Karaoke Forums

If I remember Chris had his library stolen and found that to be the cheapest way to rebuild it.

My previous post was removed that basically said the following, but I paraphrased it.



I guess next time I'll be more inclusive with my anwers.

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My statements, opinions and conclusions are based on my own personal experiences, observations, research and/or just my own $.02. I'm not a "cheerleader", but that doesn't make me a Pirate.

There is a need for a way for people like EdG to be certified by Stellar....as it currently stands the only way to prove compliance is to purchase a "get out of lawsuit free card"

No one has come up with a viable method to determine if a KJ HAS the discs except by audit.

Audits are very time consuming and involve a lot of time for all involved..I personally see it as a business expense to pay for my audits....(and you are assuming it would be a fee that high....SC/CB offered free audits for a time and SC's is still 125.00 CB was 150.00 and you received credit for discs)

I personally would like to track down All Star, Zoom, Sunfly, SBI, Karaoke Version, Priddis, DK, Pocket Songs, Sundown, Music Factory, Music Maestro, Sing King, Pioneer, Party Tyme, Singing Machine, and all the others and have them implement the same type of program as well.....H*LL I cant even find out who owns the rights and can give permission for over 1/2 those you listed let alone the ones not on the list AFTER more than 4 years of trying

Until there is a central agency to provide certification I do not see any other way to "get the weeds out of the garden"

I hope my point of view is clear enough for you to understand even if you don't agree

KjAthena

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"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

I think a central unbiased 3rd party agency to provide certification and to watch over licensing is the only way to keep the weeds and snakes out of the garden.

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My statements, opinions and conclusions are based on my own personal experiences, observations, research and/or just my own $.02. I'm not a "cheerleader", but that doesn't make me a Pirate.

Hiteck, I agree that a central unbiased agency would be great. However saying that, it will still cost hosts, how much, I don't know. There would be start up and operating costs that would have to be paid for, whether an existing agency (ie RIAA or similar) or start from scratch. My opinion is that it would probably be more than SC and CB or DT or whatever combined. There would be many to complain no matter what is suggested.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

I don't think the cost is really the issue. I think its more that any manu can charge whatever whenever that is an issue. How do you budget/plan for business expenses that can change or popup at any given time.

Not to mention your not evening getting permission to media/format shift only a "We won't sue you for it, but someone else might." It's chaos!!

Until someone other than a few manus are overseeing/regulating the industry, the rights of the other parties (IP owners, KJ's, singers, venues, etc..) will be over looked in favor of what works out best for the enforcing manu(s) at that time.

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My statements, opinions and conclusions are based on my own personal experiences, observations, research and/or just my own $.02. I'm not a "cheerleader", but that doesn't make me a Pirate.

yes..it will still be a cost to hosts, however think of how much piracy has really cost 1-1 Hosts. I do believe a central agency to audit for all manufactures past or present would be the IDEAL situation.

KjAthena

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"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

...I could not agree more with some of the recent postings! Am sure some will disagree but I would like to see it. An agency that would watch over EVERYONE: Venues, KJ's, Sellers (Authorized and or Secondary), Manufacturers. I know CDG's have been and still are dying out but the IP is still on them. In a perfect world, yes it would be nice if we knew that everyone was legal and we would have the option of naming our price for it's real value.

...I don't believe the registration fees would have to be outrageous and audit fees could be based on a flat fee plus "X-Amount" per track.

...But it's probably just a dream.

What it says is exactly I have said about it -



I have also stated that in retrospect, I wish I had not done the CAP. It bridged a gap for quite a while, but I have since acquired a significant number of the Stellar CD's via bulk purchase. Couple that with SC and CB generally having better quality tracks for the time periods the CAP covered, and I don't think I have gotten my money's worth.

Hindsight is most assuredly 20/20 in this case for me.

On the upside, it does give me an inflated library that I can use to my advantage when competing against local pirates who have 100,000+ tracks.

-Chris

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-Chris

Who audits DJs? Correct, nobody. I hear some complaints from time to time, I have complained myself, but whatever the means that DJs obtain their music is not relevant when it comes to performance time. I chose Prime Cuts for my music because I own it, they give me a ton of music already in mp3 format and I don't have to worry about unedited music. Also, you must prove you're an active DJ to be able to buy from them.

