Karaoke Forums

Haven't seen any in quite a while now. I wonder if investigations have stopped, seems to be several reports of pirates still operating freely, loaded hard drives still plentiful on Craigslist. I wonder if they have conceded the battle to prepare for download nirvana? Probably hard to continue to advocate that plastic discs are the only acceptable method of delivery while you're queuing up your files on the cloud...

nope. Check Justia for information on new filings. Seems as if nobody cares to post them here anymore.

a few in August against a few venues and, assuming, in house hosts, and some seafood company

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

I note that in the case against The Cheerful Pitstop filed in Oregon earlier this year SC is demanding a jury. What's that about?

I couldn't seem to find any later filings. Anyone have a link to them?

EDIT: Never mind. I just went to RFC Express. Looks like they are just beating up on Florida again- that one's easy to figure....

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

Apparently there was one filed in Illinois in the summer in the Chicago area.

Anyone know anything about that one?

One? That seems more like an accident than legal action.

It would seem that the lack of filings are just reinforcing what I have believed for quite some time, the current process is a failure and that is why the Cloud Service is being offered. It is a last ditch stand for the still viable manus to try and consolidate the supply of music in the karaoke industry. If you have been watching the History Channel, "The Men Who Built America" you can see some of the techniques being used to try and gain control of our industry. By controlling the supply of karaoke music and it's distribution the surviving manus are hoping to regain the once dominate position, they held. It would mean the end of the independent owner operator, who supplies a karaoke service. Encouraging the venues themselves to setup their own in house karaoke operations. Cutting out the middle man and and reducing the karaoke host to the position of a Wal Mart greeter. Have a nice day.

I think you miss-read the headline.......it was filed by Rahm Emanuel .....he claimed he was the only SOUND CHOICE for mayor of Chicago.........nothing to brag about.......

Right now, Digitrax isn't even marketing to venue's. In fact, if you read the marketing they are doing right now, it is specifically targeted at the home singer and the Pro KJ. That is not to say they won't ever market to the venue's directly, but right now they are not.

Many months ago, someone floated the theory that Karaoke Cloud might be the end of the Independent KJ and the rise of bars doing their own thing. I think more than a few people have taken that to heart without really thinking it through and are being a bit sensationalistic about it.

Jukeboxes that do karaoke have been around for a couple of years now and they don't seem to be putting much of a dent in the market. KaraokeCloudPro isn't targeting bars directly and even if they did, with their current distribution method, it still requires a person to manage it.

There will be some bars that tinker with this stuff, but he independent KJ is alive and well and in no threat of being replaced by a jukebox or a bar managed stream from the cloud.

If history has taught us anything over the past 25 years it's that the best and most successful karaoke shows/venues have a good host running them. Nothing can replace that.

-Chris

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-Chris

And talk show hosts will dissapear, as guest will simply read a question from a telepromter, and then answer the question...game show hosts, and all forms of MC-ing will simply vanish.......no news anchors....etc, etc.......

And how are they marketing to these people? I just opened up a new poll in the "Karaoke Discussions" section of this forum, asking if you are a KJ or a Singer (viewtopic.php?f=1&t=26928). If you are a KJ, then, more than likely, you already have a large library, and subscribing to the Cloud Service is not of any interest to you (let's keep this simple and not turn this into a pro/con argument about their service/s). If you are just a Singer, you might be interested in subscribing to their service for Home Use Only. The question I have is, how are these people being reached? Many of us here (on this Forum) are either established KJs, or have at least hosted a show or two over the past few years. There are some here that have never hosted a show, and have ONLY gone out to shows so that they could sing.

Now, several of us (here on this Forum) have spoken of (and expressed opinions of) the DT Cloud Service. Thus, KJs and Singers here are aware of DT and their Cloud Service? BUT, there are many out there (KJs and Singers alike) that do not have time for (GASP!!!) this Karaoke Forum (or any other Karaoke Forum out there). So, how is DT targeting/marketing/reaching these people?

I think it's pretty obvious that many home users prefer to download their karaoke for free. It is not just crooked kjs buying loaded hard drives, and it wasn't kjs alone that put sc and cb out of business.

