Karaoke Forums

You're funny....

But....You're not my mother.

If you don't like my posts, ignore them.... don't respond to them..... and don't EVER tell me what "you think" I should do.

I equally have no respect for theives who steal their music to run their businesses. They are equally disgusting in my eyes.

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

Every time I hear Kurt Slep talk the less I like him. He just SOUNDS like a sleazy businessman. Enforcement as a sales tool. He keeps talking about Sunfly. They aren't interested. They have said as much when questioned. Publishers aren't going to go after KJs either. They guy is out of his mind. .

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

I guess you ARE an angry little man. Do whatever you like. If I want to tell you what to do I will, you can ignore my posts.

smooth, he did produce something and people stole it, LOTS of them. That's the point. You don't have to like him or the way he talks or the way he dresses. It's not about that or about him. You and others are making it about him. It's about one thing and one thing only. Sound Choice produced a product that was widely stolen. They want to get paid. Period. End of story. The end.

Smooth - I do not "just accept what SC is doing". I have spoken out about SC practices I don't agree with and I confronted Kurt directly - in person and in public in front of other KJ's - about the very subject of lowball settlements. Just because I don't denounce them at the same level as you and others here do, does not mean that I am a Sound Choice fan boy. I don't feel the need to rant or rave about it as some do.

I am not the one that has a deep hatred here. If you look at my posts concerning pirates and piracy and compare them to your posts about Kurt, Sound Choice, and Lawsuits, it is pretty clear that I am not the hater. I don't toss that word or that feeling around very lightly.

Lol....I just did a search on my posts - *IF* search is fixed.....I have only used the word HATE twice. Once in relation to Autotune (I do hate autotune....is is the scourge of the music industry....if I could go back in time I would prevent autotune from happening) and I mentioned HATING having to buy discs. The rest of the posts of mine where the word HATE shows up are when YOU (Smoothedge) post in my threads.

-Chris

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-Chris

I am going to archive this little tidbit for later use.

-Chris

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-Chris

Would that include the big pirates like Chartbuster?..... and other manufacturers?

Just askin'


The double standards here are amazing:

"I hate pirates.... but I only help 'illegal hosts' get legal."

"I hate pirates..... but I'm glad I bought that hard drive before chartbuster went out of business!"


Stogie:
Chartbuster pirated.... errr "made product" too.... and they got busted for piracy while they were "certifying" the very people they tricked against piracy.

(Bet you didn't see that comin'!)

... but they (under a different name) are now suing for the logos on the very pirated material they had been selling for YEARS.

Show me a single KJ pirate that stole as much from KJ and publishers as Chartbusters...

Perhaps you should really open BOTH eyes.

Have you pulled Chartbuster too?

-Chris

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-Chris

What's the sense. I won't change your mind, and you won't change mine. I'm going to go watch some Jon Lord videos on Youtube. The world lost one of the greatest Keyboard players in the business the other day. He will be missed.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Honestly Chip I don't know much, very little, about the legalities regarding licensing by the Karaoke track manufacturers. What Chartbusters or Sound Choice did in this area are beyond my scope and beyond what I can spend time focusing on. It's something THEY will have to deal with if the songwriters or publishers etc. decide they want to litigate.

Here is what is of interest to me personally. Making a living, not getting sued, running a good show where people have fun and enjoy themselves, not getting stopped by the police on my way home after having a couple of beers and trying to have a happy, low stress life.

I recently decided to start hosting. So I bought a whole bunch of discs and I'm in the process of entering them into my computer and eventually I will print up some books. I didn't buy any Sound Choice discs or the GEM series because of the cost. Not because I have any problems with Sound Choice, because I don't. I'm trying to start a business with limited funds and Sound Choice would have nearly depleted my entire music budget.

Chartbusters will be a large part of my library because I could afford their product and it was a good bang for the buck AND because once I bought the Charbusters library I OWN IT. PERIOD. No leasing, no mustard seed clause, no contract or ongoing relationship. I bought something and I own it and I have control of it if I decide I no longer wish to host anymore. I can sell it or give it away or donate it or convey it in any way I see fit without anyone interfering. These are the main issues I have with Sound Choice. Price and ownership. Strictly business. Would I like to own the GEM series? Yup. But not at $4480. Simple economics.