As soon as one karaoke producer goes out of business, another one will take their place, there is a void to fill and someone will fill it. Will all the tracks be fully licensed? Hell, they aren't now and have never been it appears. So karaoke tracks will be available from somebody at some price. I've decide to quit worrying about who has paid a license fee for x song and who hasn't. I'll just use what I legally buy and go from there. Still no record of any KJ being prevented from using foreign downloaded tracks in a venue, don't expect there will be and I'm OK with using them, especially when the "big three U.S." guys have such spotty resumes.

What do they accept as proof?

-Chris

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-Chris

Sorry, I knew it wasn't he was running deliberately "pirate" but I thought media was stolen not "not included" I stand corrected and apologize.

Promo Only is the same way, but like you said, who audits DJ's?
no one besides SC asks for money to shift, not one record label, not one other karaoke manu. why are the other karaoke manus and music labels still in business? beause they sell the people what they want. even Pop Hits Monthly sells music on MP3 disc as most hosts asked for it that way and they do not require an audit to use that material. what would be the point of taking a successful company and having it follow the path of the two companies that have hit the fan?

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

Closest thing i've seen to an audit for dj's is the publishers going after the bars for not paying their PRO fees - but that really isn't the same. There was a place in Spokane a few years back that got hit by ASCAP (or BMI) & they did actually nail the dj/kj for using downloaded and copied music - not sure if it was dj or kj side (or both) they were hitting, unfortunately the link to the article is no longer available, and I don't know what the outcome eventually became.

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

...I knew I had it bookmarked somewhere. This was the main reason I started this thread. The article in this link is old news but I thought the info collected by law enforcement (emails and paypal accounts) from buyers were going to be given to the Karaoke Manufacturers but I may have gotten confused because after re-reading it, it appears that the author speculated that the Karaoke Manufacturers would be given that info for future investigations. Just assumed it would be used against all buyers (commercial-KJ's and private-home users). So, my bad! It's an older article/news but some might not have heard about:
http://www.azkaraokealliance.com/Karaok ... _good_guys!

you also have to realize the AZ Karaoke Alliance is just Starz Karaoke. Eric owns many websites and the AZ Karaoke Alliance, and US Karaoke Alliance. Not that he is incorrect, but remember that is noting more than one person talking about it, not an alliance of companies.

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

As I've stated before, these companies trying to re-regulate music already out there is like trying to pick up quicksilver. It's just not going to happen. They need to, TODAY, figure out how to better monetize their product. Sell the physical disc for $17.95. for another $1-3 you also purchase the right to rip it to your hard drives.

Then all the info is in the "system" and pirates can be easily sussed out and, eventually, die on the vine as they will be unable to steal new music their singers demand.

Basically, each disc needs to be encoded with a kill file. 1 disc. 1 rip. This CD will self-destruct in 5 seconds.

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Terry O'ke--- Fake Music for Real People.

1) Both of which are now worthless- and a wasted investment of business funds.

2) So, excluding the overseas producers who have overseas licensing, no jurisdiction here, and offer downloads which makes the quest for "1:1" inoperable, you would like to the the American producers,most, if not all all of whom have had licensing problems ( Produced songs without the owners' permission - read : pirated) oversee an operation that would supposedly weed out pirates? Also, you want to PAY them all to do it? Something wrong there...

3) A centralized and unalligned agency with law enforcement powers would be terrific. However, doing it incorrectly until that time is inexcuseable, especially as it is being done now- through intimidation rather than by rules and laws that can be executed. No other way? Then go away until one is found. Right now it's the unethical preaching ethics.... ( Not you, Athena. I'm speaking of the companies whose business plan is income through intimidation.)

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

I'm still dumbfounded that the major record labels have yet to cash in on the karaoke craze of the last 20+ years.

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Terry O'ke--- Fake Music for Real People.

Only one smart enough to do so is Taylor Swifts label - Big Machine. Although I do not believe they release any other of their bands, might be an agreement with Taylor Swift herself.

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