Karaoke Forums

I recently received and email from Sound Choice that included a variety of things, but this is what excited me the most.

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-Chris

Goal? Hope? That doesn't sound very exciting to me Chris Avis.

I have stated before that when it comes to SC and the ongoing saga that i usually keep my opinions to myself, but now I must comment on what they said. Quote: "When we make new music available, you, our loyal GEM licensee, will be the first to benefit."

How lovely! SC obviously doesn't give a damn of those of us who have spent tens of thousands of dollars on their product from the very beginning the 1990's until production ceased.
I am NOT a GEM licensee, nor an SC "Certified" host, but I PURCHASED ALL of my karaoke discs from authorized retailers, supported SC through continued patronage and promoted their product for over 20 years at my shows. No they announce that if they resume production that the new material will be made available first to the Johnny-Come-Lately's and the former pirates that ponied up $3,750-$5,000, and then later to SC Certified Hosts.

It appears that everything was going great guns while I was forking over my money to BUY their product, but now since I don't need a GEM series and haven't drunk the Kool-Aid and paid SC MORE money to prove I'm not a damn thief, Kurt and friends want to ignore long time customers without so much as a "Thank You".

If and that's a very big "if", Sound Choice does ever resume making karaoke music again, even without the mentioned stipulations, I won't give them another damn dime of MY money, as I see how long time, honest and loyal customers are regarded by them.
The arrogance of this company is laughable. it's like they expect YOU to gargle with Listerine before you kiss THEIR arse!

On a final note, my karaoke crowd is getting younger and most of them don't give a damn which manu's version they sing and most of the younger folks are NOT singing new songs because the majority of the new music is crap. They're singing 70's-90's and Country, so I'll continue to buy legit downloads as I need them.

I wouldn't buy it with the current strings, even if it was available. For those that can get them from them, I say go for it! There has only been one song or two that I haven't been able to find decent to better than SC version of. That's not a bad ratio.

Not to hijack the thread, but you are right. I have kept my collection pretty up to date by adding 50+ of the "hottest" karaoke tracks every quarter, and I probably have about 20 our of 600+ from that last three years that have been sung, even once, and only a handful with any consistency.

Music these days is based primarily on beats, not melody, and the one thing most lasting karaoke songs have in common is strong melodies.

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C Mc
KJ, FL

Well I hate to be cynical, but given the track record of announcements that have come from karaoke producers of late, I will have to go with "I'll believe it when it actually happens' line of comments.

that's all I will say about that

-James

While I agree with BT, if they go back to the studio ( not holding my breath for that ) and knock off the other negative activities I'll be a happy guy. Never gonna do the GEM thing, so new releases are of no use to me - but if keeps them occupied.....

Their most difficult hurdle would be cleaning the negative response / stigma from their label. THAT will be one heck of a hill to climb. Actually, I think their best bet would be a name change.....

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

Not a GEM owner but certified so I guess i'll be able to buy the new tracks - provided they are songs that have never been released by any other manu. They cannot just jump back in the game by producing hits of the last few years that most people already got and don't get sung anymore anyway. I don't buy duplicates on purpose nor just because it says SC.

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

I have, but only if I know if the track I want is vastly superior or to replace a track that is so crappy, it couldn't possibly be any worse.

I have replaced a LOT of my SAV discs with better quality tracks from downloads when I could afford the extra cost.


-James

Yes, but at what cost? With Sound Choice's announced very limited customer base that will be eligible to buy these "new" discs I would imagine the price will have to be way up there, maybe even as high as $??? a disc, that is if they want to make any money or a least break even.
I'm not sure I understand their marketing concept (lets exclude 95%+ of the potential market).

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Music speaks to the heart in ways words cannot express.

Oh I've too duplicated to replace a bad version. What I was getting at, I just don't buy them simply to have them, especially if the songs aren't really sung anymore (or ever).

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

Cost will definitely be an issue. I won't pay for a 15 song disc that cost more than 30 bucks at worst. Any more than that no way, and again the disc would have to pretty special with songs absolutely never been released for me to even consider paying that much.

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

I remember this exact same thing being mentioned (and discussed here) almost 2 years ago. Color me "Seeing will be believing.", but I will send some suggestions for song titles.

And this is why I (as an exception to the rule because I am a DB KJ) got myself listed as being Certified on SC's site (thanks to the assistance of Chris Avis). This upcoming SC news (which Chris just posted) was one of the reasons why I wanted to be listed as being Certified on SC's site.

I will buy every disc's they come out with as long as it's not songs I have never heard of. This is great news. For the ones that having been buying disc's for a long time why not just show the disc's and get certified. Sound choice will embrace the legal host. They want to work with u. I'm assuming they don't want to sell to someone who will buy the disc and make copies for all there buddies. They have been nothing but good to me. I urge any new host to really consider buying the gem. It have 6000 great songs on them. Probably 80 percent of older songs requested are on the gem. The quality is the absolute best. I notice the gem songs sound a hair better then the ones on the disc. Most KJ's who have both will agree. Like I said a million times 95 percent of the manufacture disc requested is always sound choice. I have no ties what so ever to Sound Choice. Just telling the honest truth. Some of the manufactures putting out new disc the quality is not up to par. Some of them I only play if it is the only song I have.

for those that are complaining that they spent a buttload of money on soundchoice but didn't want to pay for the certification, there was that free offer that chris posted a while back. If you didn't have the required 150 discs but were close, I'm sure you still could have emailed them and try and get them to make an exception.

well i guess its a moot point now

I'm so glad that I have been able to get new releases from other manus these last couple of years that sound really good! I really could care less if SC started recording new music or not.

When they left the karaoke business to pursue their new business model, other manus stood up and filled the void very nicely, imo.

SC trying to get back into the karaoke business won't affect my business one way or the other. I, and many other kjs, have learned how to do business and move forward without them and things are good. It also sounds like if they do start to make karaoke tracks again, they are gonna charge you guys an arm and a leg for them because you know their cost to make them is "$25,000 - $30,000 for 15 songs."

And the fact that they say they are only gonna sell to a tiny fraction of the KJ market (GEM Licensee and SC certified hosts only) tells me that the cost of their new discs will be sky high. How else will they be able to get any type of ROI if they don't charge you guys through the nose?

In my crazy little mind, SC is just completely out of touch with KJ reality and have been for several years. YMMV

Interesting point I had not thought of Prince...
that is a lot of money invested to make songs for only a few hundred possible customers.
unless the certified requirement is going to be dropped, which is always a possibility.
they would have to come back with something really special to compete with everyone else who stepped up in the last few years, though it might be nice to have another option for tracks

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

The limited target market SC has stated they would have, if releasing new music, was the first thing I thought when there was the first mention of it. At the low end of $25,000 to produce a 15 track release, they would need to sell 833 units at $30 each to break even.

Well, I have read in the "company I am not allowed to mention" Blues thread, Jclaydon posted that the woman who answered the phone at "said company" stated that they are producing in house. Since this was in regard to a regular disc - not a GEM - maybe ther are doing new stuff as well. I asked Jim for a reply, but still await....

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

" Disc based and loving it..."