Karaoke Forums

Hi, I have a question for everyone out there. First of all, I have been VERY leary buying anything lately unless I can tell it is for sure pressed by the company with the proper ID ring on the underside of the disc (IE: pressed)

I have noticed that PHM, AllStar, Pocket Songs (what's left of them) and a few others are burning their media to disc, adding a barcode and saying it is ok. My issue is this; If a person comes to me asking to play a burnt CDG, I tell them no. I called the companies mentioned above and they did infact tell me they use a printer or a carbon type stamper to add disc labels on their songs. (How can we tell what is and isn't legal?)

After talking with Mr. Kratka from PoketSongs, I am aware they only have about 450-475 songs now that are able to be used as CDG format. I would rather pay to download the songs from the companies that have proper licensing and proof of their tos/license with me at all times. (IE: My invoice and their terms of use would be printed with each transaction. Via Web Etc.)

I have never denied anyone the right to use their own disc at my show before, but they have always known my "no copied disc rule". I have been strict about this since 1998/1999.

If these companies are now burning and stamping their own discs or printing directly to them, who is to say someone else won't start a line with the same excuse of "It's too expensive to do a glass master and press 1000 originals?"

It is very sad to see what karaoke is coming to.

All of the above manufacturers, to my knowledge, have been reputable and I would continue to buy from them despite their methods of producing discs. I think that you're taking this a little too far.

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Electro-Voice Evolve 50... Taking Sound To The Next Level.

It appears that "licensed karaoke tracks" is a moving target. You probably have more unlicensed music than you realize.

Alan,
I'm not trying to taking anything too far. I've been in business for many years with several karaoke companies. I even did studio work & tracks for some of them. People have come to me with concerns and where is a better place to get answers to these questions? I came here curious about your thoughts on companies using burnt CD's.

I do know it cost a lot of money to have a glass master done "per CD". There is also a max limit of how many CD's a company must have produced if a glass master is done. I can understand that the glass mastering can be expensive. Some of the clients we record who write their own originals do not want to have a glass master made, where others do want a master made with so many units produced. We have a company we refer them to for that process. This is for a higher scaled artist selling a lot of their own originals.

It was just a general question I wanted to bring up. I also agree that it is hard to know what is licensed now and not with all the changes going on with ASCAP/BMI/EMI/Etc.

All I'm saying is; you can't spend every moment worrying about what's legal or not legal. Many manufacturers don't even know. As long as you're legally purchasing your music, I wouldn't worry about it.

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Electro-Voice Evolve 50... Taking Sound To The Next Level.

Justin - We all feel your pain. It was much easier to figure out what was legitimate and what wasn't just 4 years ago. These days, identifying what is/isn't legitimate for commercial use at a public karaoke show has become more of a moving target. Karaoke companies have gone under or been forced to drastically change how they deliver product. Discs with quality, relevant, new music are becoming harder to find. The publishers are going after companies that offer downloads and forcing them to remove artists that don't want their music delivered as a karaoke product.

Sound Choice offers the GEM sets
Pop Hits Monthly now delivers their music as backing tracks only with the Beethoven software to create your own wipes
Digitrax has the KaraokeCloud (the bulk of which is the old Chartbuster catalog) if you don't mind renting your music or individual downloads - They do not offer discs.
You can buy Sunfly discs overseas and have them shipped to you.

If you are willing to download legitimate tracks there are a variety of online services -

http://www.allstardl.com
http://karaokedownloads.ca
http://karaokeversion.com
http://www.sunflykaraoke.com -- You may get geo-blocked from this one.

There are more, but I limit myself to these online sources at this time.

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-Chris

Chris & Alan, I sincerely appreciate your replies. I have a lot of respect for you all in this forum. I was going to license some of my backing tracks catalog to ASK, but some of the demands were just not to my liking. I have even done authoring work for a few companies.

I personally have not been fond of SoundChoice due to the "page by page" wiping method. I've known Caryn and Aldo from Music Maestro. I know they had some good and bad tunes. I honestly have to say that a lot of their stuff was really good. With any karaoke company you can have hit or miss tracks.

I also know Dan who did a lot of producing for "The Singing Machine". He is no longer with them. A little hint, Singing Machine buys their tracks from 2003 on from Sound Source Studios. I was given this information from the new producer at Singing Machine.

Something you will notice on AllStar, Backstage, Chartbuster, AllHits, JVC, Pocket Songs and a few other labels is that you will get the same arrangment of a song (Same music/harmonies etc.) It is from these companies buying a copy of the master tracks done by a studio. The studio will usually license or sell the mass produced library to a company.

One guy particular is Bob Blank @ Blank Productions. He did a mass amount of tracks for all these companies and also sold a lot of tracks to Lee Casper of NuTech.

I was sad to see StarDisc go out of business. They kept the country side of things alive for quite some time. Trying to find a lot of the older country is hard. I know e-bay has a ton of music out there. PHM and Chartbuster are selling out a lot of their old stock still on original pressed discs.

