Karaoke Forums

i will argue though that i am legal in everyones eyes. not just SC, i buy every song i use from a legit source (to the best of my posible research) and never use a torrent or any other file sharing system. i believe most everyone here does as well. being legal is not just paying SC to use the tracks we already bought, but paying for everything we use....being the good guy.

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

they have always been a full service, sales and rental business for music instruments, amps mixers etc. The owners son talked dad into karaoke disc sales and it became the largest part of their business. of course that changed when downloads took over. They still rent karaoke systems with SC bricks I would guess.

I'm sure most of us are right along side you. After all, in order to get new music, we need to make sure the karaoke manufacturers keep getting paid. But there is more to just the "Good Guy" payer these days.

From the legal side of this, we are all caught between a rock and a hard place. Even with having a legal catalog as far as you know, doesn't mean we are 100% legal these days. Media Shifting, Shady download sites, FAQ with conflicting ideas of usage. None of us are getting a straight answer on whats right or wrong for the ENTIRE industry. There needs to be a standard.

Now that the US and Canada are excluded 'for now' from new product from the UK, legitimate KJs will be once again penalized as we try to do the right thing. It's also going to hurt those same UK companies because the US/Canada market is a BIG part of the bottom line for them. If this crazy nonsense keeps continuing those manus might not be around when it gets straightened out.

More FUD.

The GEM series is and always has been a fully licensed product.

The original lawsuit wasn't even about the GEM series, nor did the plaintiff's attorney even bother to check whether there were licenses for what they did sue over.

You know, it's great that you take some time out of your day to respond to Staley, if only your company were as driven at getting product out as you are to deal to him.

Considering people are looking for tracks in the now karaoke product wasteland, this would be a perfect time to get SOMETHING out. Don't you think?

Just my opinion.

There just isn't enough profit in it for them to be bothered making any new karaoke tracks. If a song is really good and has the possibility to be a classic that gets sung for years and years; someone usually puts it out there or someone at least puts out a backing track so people can make their own karaoke tracks of the song. There are thousands of home made karaoke tracks out there and I haven't heard of any of the people making them getting dragged into court and paying any serious penalties except for the KRG thing recently. I get the feeling that they were told to cease and desist and that is what they did. I haven't heard anything new on that front for months. BKD and KV and SBI and Mister Entertainer may be the only karaoke producers that actually put out new music on a regular basis but for some reason, they don't want people in America to support those companies financially so the only people in America who wind up with those new titles are the pirates, of which there are more and more every day. Pirate KJs proliferate like rabbits. Every now and then, ONE lousy rabbit gets caught in a trap while hundreds, maybe thousands of others just set up shop in it's place. It's an infestation that just gets worse every year. There is ONE Company out there that tries to scare the rabbits into paying up but the rabbits just laugh at them now and keep doing what they've been doing, even when the bad rabbits are pointed out to them. Some of these rabbits are handed over on a silver platter, and still, nothing ever seems to happen to them. This particular Forum seems to be populated mostly by people who have tried their best to remain legal in the eyes of the Almighty and Powerful OZ and that is why the number of posts to this Forum is so small. This Forum has become a very small slice of the karaoke world where like minded people come to agree with each other because any people who feel differently than the majority are driven away. The only one left here that stands up to the powers that be here is Chip Staley and he gets hammered by the regulars on a regular basis for posting his thoughts. It's become like that Twilight Zone episode where Wiiliam Shatner is on a plane and sees the monster out on the wing. The monster here is just as imaginary. The people who believe in it try to scare the people who don't believe in it into thinking that there is some impending danger, that they need to make a sacrifice to, to stay safe from.

For most of us, it isn't necessary to even acknowledge Chip. But Chip has been on a very long crusade to to drag everything SC related through the mud. His implications and flat out lies have to be addressed from time to correct the mis-information.

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-Chris

This whole decade long process of legitimizing digital music in the karaoke world has been a complete and total joke. Try and imagine a comedian 20 years from now trying to explain it from start to finish... (that's provided the comedian has the proper licensing to joke about it )

I really do hope that the dust settles and we see UK producers back on the Tricerasoft store. Karaoke.net looks promising, but North America is just too hard to produce tracks in.... which is ironic, because most tracks are produced based off of it's airwaves.

The music industry went through similar (@$%&#!) 15 years ago, until an unlikely source in Steve Jobs fixed it. If it wasn't for Apple and iTunes, music would have been in limbo for alot longer. Perhaps someone in this world can do something similar and fix the licensing problem at it's source, rather than succumb to all the work arounds in order to appease it?

To answer your question Chris, I'll be using Karaoke-Version, Tricerasoft, BKDL.com, and if Karaoke.net gets bigger than I think it will.. I'll be using that.

Passed all that, there's this thing called Tor browser I heard about somewhere.

