Karaoke Forums

Someone (Lone Ranger?) posted that SC has failed to improve and modernize.

Someone replied that the GEMs were proof that they did.

However, the GEMS come on DISCS. While this gives my Luddite heart a reason to smile, I don't agree that this in any way more modern than, say, I am!

As many of you know, I'm not a fan of downloads. However, I'm not business-blind either.

The only company that I see as "more modern" than others is DT. That doesn't mean that it will definitely work for them, but they are the only ones taking a chance on a new system. They also market through mass media (TV).

I have to agree with the person that said improving the product ( as well as marketing) is the key, and agree that sales through intimidation is SC's M.O.

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

Maybe not Timberlea, but there are several things that exist that defy explanation. You have to remember man has only been on this planet less than three million years. Even though we weren't here at the beginning we know form analyzing the physical evidence of the planet the different periods that proceeded. Written history is less than 10,000 years old if you include the oracle bones in China. If you look at the information you have and apply reason you should be able to come up with some kind of picture of what is happening. I don't know of many companies that can continue to be viable when so much of their product has not been paid for. At the least SC's cash flow would have to be a mere fraction of their heyday when they had over 70 employees working for them. Just saying, have a blessed day.

i can, Pop Hits monthly, Zoom, Sun Fly, All Star, Party Tyme, Pocket Songs, Just Tracks, Mister entertainer, Easy Karaoke Capital, Pioneer, Sony, Interscope, Geffen, A&M, Def Jam, Universal, Virgin, Polydor...

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

If that is the case then what is SC's problem? All of these other companies haven't resorted to using the legal process to solve their cash flow problems in regards to karaoke piracy. In the case of Pioneer they have simply gotten out of the karaoke end of the business, the karaoke producers you have listed are still making product and making money. Some of these other companies are mainly the pure music end of the business. Has SC put too much faith in the legal process to solve their business problems? If that is the situation then they have put all of their eggs in one basket. Some of the above listed companies are very large and diversified not all of their eggs are in the karaoke basket, as SC's seems to be. Have a blessed day.

it appears that the cheerleaders feel that pirates only pirate SC and are ok paying for "lesser" brands. that way SC is losing more than the other companies, they are being stolen from more than others. if they were all being stolen from equally (like on a preloaded hard drive of 200,000 songs) then the other companies would also be in the same situation.

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

Lone, SC doesn't have a problem, you have a problem. Why you are upset with a company that is well within its right to protect what is theirs is mind-boggling.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

I'm not saying they don't have the right, it just seems strange to me if all companies are being ripped off equally, why is it only one company is trying to do something about it? I have a problem with the way they implemented this legal process of theirs, and how they hired employees to represent them, and then did not properly supervise those employees. Now they are having to counter sue those employees for the more than $200,000.00, they say those same employees stole from them. This whole legal process of theirs was not well thought out and executed. As a result there is a negative backlash against SC and it's product. Have a blessed day.

When you think about it does that make much sense? You don't pay for the brand that will come after to you, and pay for the brands where there is little chance they will come after you? How do you be a somewhat pirate? Either you pay for the products or you don't. What is happening the pirates are assuming the risk and hoping they won't get caught. If they are unlucky they pay off SC by licensing the GEM series, or using the other options laid out by James. Have a blessed day.

I wish EVERY company would go after pirates. I am stymied as to why none of the others seem to care. I have given this a lot of thought and I have never come up with any rational explanation for why they don't care to protect their IP. It would only take a few of the bigger powerhouse companies like Pioneer and Sony taking action to turn the tide.

The reason us cheerleaders only raise a stick about Sound Choice is because they are the only ones taking any action.

I don't necessarily think that SC is pirated more than others. I don't think a hard drive buyer cares too much. But I can tell you the 5-8 years ago, Sound Choice was the most downloaded karaoke music in the iRC channels. That isn't the case any longer because the downloaders now have everything Sound Choice ever produced so they have moved on to grabbing the new stuff that comes from those who remain.

-Chris

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-Chris

Joe, your Luddite heart is again confused.

