Karaoke Forums

So much for the SC product holding it's value, you license it for 5k, and you are lucky if you can transfer the license for 2 or 3 k. The market is small for the product since only a real KJ or venue offering karaoke can license the product. I wonder if any home user does have a set? Just how close is this licensing checked by SC? The fact that they will not accept a return of unused product for even 1/2 the original purchase price indicates to me they think they would have a hard time re-licensing the product, to some new purchaser. Potentially they have only around 50,000 possible customers, and venues. Are there any figures on exactly how many sets of GEM have been licensed since this whole program began? It would seem that such figures should be available is it a secret?

A secret like where are the "safe harbor" venues located.

In all fairness, this is like buying s brand new car and turning around and selling it without even opening the car door. There are all kinds of disadvantages, like losing out on new car financing and adding an owner to the car plus cars drop in value the moment you sign on the dotted line. You can't use this one situation to devalue the Gem series.

If the car has never been driven it should retain most of it's value, to not have a buy back policy for unsed product indicates at least to me that SC has no confidence in their own merchandise. This is not the only time I have seen posts where the holder of the GEM license has offered the product at a steep discount. I've seen where some were willing to take $1,000.00 for the balance of the license.

You base all this on a single post with no other data? Talk about straw grasping.



Exactly. Many a person has sold a house or car for FAR less than it's worth due to financial distress or time concerns. It's all about how badly you need the money.

This is just silly, you really cant be serious. Go buy a Mercedes, sign and take delivery. A month later take it back and see what they will give you for it. It has nothing to do with the confidence Mercedes has in it's merchandise. It's used, even if not driven. This "Buy Back" scenario only exists in your mind. Who exactly offers such a thing in the world today for $5000+ products?



That was the same poster as above. Obviously they thought better of there initial offer.

Have you ever resold a car purchased from the original dealer? I have Bazza, I bought a PT Cruiser for 12,500.00 used it for 7 years and put 60, 000 miles on it, and allowed the original dealer to repurchase the car for 4,500.00 dollars. They turned around and sold it for 7,000.00. If the car had even lower mileage on it I would have done better on the repurchase price. The point is the car has a value, what value has the GEM series license? It can only be purchased by a select few and transferred to the same select few. It would seem to me if SC had faith in their product they should have a repurchase policy in place. Since they don't they realize the value of their product is dubious at best.

I thought you were the host Bazza that thought other hosts who were looking at the discs collections as stocks and bonds were not being realistic. The discs are tools used by the host to run the karaoke service business. They have no real value other than establish the legality of library content of the host's show, and to be used to provide the karaoke service. If physical discs lose value, then why not the GEM series license?

It still has value to the "select few". As it was said earlier, as soon as you take a new car off the lot, it's value decreases by thousands of dollars. Leased cars are the same way. The value of ANYTHING is what the purchaser is willing to pay for it.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

If I were to sell off my GEM license(s), I would sell them at a discount. Why? Because they made money for me over their lifetime.

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-Chris

That is the whole point tim, it would seem what the current market is willing to pay is somewhere between 1,000 to 3,000 for the used GEM series, roughly 20 to 60% of it's original price.

Correct chris when you have recovered the original cost of the material everything made after that is placed in the plus column, even if you eventually transfer the license to an approved licensee, for any amount of money. It sort of amazes me that SC is concerned about who the license is transferred to, and not too interested in repurchasing licensed material, I wonder why? A repurchase program would help to keep prices up, maybe so few GEM's have been licensed they wouldn't be flooding the market, and driving down the cost? Of course we wouldn't know that since sales numbers are kept hidden by SC.

Thanks for making my point. Your car wasn't worth what you paid for it. And guess what. If you had returned two weeks later and traded it in, they would have given you less than $10,000.

By your logic this means "Chrysler has no confidence in it's own merchandise.".



What value? How about the best base set in the industry? 6000 killer songs practically indistinguishable from the originals? Besides, if the OP get's $3000 for them, it seems they still have plenty of value. The price however has to do with what they are willing to take. Not what it is worth. If they were to wait it out, they could get much closer to the price they paid.

YOU could have got much more for your PT Cruiser selling it to a private party. You did not. Your choice.