@ Chris... And it's funny how YOU took time out of your (busy?) schedule to plant yet another dig at Chip. Why don't you let the fight between James and Chip REMAIN BETWEEN James and Chip???!!!

does anyone know where to buy legal karaoke from the U.S. besides karaoke cloud.. Thanks

karaoke.net - still getting up to speed with only 6,100+ tracks available currently but they already have many tracks not ever released by any other company in the available library and are adding more as they get them ready. They just launched in December but have run customburn.com in the UK for years now and acquiring as much legit licensing for the US downloads as they can.

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

allstarkaraokedownloads.com
Karaoke.net

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Yeah, right.... sure....

And a settlement check was for what exactly?.... For having " a fully licensed product?"

There's a hole in your story..... and it's a big one....

If it was a "fully licensed product" then the lawsuit would have been frivolous....

If it was a "fully licensed product" then the lawsuit would have never progressed...

If it was a "fully licensed product" then the lawsuit would not have lasted 3 years....

If it was a "fully licensed product" then the lawsuit would have culminated in either a "win or lose" termination...

If it was a "fully licensed product" and you "won the lawsuit" then EMI woud have been paying you.... or at least your legal fees...

But it didn't end that way did it?

Your company/client paid a settlement.... (but it was "legal" right?)

Tell the truth.... I dare you.

All I can say is, Bazinga!

This is a syndrome known as the "Avisfart."
It's comprised of lots noise, always kind of smelly, but really nothing of substance.

Please list the lies that are "SC related" and make sure to back them up with documentation because over the years, I have backed up my statements. So I would expect nothing less from you.

Take all the time you need, I'll wait.

Chris is one of the William Shatners that is trying to convince everyone else that there is a monster on the wing when there is none. Chip is trying to show everyone that the monster has no claws. Chris needs people to fear the monster to keep those people from having an unfair advantage over him. Some people will always be afraid of imaginary monsters and the imaginary monster thrives on those gullible people.

How do you know EMI isn't paying us?

(Or, rather, our insurance company?)

As I've said previously, there was a settlement. It's confidential, so I can't disclose the content of that agreement. And neither can anyone else, so your speculation is about as ill-informed as it could be.

But I can tell you that (a) we never stopped licensing the GEM series, (b) we were never asked, much less ordered, to stop licensing the GEM series, and (c) after the lawsuit was settled, the GEM series is still available.

About 90% of the pendency of the lawsuit was taken up with EMI figuring out what songs they actually own, so there's that.

Yeah, not really.

first, Chris is in no need of anyone having an unfair advantage, they are already there and he is repeatedly kicking their a$$.
second, nothing has been done about any of those pirates anyway
third, " This Forum has become a very small slice of the karaoke world where like minded people come to agree with each other because any people who feel differently than the majority are driven away"
that is because they are the ones stealing the tracks, and seeing nothing wrong with stealing tracks. not because they disagree with SC's methods...hell, i disagree and have not been quiet about it, but the issue is more the people who do not see copying from friends, downloading torrents, or sharing tracks in other ways is wrong. if you have a problem with calling those people out and making them feel unwelcome, that is not our problem.

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

Because I'm not stupid. (I'm sure you'll disagree with that, but that's your opinion.)


Not quite because there was a settlement.... just weeks before the trial and just a couple months after an unsuccessful attempt to hide assets was made and Phoenix Entertainment Partners was added into the complaint as another defendant since Slep Tone went up in smoke. A childish game and hardly the actions of an "innocent victim" and it looks about the same as a pirate simply changing his company name and claiming you're suing the wrong entity.

You can present it anyway you want, but the logical conclusion to anyone with more than 3 brain cells is that Slep/SC/PEP paid a settlement.... period. If your product was in fact, "fully licensed" and everything was truly on the up-and-up, there would not have been any settlement necessary, much less a lawsuit to begin with. But this one dragged on for almost 3 years and that's not the sign of the "innocent victim" you are attempting to portray.

And here's my speculation - and I believe it's right on the money - pun intended.
And had you not paid a settlement, the gem series would have been recalled and that was obviously one of the driving forces that necessitated a settlement (check) so close to the trial. The last thing you wanted was a trial. Why would EMI care how many you "licensed" to start with? You own the discs and it's a "possessory license" right? It's your property and it's a simply matter of a court order recalling them from the licensees that are holding them. I'll bet you were glad that your gem licenses have all those indemnifications in them... but then again, if they truly were legal to start with, you wouldn't have needed those either would you?


That was your stalling method.. to have them list every single song and the percentages that they controlled... and while you expected it to take longer than it did, they complied and your client had run out of technical roadblocks.... so it was settlement time. I didn't happen to see in the filings anywhere that the defendant disputed any of the final percentages, did you?

In the meantime, your client claims that FSC Mediaplas "is our UK branch"... but in the lawsuit, he turns 180 degrees and claims that he had "no influence or control" over this seemingly independent company.... that is until it is found out the the original UK license application was rejected because the signature was a certain "Kurt Slep - consultant." Was that speculation or contradiction?

You can attempt to blow smoke and blink lights and justify it all you want... it still doesn't smell like roses and the entire scenario is not the actions of some innocent victim. Not all speculation is wrong and I know how that frustrates you.

Have a nice day counselor.