Karaoke Forums

Agree with Matt on giving the cd ahead of time. Give me enough time to have it cued up (I also run 2 players), either a song before or when you turn in the slip. If I don't have the disc before you are up, I will continue to the next person in the rotation until I get your disc to pre-cue & i do have this posted as well - don't hand it to me coming up on stage.

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ritisroo,
For me, if you have the original, legal cd I'll play it for you all night to sing to (unless I have the exact same cdg, then I'll tell you to save yours so nothing happens to it).

Getting it to me ahead of time so that I can have it ready is a requirement, though.

Will

Well, when I decide to travel the world, I will be very sure to stop and sing at every single one of everyone's shows, with or without my CD's!

It would definately be a blast and would be cool to see shows outside of Canada. It sounds a lot more "partyish" then up here!

Oh please, I am anything BUT holier than thou! If ya knew me, you would know this. but ya don't.

So here is my reasoning...... I have had to go to court.. YES COURT over so called scratched CDG's.
Did I scratch them? HECK NO! There is NO way I would have.. it simply isn't possible. I handled all CDG's as if they were mine. Nope.. didn't do it.. Can I PROVE it? nope.

Why court? Cause I won't pay for something I didn't do.. hands down.
Oh by the way, won the case.

Now I must live in a particulary letigious (sp) town I think, as I am not the only KJ/DJ that has had this problem here. Most just pay the person.
I offered to replace the cdg's but also asked to have the one that I "Scratched" given to me since I paid for it.

I was told no.. they wanted the money not the cdg and wouldn't give the cdg to me. So something stank.

Because of this, I won't play anyone elses CDG's.

But.... how would you feel if I took your cdg said OK you can sing it but first please fill out this form and sign it.
Would you?

I need to protect my investment and part of that investment is the money I make... and foolishly paying not so honest customers money for unscratched CDGs doesn't make much sense. Does it happen a lot? No. Would it happen again.. probably.
I have learned not to take chances.

Also... lots of people seem to think that the KJ is there for the Singer.. yes, this is true, but they are also there for the Bar or the establishment as WELL as themselves. Ego? Heck no... it is a BUSINESS and as far as I am concerned I will run my business the way I see fit, and if someone doesn't agree with it, I am sorry, but I am not changing my business practices for the sake of one person. It just doesn't make business sense, and anyone who is really in business will tell you this.

I also run another online supply company unrelated to Karaoke.. We only ship outside the US by UPS Global.. not United States Postal Service... we have reasons for this (TRACKING THE PACKAGE). Does this mean some people won't buy from us? Yes..... do I care? Yes... BUT I also care about losing $500 to $1000+ worth of product that can not be tracked.

End of story.

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You can choose to be an Actor in your own life... or a Reactor in someone elses.

like i said somewhere else it is IMPOSSIBLE TO NOT EVER SCRATCH A CD.... i Don't care how good you handle them.....

if you hand me a CD it will be cared for the best i can, but realize you took the risk; just like i take the risk when i load my own CD's

at the RPM's a CD spins, it does not take much to scratch a CD, one piece of dust can cause havoc

wanna know something..... my cd's are scratched too

scratching a CD and cracking the hub into the first audio track are two different things

first time i have ever copied a CD for a singer... another host split the hub on one of this singers velvet elvis CD's, cd would read half the time... i got it to read and duped it for him.... This other host had PRYED the CD out of her JVC 6-Pack player

do you think he was mad??????

Imagine if somebody broke into your vehicle when you stopped off before or after your gig and stole your entire CD case, or better yet your entire vehicle with all your gear in it???? It can happen in the time it takes you to walk inside McD's, order food, and come back out..... Hope you can find your original DK and Pioneer CD's at your karaoke shop before you need them (fat chance).... When that happens to you, bet you will wish you had made backups (the McD's story is true for one DJ on another board)


I Know, I Know, somebody could just as easily break into my house, and yes they could, but they would need to figure out where i live, where i keep the gear, and then get the music safe open. (I don't ever meet clients at my home, and don't use home address for business mail)

i havw said it a billion times, i will play whatever is handed to me, and i will backup my originals

I know I'll probably catch heck for this one, but...

Spend your time improving your show, your show personality, your music, your presentation.

Time spent worrying about the pirates is wasted.

Don't use pirates as an excuse for you losing a show.

They might be able to do a gig cheaper, but the KJ's personality is where it's at.

If someone "steals" your show it's probably because you suck, not because he's using burnt disc.

Why do so many of us consider ourselves "holier than thou" when we are so proud of owning cd's that have been discontinued.................... because the maker didn't pay the royalties or have permission to make the cd in the first place.

Very Blunt, please quit worrying yourself about pirates and give 110% to improving your own show.

This topic has ran for 3 pages, don't whine,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, make yourself better.

Produce a better show and they will come & sing.

Signed,
Too busy trying to improve myself to worry about others,

JB

Thank You JB

I totally agree fully with you JB! and to KantStopKaraoke regarding being sued, the people in the USA have brought that over themselves. I have no sympathy there, even though I do see your point in not accepting any-one's CD. We are are sue happy country. Every one has their own lawyer and if you can sue and make money, why work??