I don't see things the same way Chris true currently there still a good supply of A lists hosts out in the industry, the cheaper alternative is the B list hosts and even some C list hosts. Every venue is seeking to cut costs and in the case of Karaoke avoid legal suits that are being pressed by SC now and maybe PRLLC. which as far as I know has not filed any new suits since the collapse of CB, merely continued suits already filed by CB. PR has not resumed it's certification process for CB material as far as I know, and has done nothing to protect the trademark of SGB, which CB supposedly obtained before their foreclosure proceedings. I think it is only a matter of time before Cloud is marketed to the venues, since I feel the majority of hosts already have huge libraries paid for, or can't afford the expense for the service.

I don't know about where you live, but in my area we have a chain of Mexican Restaurants using a Karaoke service which puts in the equipment, has some college kid operating the machine for minimum wage, using a hard drive with over 100,000 songs. These restaurants are always packed and are high profile. This same service also contracts with the local Airport and various other business's. Where are the SC investigators when the multi-riggers are making the big bucks at the manus expense? They are displaying both the SC and CB Logo? The Cloud concept as it now exists is not a real threat to the professional host, but if you look at the current trends, it is just a matter of time before the independent owner operator host will be a thing of the past. The plan for Cloud at the original summit was for it to be used by venues, and they are working on increasing the library from 8,000 to eventually what 80,000 tracks available. This is all part of the still viable manus gaining control of the supply and distribution of all available karaoke music related materials. One way they could accomplish this would be to require all professional hosts to join Cloud or use their original discs. In other words disallow shifting altogether, then the hosts that use the computer would be forced to be disc based once again, or subscribe to the new Cloud Service. I won't see it before I retire, but if Cloud is a success it could be coming in the next few years. If Cloud is not successful with hosts, you can bet they will speed up marketing to venues, rather than let the new service fail. Have a nice day.

P.S. Just something to think about Chris the new service was marketed to regular households before PRO's right. The venues would be the last one's to market to, in order to work out any problems the new system might have. If the service was marketed to the venues and failed to work, the venues could then turn around and sue Cloud for loss business and revenues, right?

thank you........been saying that for a while........



they did not obtain the Sweet Georgia Brown trademark.....no one has since 2001, or Music Maestro, or All Star Karaoke, Ameri-Sing Karaoke, House Party Karaoke, Karaoke Bay for that matter.

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

True, and there is no proof that they did. I don't even know where that rumor started anymore.

I visited the Digitrax homepage yesterday. They have a button marked "music licensing", but when I clicked it nothing came up. An observation, not a conclusion.

As for any real information on the product, it looks like one must enter information and hope for a rep to call.

Again, that's me on my PC. Anyone else have different experiences?

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

[quote="JoeChartreuse"]" I don't even know where that rumor started anymore."

Debi came on here and said it, as did a few that got e-mails from someone at CB, Gretchen maybe?

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

That rumor Joe was started by our friends the certified hosts, to try an instill fear in hosts that the freeware status material could someday vanish. That is why I have constantly pressed them on the matter as to the true status of SGB. James as stated in other forums that the rights to the CB trademark were passed on to PR through assignment. Supposedly the certified hosts have maintained that the SGB trademark was never registered and was simply picked up by CB prior to it's collapse by registering the trademark under CB. That brings to mind the question of if Cloud has obtained the ability to sue for trademark infringement on all labels offered by their service? If not did they merely add labels like DK because there was no risk for Dk to come after them. Makes you wonder doesn't it? Have a nice day.

I don't know how many of you have applied for a trademark but it's a long and tedious process. There is also requirements of proof of use, marketing, and creation of the product. You don't just apply for a trademark for somebody else's property and get it just because they didn't register it. There are also separate marks to register for text only and logo. You can't just claim a trademark with no demonstrated, verifiable history, especially in a couple of months. Some trademarks take up to a year to be approved, I'm still waiting on finalization of one for myself, after several rounds of paperwork between us and the feds.

This is all very interesting Rick, but it doe not answer the questions about freeware status material being able to be picked up by still viable manus, as the certified hosts have maintained for a long time. In my opinion to discourage hosts from using the product and coming around to the idea of having to submit to SC and DT aka CB/PRLLC. The cloud gives the impression that all labels under it's service would be protected from manu suits, but really do they have the authority to even imply such protection? Are they selling something that they don't really have any control over? Have a nice day.

Any time that I have ever clicked on the "Licensing" tab on any other site, it has referred to how a buyer can license the tracks for use in movies or making their own disc, etc. It hasn't referred to the publishing licenses. So the fact that it is blank is not necessarily incriminating at this point.