I recently decided to purchase a karaoke system with all new discs. I have been a fan of karaoke since it was out on 8 tracks I still have my old Singing Machine SM8000 (8 Track / Cassette Amp with the first key controller ever made. You used a knob that went up or down 5 (1/4) notes. Talk about stone age. Lol

That doesn't sound right. That would work out to about 45 to 50 discs (at about 20 tracks per disc - 10 Multiplex, 10 with Vocals Removed). I'm sure PS has made/produced much more than 50 discs



What is that?

kinda funny you mention this guy, he is one of the places Stellar bought illegal tracks from acording to the lawsuit.
"56.
Apart from making unauthorized recordings, the Stellar Defendants have
purchased unauthorized sound recordings of Plaintiffs’ compositions from third parties with the
intention of using such recordings to make karaoke products or additional sound recordings or to
use such recordings for other commercial purposes.
57.
The Stellar Defendants purchased at least 54 such recordings from Blank
Productions, Inc."

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

The problem with Music Maestro isn't hit or miss. It is passable and unsingable.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

@Cbeball - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc_manufacturing That will explain what a glass master is

@Paradigm Karaoke - Yes, Bob is a very "odd" person. I talked with him once and he was not very polite at all. I had wanted to ask him about the karaoke market and he refused to talk about it. That may explain why he was so quiet. He has a website up, but I am not familiar with a case with him. I will have to check that out. TY People forget that along with getting permission granted to make a re-production , you also have to deal with Harry Fox Agency (HFA) and many other oranizations.

@mckyj57 - Mcky, I'm sure you have your own theory on what you like and dislike. I respect that. I can say that many people who I know dislike Sound Choice for their earlier music and a lot of Pop. They do good on Country and Rock. If you listen to "You Give Good Love" & "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" by SC and compare it with other companies, you will see what I mean about hit and miss. Their Whitney Houston stuff was in my opinion "awful". You will also notice that they use the same backing tracks on "Greatest Love Of All - Where Do Broken Hearts Go" as Music Maestro and Chartbuster. I never thought MM was the best. I liked them over a lot of other companies out there such as "Sweet Georgia Brown" and NuTech, Priddis and yes, even some Sound Choice.

I would love to see more songs out there by Deblert McClinton than just Shaky Ground. SC has Givin' It Up For Your Love. He had out other songs which I liked as well. Time will tell I suppose One of the best versions of "We're In This Love Together" is on a SC. I think MM did an awful job on it. I'm not against SC if anyone thought I was implying that. Hit or miss was meant as "Sometimes you get a great one, sometimes you don't"

Those of you who did karaoke before it was on LD or CDG might remember the 8-tracks and Tapes. Not to mention the regular audio CD's from these companies. You got a printed lyric insert with pages or a fold out paper. You would see in a lot of songs "Due to the publishers request, we are unable to gain permission to re-print the lyrics to this song."

I do thank you all for your input I hope you have a great Sunday!

All good info.. Thanks..

Back in the day, 85 thru the mid 90s, I produced CD's and DVDs, and all of them were mastered and pressed..

In those days, I received a finished disc in a jewel case, skin packed for $1.65 ea., in lots of 1k.

(You learn the hard way sometimes.) The pre-press CD/DVD can not be "Multi-Session" or they charge more/refuse to redo it..

The disc you ship to the shop needs to be recorded in one pass.

And whatever you create, ten guys are ready to rip you off the day you ship..

And each of them have ten guys, and each of those ten have ten..

Again, my problem with Music Maestro is not their decent tracks, which I think are decent. My problem with them is the large number of tracks that are simply so bad that I don't even want to deal with them. You could say they are worse than Sweet Georgia Brown, but I rarely have run into SGB/All Hits tracks which are unsingable.

Sound Choice does have some clinkers, and in the country area I prefer Chartbuster in many cases. But both have produced tracks that are simply outstanding, and neither of those brands produced many tracks that are simply not worth singing to at all. Star Disc and Music Maestro are the brands I ask never to see. If I make a request, and that's all you got -- I want to sing a different song. I have had too many cases where I get up there and go "what the &!#@%^$ is that?"

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

I pretty much agree with everything Mickyj57 posted. I would also add that I have been VERY pleasantly surprised by the "department store brand " Party Tyme / SyberSound. A very nice product and one that I keep on watch for newer releases. They do release slowly, but seem worth the wait when compared to the versions that other brands have been releasing more quickly.

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

I have about 40 Party Tyme discs and some of my singers request that brand and they have all sounded pretty good. No klinkers so far

I have all of thier newer stuff from the last few years. Many of them when compared against the newer Chartbuster stuff sound better. Never had a single complaint from a singer when playing Party Tyme.

What is the most reliable source for Party Tyme / Syber Sound CD+G discs?

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Never the same show twice!

Don't know what it's like south of the border, but here in Canada, I purchase all my Party Tyme discs from our local WalMart.

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Earl
(BS, PHD & Certified CurmuDJeon)

[font=Times New Roman]"Growing Old may be mandatory... but growing UP is still optional."[/font]

yup, Walmart in Phoenix.
a good combination.....quality tracks, good price, readily available.
now if they offered downloads.............

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

I get them from K -mart here in NJ, but I also see them at Best Buy.

If Irecall correctly, you can also buy direct online.

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

" Disc based and loving it..."