catalogue from the karaoke licensing scheme we use to license our website sales, therefore a substantial part of our catalogue will become unavailable to buy in download format over the next few days.

We are in discussions with these publishers at the moment and hope to be able to re-sell this content again in the near future.

This affects karaoke formats sold via digital download (MP3+G and MP4 formats)."

this is probably why the customburn site has been down for maintainence for over a week. Bummer

-James

This is getting SO ridiculous!! The GREED in the music business is just disgusting!! It is sheer, and absolute GREED!!

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Well for years this has been coming, it has been said many times what would happen if the giants awoke? Don't look now but they are awake and thrashing about.

Yeah how dare these publishers demand karaoke companies pay the proper licensing .

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

I am all for everyone involved in making a karaoke track getting paid. But when you need 7 different licences AND the copyright holders direct permission, I think that is absolutely greed rearing its ugly head.

I don't know what changed their minds, but it seemed like all the big music producers were perfectly happy to cash the royalty checks they received from karaoke that was licensed overseas by the MCPS and their ilk. It took over 10 years before the rules were changed and licensing was no longer world wide.

And now that they are cracking down, they are shooting themselves in the foot, because they will get ZERO dollars instead of a steady stream of residual income that would probably add up to more than what they could get for licensing karaoke tracks here in north America..


-James

That's not exactly correct. If you recall, MCPRS changed the import rules way back in 2010 right after the gem series appeared. Other manufacturers should have followed suit, but avoided the blockade by selling through Canada (Tricerasoft) who believed they were "re-licensing properly" for sale in the U.S.
So, the "rules were changed" 7 years ago, there just happens to be a publisher that is now enforcing those rules. They could have done this all 7 years ago.

As far as getting paid is concerned, music -- especially karaoke tracks -- are a collaberation of a number of different artists. So yes, you do need a number of licenses because;
1) the writer of the lyrics should be paid
2) the writer of music deserves to be paid
3) the artist whose intonations and timing (synch) deserves to be paid
4) the studio musicians that did all the supporting work to make the song you want -- into something you want -- deserve to be paid too.
5) the copyright owner, who take a LOT of the risk in marketing costs etc. deserve to be paid too.

So it is a fair number of licenses, to a fair number of people and it just feels unfair after a number of years of not paying the proper amount to be expected to pay now what always should have been paid in the past.

IMO I believe they were happy/content before is because they really weren't paying attention until gung ho kj's trying to see if their material was licensed were constantly calling and badgering these publishers until they said "ummmm, hey, there is a whole niche market we have been letting slide" - and woke up.

But that's just my opinion.

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

Gimme an A, and a T, and a H., and a E..... you know the rest.

Unfortunately by the time you pay everyone that should be paid, it is going to drive what is left of the legit hosts out of the karaoke service business, and only pirates will be left. Just like in Vietnam during the war, each official and corrupt military officer took their cut of the rice before it got to market. When the farmer made town, if he did, he had nothing left to sell.

Look, if they want their proverbial pound of flesh, I'm all for it... just give me access to the damn content and I'll pay the amount due.

Sure it's about money, but it's nothing new, costs rise. We aren't paying $1.00 for gas, or .30 for eggs anymore. Why should karaoke be any different?

because the artists are perfectly happy collecting their royalty checks from Zoom, Sunfly, etc for what is sold in the rest of the world.
they suddenly noticed that they could easily hose the U.S. and Canada for more than that.

if i drive 45 minutes south to Mexico i can buy Zoom legally, direct from zoom, and use it legally here.
what is the difference? greed.

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

And, I've not seen much for sale in Mexico that was legally manufactured...
Yes, I've been there many hundreds of times..
Need a logo tee shirt from Las Vegas?, it's here in Ensenada..
Need a first place trophy for the S.C.O.R.E. 1000? Available in Tecate.
Need a CG+G disc? Probably available here too.

I grew up on the Mexican border (El Paso, TX) and I have a Hard Rock Cafe t-shirt that says "JUAREZ, MEXICO" except there isn't a Hard Rock Cafe in Juarez, Mexico....

I had to buy it.....

You have to face the fact that absent some central clearing agency that collects the money and distributes it to the people who deserve it, if you are a host you can be subject to paying any person or company that files a claim against you. This matter of paying multiple plaintiffs would be enough to drive many hosts out of the hosting business, altogether. At least the hosts that are trying to run their business legally.

i can legally download it from Select A Track or directly form Zoom.

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

How are YOU getting to Select A Track?? They tell me I can't get music from them, because of geographic limitations, or some such nonsense.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

it is not banned in Mexico, only U.S. and Canada.
Mexico is less than 45 minutes south of me. people out here make day trips to Mexico all the time.
my point of it was the stupidity of the situation.
as long as my purchase is following all local laws (of the areas in which i purchase it) it is legal for me to buy, and use.
just like having a friend in the U.K. buy discs that can not be shipped directly here, they buy it legally (according to U.K. laws) and transport it here.
it's stupid, the rights holders are fine collecting their money from the rest of the word from the "one stop shop" licensing organizations, but for the U.S. and Canada they see a cow to be milked.

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

Yep, it's stupid alright. The same is true with even an internet connection. Did you know that the average (and this is the "average" not "premium") connection speed in South Korea is 8 times faster than in the U.S? It's because the cable companies - who control the hardware - do that on purpose to sell different tiers of speeds to U.S. consumers.

Because they have divided the U.S. into their own "zones" and have their own little monopolies going on. In South Korea, there's open competition among carriers so speeds are higher and cheaper.

U.S. carriers simply want to keep "throttling" speeds here in order to charge more. The recent "unlimited" phone data is a perfect example: It's unlimited.... until you hit 22 gigabytes, then they purposely slow down (throttle down) your data speed. So the U.S. isn't competing on quantity of data anymore, it's all about "speed of access." Which is the real product they're selling.

Sunfly Karaoke is not affected by SonyATV/EMI's withdrawal from the PRS blanket licence and continues to offer its karaoke for download or as custom burn CDGs at http://www.sunflykaraoke.com and subscriptions at http://www.sunflystreaming.com
Thousands of songs published by SonyATV/EMI and Universal Music Publishing are available for download and custom burned CDGs at http://www.sunflykaraoke.us including albums at $9.90