Irrelevant. At PT Cruiser is only attractive to a select few.



So you think that people in the music business should buy back their CD's?! You think iTunes will buy back your music? Sony Music? ANYONE? This is just a comical and moronic line of thinking. It has nothing to do with "faith in their product". That is only the intense hatred you hold in your mind for SC.

The TV on my wall has value. Does this mean Samsung "has no confidence in it's product" because they wont buy it back?



Yup!! I have said that many times. CD's are going down in value every day. Your point?



Who said they arent't? I never said they wouldn't lose value. You seem to be arguing with yourself now.

Besides, you seem to have forgotten about the 6000 songs that are the best core set in the karaoke business. The COST of licensing the GEM set v/s BUYING those same SC songs is less that 1/3 the price. That is a huge benefit. But they too will be worthless in 10 years or less. The difference is the GEM user didn't spend triple for the same thing.

As with any lease the lessee does not own the product whether a house, car, or GEM, the lessor does and has to be informed about the change of hands and they have the last word on who gets their product.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

True, but GEM is not a lease. It is a licensing agreement, as has been argued ad nauseum. There is a difference.

Um, I would guess that the GEM value drops considerably BECAUSE actual ownership is never transferred. Keep in mind that the entire content of the GEMs is available on regular SC discs. If I were interested in buying SC tracks, I would find used CDGs. Cheaper than new, actual ownership is transferred, and I can buy a set or a few as I so choose. I can also dispose of them as I please. Once paid for, SC cannot reclaim them with me forfeiting my cash outlay.

Think condominium. One with the same area as a small house will sell for a whole lot less. Why? Because the condo "owner" doesn't actually own the PROPERTY, only the option to transfer occupancy for a monetary payment. Essentially an apartment for which someone can recoup rent. One cannot expand it, or do any structural changes without permission. They can't even choose the color of their front door. The association does that with or without the individual "owner's" approval.
It beats paying rent with no return, but just barely, as far as a property investment goes.
Most folks prefer to own that for which they pay.

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

With used discs becoming harder to find, it may not be an option. Find me an SC 8668 or 8148!

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

Haven't researched them. However, just because one doesn't see them listed doesn't mean they aren't out there. Put out a call in the right places with the right offer, and they will show up.

As far as those discs, the only 2 songs requested at my shows from 8148 are Plush and Low, which I have on other brands.

Admittedly, 8668 actually has quite a few more useable tracks than the average Spotlite disc (usually 3 TOPS). However, these too can be found elsewhere.

Isolated examples aside, anything SC - or any other mfr. - made can be found if one looks hard enough.

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

"True, but GEM is not a lease. It is a licensing agreement, as has been argued ad nauseum. There is a difference."

Not really. If I were to buy a TV station or radio station or the like, I would have to get approve by the FCC in the US or CRTC in Canada. Most licences are not transferable.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

Actually most of 8148 get used at my show, about 4 songs do not, 8668 I've only had 3 requests but none of which are on other labels. However that was not the point whether they get used or not. I HAVE looked, called, researched, asked around - they cannot be found. Every link on Google are either out of stock or bad links/sites/phone numbers/etc. I'm not talking other manus either. If I could find the songs I wanted on other manus I'd gladly get them, but the 8668 most are SC exclusive. At least the 3 songs I need are - I pretty much guarantee that none of the other songs would ever get used, and the ones that are requested I seriously doubt would become regular staples, however I do try to get what my singers ask for & this disc in particular I've been looking for for well over a year. The 8148 was just an example of a disc you simply will not find used! I do have that one already.

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

It was worth what I paid for it at the time I paid for it Bazza. A car has a shelf life just like a discs. I got the use of the car for 7 years and put on 60,000 miles of use, naturally it would not be worth what I paid for it. At the time I sold the car back to the dealer my time was valuable and it would cost me more in time away from my business than the couple of extra thousand dollars lost letting someone else assume the risk to sell it. Chrysler does have confidence in its product or it would not buy back the car. SC on the other hand obviously has no confidence in it's ability to resell it's product, since it does not even consider buying back it's unused product at even 1/2 it's original cost.