So I'm not making judgements about Karaoke track manufacturers based on their business practices and ethics regarding song writers, artists, music publishers etc. I'm making business decisions on what makes economic sense to me as a business owner. If I buy in good faith, tracks that were not properly licensed in some way, that's not MY issue and frankly not my concern. I'm concerned with how I'm going to pay my bills and if my minivan breaks down how I'm going to pay for the repairs.

I come here for information and camaraderie. I get entertainment value and a lot of good and useful knowledge. I also try to share what little I have learned over the last few years. I DON'T come here for endless debates about something that shouldn't be debated in the fist place and I stopped coming here completely for a while because of it. Hopefully soon I'll be very busy hosting shows and won't have much time for a lot of this foolishness . . .

The $44,000 figure is based strictly upon actual damages.

Most of the time, when we encounter pirate hard drives, they have every track from every CD SC has ever released. The $44,000 figure was calculated for the use of the FBI in its investigation of Bill Bene, and it represents the retail value that SC would have received if the pirate had made an actual purchase. So even that figure isn't "getting rich"--it's based on the actual damages.

What SC NEEDS to do, instead of suing everyone, is getting with the program and start innovating ways to get music delivered in modern ways. You are falling behind, not only in music production but in delivery. You should be fighting to make delivery easier, more cost effective, and in touch with today's formats. Your lawsuits aren't helping the industry at large. You are just helping yourselves.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

i agree that they do need to do that, but i don't agree that letting the thieves off with a "bad boy, don't do it again" will be much of a deterrant. if i take a bat and bust your windshield, you can get it replaced for free through most insurance companies, no deductable. does that mean since you have no financial damages that i should be allowed to walk away scott free? 1:1, leave then alone. want an audit, do it free. need to pay for that audit somehow i know.....i am pretty sure somewhere in that $44,000 settlement from the pirate that actually stole and caused damages a few hundred bucks could be coerced out of it. we are in the middle of this because of the pirates (thieves) and so i think they should be paying for the necessary audits. if you are a "Technical Infringer", let it be free like the rest of the karaoke and music industry (SC is the only company in the entire music industry to charge for media shifting) and get the needed funds to take care of the good customers by charging the pirates out the yin yang.

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

I can point to five or six KJs within 200 miles of your location who beg to differ as to your last point.

But even if we were just "helping ourselves," it's only because there have been precious few people who have helped us when thousands of people were robbing us blind. I haven't seen the first word of criticism coming from your keyboard against people who stole tens of thousands of dollars' worth of SC's property so they could run their own businesses at a lower cost. Those people were "just helping themselves."

Where did you come up with that figure?

Is that the price per disc from1990 or the actual first day that these disc were released?

As so many have reminded me here, you can't get the same price for a disc today that we old-timers paid for way back when.

But if you're interested in mine, they are available for $39.95 each – except the custom discs which were fifty dollars each. And no, I do not sell them individually.

And you know, I haven't seen the first word of criticism coming from your keyboard either against the manufacturers who were sued for – while they were busy certifying against – piracy. Stealing tens of thousands – or hundreds of thousands of dollars – from KJ's, AND publishers, AND other distributors while they were claiming to be some sort of helpless victim. There are plenty of KJ's here that fell for that sham and they have their certifications to prove it.

Nor have I seen a single word of criticism coming from your keyboard from your co-plaintiff's – piracy recovery LLC – who have apparently never produced a karaoke track, never sold a karaoke track, never done anything with the karaoke track. All they are doing is "helping themselves" as a trademark trolls.

So before you jump on your high horse and decide to criticize everyone else, just remember that you're right in bed with the best of them "helping themselves"– and getting paid by them.

Do you honestly think you are going to sue thousands of people? You will never make a dent if that is your intention. I have said they are wrong to steal the music, but you are JUST as wrong for your lawsuits, which have targeted many "technical" infringers, and then put them through their paces to prove themselves innocent, of course charging them $500 in the process. Pure GREED. I won't ever agree with it,, sorry.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Do you know how many people have actually been charged the $500 fee for an audit?

Do you know how many people have actually passed a post-suit audit?

Because without that information, your assessment that this is "pure GREED" is pretty much just your uninformed opinion.

I will take every SC8125 you have at $39.95 each just as you offered.

-Chris

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-Chris