While they may appear the same, GEM discs are Data CD's (Yellow book / CD-ROM), not Audio CD's (Redbook / CD-A). You cannot take a GEM disc and play it in a CD player any more than you could take your Quicken install disc and "play it" in your car. There are several, very different, products that all use similar looking plastic discs. But they are NOT the same thing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_di ... al_formats

It's pretty easy to see why when you look at the record companies' past. They tried to "sue piracy into submission". What they got from it was a huge black eye on their reputation. Know anyone else currently with a big ole shiner? What they decided was to make paying for their product easier than stealing it. And all indications point to; IT WORKED! Do people still pirate their stuff. SURE!! But in the end they have a good name, great product and great delivery system without the black eye or the cost to get it. I feel strongly (Beware, opinion to follow) that many of the other karaoke producers are following that model. Make it easier to buy than steal and let others worry about the piracy.
I also feel strongly (Beware, opinion II to follow) that nothing about Sound Choice's financial status can be derived from whether they are making new music or not. The reason I feel strongly about this is because I sense that Kurt is so up tight about piracy that he would rather not make anything new if there is a chance it will fall into a pirates hands. It's my opinion (#III) that you can add one more thing that is certain in life. There is death, there is taxes and there will be piracy. I don't condone it but I will live with it. It's further my opinion (#IV) that Kurt will never be able to put out anything if he sits and waits for the perfect Pirate killer program. Meanwhile, others are being quite successful it seems with doing their thing and pretty much living with it.

The big difference is that the RIAA went after non-revenue generating individuals.

It is pretty easy to become the bane of the industry when you sue a 12 yr old girl for downloading a 1/2 dozen Kelly Clarkson songs to play on her personal iPod.

I don't believe they would suffer nearly as much backlash when suing a 30-40 something year old karaoke host that is using 500,000 karaoke tracks to generate revenue.

-Chris

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-Chris

I thought Chris you didn't consider yourself a cheerleader?

Pop Hits Monthly may be putting stuff out - the their selection quality is no where NEAR what it used to be, it's mostly fluff and nothing that people want to sing anymore. They say it's because of rising publishing costs, my speculation is due to piracy and they cannot afford to produce the higher dollar songs that people want.

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

Would? You mean have.. Not at suing 30-40 something year old karaoke hosts using 500,000 karaoke tracks to generate revenue. The only back lash there would be from the 30-40 something year old karaoke hosts using 500,000 karaoke tracks to generate revenue. No one here would backlash at them going after the people selling the drives. So they obviously have gone after more than that and you know it. You can't reduce this down to the drive selling\using issue, Chris.

I don't think I am reducing/trivializing this at all. The RIAA and the Record Companies took a punch in the eye because of WHO they sued - grandmothers, kids, college students, people in low income categories. Those were the stories that made it into the media and cause the firestorm for them. That is a public relations nightmare for anyone.

If they would have sued hard drive sellers who were out for a profit, DJ's who were working clubs in LA, NY and other money making venues, or generally just people that were downloading/sharing massive amounts of files, I imagine the public outcry would have never happened.

That is a lesson learned for the karaoke companies. Go after the hard drive sellers, multi-rig operators that duplicate their libraries across several rigs, and the KJ's that are that are grabbing and sharing 10's of thousands of karaoke files through iRC and BitTorrent. Stay out of people's homes and target the folks that are using the material to make money.

The only ones will raise a stink about that are the ones that get caught.

-Chris

btw......this is pretty much what the Software industry does. They don't even go looking for individual people that stole Windows, Photoshop, CorelDraw, Office, and an assortment of games. They are going after the people selling large quantities of counterfeit discs or companies that obtain a single copy of something and install it to hundreds or thousands of machines.

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-Chris

I always laughed at kj's that wanted to 'swap' my discs to increase both our libraries. For one thing, the majority of the time, the other kj has crap to begin with (I always asked out of curiosity just so I can revel in their disbelief when I said NO) which is why they want mine too - but on the other hand and most importantly, there is no way i'd want my competition to have the songs I have as well. Not that they were huge threats anyway - most of them are out of biz. But I spent money on the quality tracks, and they wanted to swap with the garbage SGB and the likes.

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

no one in Universal Music group cares? i doubt that highly. it is like why doesnt Microsoft come to the venues and sue us all for using windows until we prove we own the disc? it doesnt make sense to do that and every other music entity in the world figured that out.



my thoughts exactly.

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

This would be all well and good if disk sellers\users and multi riggers had been the only targets and the care was taken to differentiate between those and those that purchased their libraries and went through the trouble of converting. The point is, nothing suggests they have taken that care in the past and, hence, a huge shiner. And I don't think Kurt\James cares. Fine with me. The industry has moved on without them just fine. I doubt seriously they could get back in the game with new stuff even if they tried without having a modern delivery system. And, no, discs are not a modern delivery system. I am not calling it ancient, but it is not modern by any means. I'd pass even if I wasn't snickering at the shiner.