Karaoke Forums

6 new tracks released for licensees and Compuhost users (with gem license) only.

https://pep.rocks/newsongs

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To be fortunate enough to derive an income from a source as fulfilling as karaoke music has got to be as close to heaven as we can get here on earth!

I ALREADY HAVE 4 OF THEM.

Well, I listened to the samples of Best Shot - Jimmie Allen, and XO - Kelsea Ballerini and I do have to hand to PEP. I compared those two songs to KV tracks of the same and PEPs was better. They know what they are doing as for as production goes.

I have a problem with the way they are going about the procurement of their productions, though. I want to own all my tracks via purchase. If this is what I think it is, 'lease only' via monthly subscription through a streaming app, then that is the wrong prescription for me and I will not be partaking. I have a really good system and sound and I doubt that hardly any of my over indulgent clientel will pay much attention to the difference when it is not played side by side. They will have to pursue 'exclusive only rights' for their tracks, I think, for them to have any real success in the KJ Hosting field. I perceive they will not meet my needs in being an owner of the tracks they produce.

Their fine production may even force other manufacturers to match PEPs. As long as one of them is still offering ownership by purchase, then there I'll be.

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You can never argue with a crazy mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mind ----B. Joel
I have great faith in fools; My friends call it self-confidence ---- E.A. Poe
I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity ----E.A. Poe
I don't know, I don't care, and it doesn't make any difference! ----A. Einstein
Double bubble, toil and trouble ----W. Shakespeare & Walt Disney
I hate it when I get on FaceBook ----Me
Karaoke might be Groundhog Day ----?
Of All the Martial Arts, Karaoke Inflicts the Most Pain ----?

Problem is - at least for me - i've had XO for quite a while from KV. It's never once be sung or even requested. A better version or not isn't going to make a difference in that respect. Maggie Rose I bought on request from SBI 5 years ago, it's been sung by the requester a couple times - but other than that it's a dead track.
The Styx song would be the ONLY one possibly (because of the lyrics) but I have an instrumental of that one that I actually like the backup vocals better and the music is good enough for me, although I discovered it's way out of my range so i'll probably never do it again . A couple other singers have tried it and don't mind at all singing from a lyric sheet.
The other 3 songs i never heard of nor need - but the Best Shot track was just released at KV today too. Leaving the 2 unknown acts (whether they become bigger than local act is yet to be determined) exclusive.
I do wish them the best in this endeavor though. Again if I see more stuff that I can actually use and/or want, I might change my stance on the subscription thing.

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

Same here about those two songs, Lonman. I own neither simply because they have not been requested. I download on the fly. I simply compared the samples through Breakaway.

_________________
You can never argue with a crazy mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mind ----B. Joel
I have great faith in fools; My friends call it self-confidence ---- E.A. Poe
I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity ----E.A. Poe
I don't know, I don't care, and it doesn't make any difference! ----A. Einstein
Double bubble, toil and trouble ----W. Shakespeare & Walt Disney
I hate it when I get on FaceBook ----Me
Karaoke might be Groundhog Day ----?
Of All the Martial Arts, Karaoke Inflicts the Most Pain ----?

This is nothing more than another lead balloon....

I'd like to see the "subscription contract" that they've come up with....

This is exactly what I meant... In order for PEP to be successful "selling" karaoke tracks, they need to come up with stuff that 1) Isn't out there already and 2) would be stuff people actually want.



I have to agree with you here. I can buy tracks without contracts from several other vendors outright.

Just for what it's worth: KV put out FORTY FIVE tracks this past week alone... Are all of them smash hits? No at all, but they did release a lot of the highly requested (for us anyway) Lady Gaga movie soundtrack, Cher, and tracks from various artists for the Christmas/Holiday season.... They may not be all winners, but they are timely, something SC/PEP has never learned.

Of course, PEP will blame everyone but themselves when these tracks don't sell well

I also compared the XO track to Karaoke Version. I will say that the SC version sounds closer to the original song, however the KV version sounds very good and would not hesitate purchasing it.

The only way I would buy SC tracks is if they were offered as downloads for around $3 like everyone else does. No commitment, no contract, nothing. Just pay for it, download it, and it's yours.

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Electro-Voice Evolve 50... Taking Sound To The Next Level.

That would be the smart way for them to move forward, so we'll probably never see it.

After the complete rejection from the courts
of their silly trademark arguments, it doesn't make sense to operate in a manner designed to protect those same trademark arguments that no longer have any value for them in a courtroom.
What would make sense, would be to operate in a manner that exposes your business to the widest possible customer base without relying on forcing customers to infringe on a third party's rights.

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KNOW THYSELF

The main benefit I see for SC in this direction is an enhancement to the value of the GEM subscription, small or large depending on how many new tracks they release per month. One reason those who like streaming subscriptions sign up for them is that new music just appears automatically as it's added to the library being streamed, eliminating the otherwise absolute necessity of shopping. You don't have to think, select, or budget for new music if it just shows up in your stream, and to some people (not me) but to some that's extremely valuable. I believe it's mainly new hosts just starting out that are attracted to streaming subscriptions, so most of the benefits to the producers are down the road... is SC finally playing the long game? If so, they could succeed. The first thing a good subscription service must have is a good back catalog, because oldies are the bread and butter of most KJ's. And no one can argue the GEM set isn't a great back catalog. It's been a static asset to SC for a decade, but suddenly it becomes a moving asset if new music is added at least monthly. It won't matter if other producers are putting out the same new music at the same time -- the tracks don't have to be unique to make a subscription service competitive with other subscription services, they just have to be present so as not to hold it back.