And finally, stop whining about losing your gig's. As JB said


We were asked to take over a hosting show at a bar in CA, NOT because we were cheaper then the previous people (we were actually costing the bar more) BUT once the owner saw us hosting somewhere else, he knew we were better! We brought in business for the bar, and that has absolutely nothing to do with pirate disks, egoistic KJ's or "holier then thou" attitudes.

I rest my case.

JB,

some discs are discontinued because the original agreement becomes void, or an artist or their legal cousel has a change of heart.

For instance, Heart, Kid Rock, and now Van Halen have all had karaoke licence agreements with Sound Choice, and supposedly all karaoke in general, and now no longer will allow their stuff to be done in karaoke. (I've since seen a K.Rock tune done on PHM, so I dunno about all that.)

When I bought the Foundation, it was a modified one from one they sold a year earlier... three songs were removed and replaced by others due to older licencing that had expired and the copyright holders decided NOT to allow their stuff to happen.

Yes, sometimes manufacturers like Top Tunes will play it loose and not get the appropriate licensing. But others are as honorable as you can possibly get... and STILL have tunes get rejected, so they can no longer sell the older discs.

Matt

I think this topic has gone in many different directions. When I said my wife and I travel with CD's- we only travel with originals. I don't even own a CD burner to make backups if I wanted to.

Willr- your original response was u refused to play ANY cd a customer brought- copy or original. If that's not the case, then I digress and back off. But at the same time- realize that singers have versions and songs they like and should not have to compromise because you don't have a song and they do- assuming it's all legal.

As far as litigation goes- I have had to sign a release b4 a KJ played my disc before. It realeases you from 'reasonable' culpability- meaning if it cracks in 1/2 you're still responsible, but if a scratch that doesn't even effect playability occurs- you're not responsible.

Final $.02- We as KJ's have to tread the thin line between doing what is right by the bar/establishment, patron, and law. These three don't always mix perfectly, but if you ignore any one, that's when trouble starts.

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Let's Kick the Tires and Light the Fires!

dbk1009,
that's probably my fault... noone ever said I was good at speaking my mind.


I won't play any copied cd. I will play a cd if it's an original, and I don't already have that one. I mentioned the one time that someone wanted me to play their cd and I already had it, so I just told the girl to hold onto hers and I would play mine.

I do remember one young girl (I've also KJ'd at certain softball and basketball tournaments over the past few years) who had just bought an Avril Lavigne Top Tunes cdg from either Target or K-Mart (I can't remember which). I did also play that one for her, but later bought the same one myself from the Target website. It really wasn't that bad of a cd+g, but I'll usually only bring it out for the younger girls, as they seem to be the only ones to request Avril.

Bring me an original, and we'll all just get along.

Will

P.S. I'll have to go back later and read what I wrote. If I wrote that I wouldn't play ANY cd, then I mis-wrote and apologize for that. Sometimes
my fingers get typing faster than my brain can think.

So Mr WillR, how do you judge the CD I got custom made from mycdg.com???? Do you now expect me to bring my credit card receipts as well? They sell you your custom CD on a plain white disk.

Well Mr Allstar, you bring it up to Des Moines to one of the parties I'm dj'ing and I'll decide then. Until then, it doesn't bloody well matter now, does it?

Will

So do any of you have an idea of who would get burned in this type of situation?

You know at one time the record industry actually promoted songs being played often, by as many sources as possible. Even to the point of paying radio stations to play their music.

Music was given to dj's by the record companies to get the exposure to the public who would then in turn buy the record. Thinking sure has gotten warped over the last few decades.

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I'm Not Dead yet...... But every day Im getting Closer !

Hi Jimmy! I went to a show about a year ago that had a hugely thick book. It dwarfed mine, and I have 7000 titles. Of course, once I opened the book I saw what they had. Large fonts...everything listed by title, by artist, by disc, plus they had a separate artist page for every single artist! I think they had about 750 titles total. They would have done better to invest some of their printing costs into buying new discs....and not all of them Nutech.

On the subject of burns, I have archived about 50% of my discs and I regularly run burns of my originals at my show. People also bring in their own custom discs. I've never had a problem with it. Of course, like the rest of you , I've also known multi-ops who buy one set, burn dups and run several systems off one library. That's wrong...but as long as I have one original for every copy in my library, I don't think I'm doing anything wrong. Let them bust me if they want.

Jimmy, to respond to your "Perfect World" Fairy Tale... I wouldn't have to jump up and shout out "That's my burned Disc"... It is clearly typed (in a BOLD PRINT) "Cueball's Personal Disc # xx."

I'm not a KJ, but I AM curious, and the question didn't get answered...

If a customer brings a burned disc to a show (and bear in mind you have no way of knowing whether they actually do own the original)... you play it for them and the place gets busted....

Who's the one in trouble?

The singer, for owning a possibly illegal burned disc?

Or the KJ, for playing it?





If the answer to that one is the KJ, or both of them, then I personally think every KJ has the right to refuse to play a burned disc without getting an angry backlash from anyone...

They're entitled to protect themselves from litigation, surely?

the answer is far and wide, atomic... because if the powers that be really were going to "bust" people, it would be a lot more public than it is...

There is no specific authority that CAN bust people. The manufacturers themselves have a hard time going after big time multi-ops with total burn libraries... so what makes you think that they will for a single guy, with a few single burns, legitimate or not.

Jimmy, I only just recently started to bring in burns of songs that I sing. I've been leaving my Originals at home.