The utter shame is that they didn't try this years ago. Imagine how much stronger their GEM stream would look if every penny that was wasted on litigation had gone instead to making the additional songs that kept their catalog up to date. Now they have a long row to hoe.

I would never pay for a subscription service. Total waste of money. If you're paying $99 per month, at the end of one year, you just paid $1200 with nothing to show for it. That $1200 can buy you a lot of music that is yours. Yours to own and do what you want with it. Nope, renting music is something I would never do.

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Electro-Voice Evolve 50... Taking Sound To The Next Level.

I hear ya Alan! I'm in the same boat as you as far as subscription goes. I would never "rent" my music, plus with purchasing on the fly I can buy the songs (if available) without having to purchase songs I may never use, and I will own the songs ..... forever!

Both Party Tyme, Sound Choice and Karaoke Close allows you to only choose the songs that you want without having to have songs you don't want until they might end up being needed. You just have to use the download on demand on Compuhost and Party time only downloads as needed.

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

The problem is you'll never own the music. If you stop paying, you'll lose "all" of the songs. That's not for me!

Danny, you still need to pay $99 a month for a subscription. I am totally against what SC is doing.

For example, If I want to buy XO by Kelsea Ballerini from SC, I have to pay for a subscription. They will not just sell the song as a download like Zoom, Sunfly, SBI, Karaoke.net and Karaoke Version does. This is a totally bad move on SC's part. As I said before, I want to own my music, not rent it. As long as this practice of getting new music from SC continues, I'll be getting all my new tracks from one of the above places.

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Electro-Voice Evolve 50... Taking Sound To The Next Level.

Maybe for you but I have brand snobs where I am and having access to the subscription dies work for me. I had to give up a substantial amount of songs due to a major flaw in their auto pay system for the original GEM Series discs. It was during the time that I was dealing with having to replace equipment due to constant thefts by a couple of roommates. I missed a few payments and the auto pay system didn't account for that. And basically both pep and I didn't figure it out until just recently. I didn't have the money to finish paying at the rate that I was originally paying so I removed the songs off of my hard drives and sent the discs back with the knowledge that with Compuhost, I could regain the songs under the subscription. After one month I started thinking that the Hoster Subscription might be a better deal but now that OpenKJ now has a standalone song shop program that works with any software, I have decided to go back to Compuhost. As long as the color code is set to work in real time of the song playing, I guess that I can live with it. As to answering the question of when am I up, I will just have to use the number of singers instead of time.

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

PEP has continued to worry that their tracks will be pirated to the point of (hell I don't even know).

I'm willing to bet that one could still record and pirate off the subscription service with the use of something like KeepVid Pro and will be. Will they go to the FEDs again over that?

No one ever said that life in this system of things would be fair.

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You can never argue with a crazy mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mind ----B. Joel
I have great faith in fools; My friends call it self-confidence ---- E.A. Poe
I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity ----E.A. Poe
I don't know, I don't care, and it doesn't make any difference! ----A. Einstein
Double bubble, toil and trouble ----W. Shakespeare & Walt Disney
I hate it when I get on FaceBook ----Me
Karaoke might be Groundhog Day ----?
Of All the Martial Arts, Karaoke Inflicts the Most Pain ----?

this is true, but the other side is that even if you don't download them or need them, you still pay every month for them.
and that does not take into account the fact that while many of the songs we use every night were done by both of those companies, even more songs neither of those companies made, so you still have to buy the songs separately on top of renting the rest.
the number of times i have to say "sorry, only SC made that" is minuscule...once or twice a month. definitely not $100 per month worth. if those songs however were made available for me to buy like i can with every other manufacturer, you're darn tootin' i would buy them.

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

Honestly, I do not know how PEP will make it with their current models. Long term? Maybe, if one were to live that long or to pass it on to beneficiaries.

They seem to have lost all of their prior supporters for any number of reasons and we would have to 'pass on' before any of these current models might have any affect on new entries to the KJ Hosting World.

It might be a stoop for them, but continue to record as a subcontractor to one of the other manus if that could even be a possibility. I admit I do like the quality of these latest recordings, but again, I will only part with my money on an ownership basis and only for what I want, otherwise leave the business entirely.

_________________
You can never argue with a crazy mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mind ----B. Joel
I have great faith in fools; My friends call it self-confidence ---- E.A. Poe
I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity ----E.A. Poe
I don't know, I don't care, and it doesn't make any difference! ----A. Einstein
Double bubble, toil and trouble ----W. Shakespeare & Walt Disney
I hate it when I get on FaceBook ----Me
Karaoke might be Groundhog Day ----?
Of All the Martial Arts, Karaoke Inflicts the Most Pain ----?

Not quite for ALL Licensees... I am a licensee, but I am ODB.