Karaoke Forums

No offence Jim, but I quit caring.

It's much too expensive for arguably better quality, and the few one off songs.... Not to mention my costs are never fully understood.

6000 leased 20 year old songs for the same price as new releases? No thanks.

Moved on.

Not worth it for me, either. I am working with 7,000 songs, or so, so leasing the GEM set would not be cost effective, as I have many of those songs from other producers. Those songs that are only available from SC, are being produced by other companies, now. So, one day, SC will be completely irrelevant, unless they start producing music, again. There is no way I would spend $7,000 for the GEMs, especially since it is a lease. And to spend, even $159 a month for a Help License would be ridiculous. At $420 a month, we are talking absolutely ludicrous!! SC/PEP is desperate to make money, because nothing they are doing is working. People are buying their music from other sources. As time goes by, SC is getting further and further behind. Karaoke Version and Karaoke.net are making all the new music that the people want. They are going back, and producing older songs, that were only done by SC. KV is actually going back and improving on songs they already made. Gotta love that!! So, I think, that this will be another EPIC FAIL on the part of PEP.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Jumping in after a long hiatus. (That's right! I have a long hiatus! (Insert Trump joke here!))

Still rocking after all these years with GEM set #1. Best investment I ever made, long since paid for itself. All the claims of doom and destruction have yet to come true. My license agreement or "lease" as some prefer to incorrectly call it, still continues. No extra charges, no additional fees, nobody knocking on my door demanding my discs back, etc. Essentially, NONE of the dire predictions have come true and I use the best base tracks in the business every time I KJ.

And now I see the price is going up? Seems I made a very good decision all those years ago.

One can admit to saying the Gem is high priced but it's actually the best price right now. Allthough 7k is a steep investment for an older set, it is worth every penny. On the other hand, their payment options are very good.

P.S. how come Sunfly can come right in and offer 1200+ songs to the usa? Come on soundchoice... get in on the new releases. We've waited for more than 20 years!

Anyway, i am glad to have purchased the complete Gem set at .80 cents a song instead of staying with karafun subscription. Best move I've made in 2016. Cheers to Pep for offering this great deal.

Welcome back!

I definitely see this argument from the other side too... I still get customers asking for Sound Choice versions of songs, and there are certain SC exclusives that kind of suck that aren't in my book. I wish I could tell my customers that I would get it. Instead I tell them I won't touch SC.

That said, I would support them if they were doing something good to help the future of my show. They continue to live off their past and using the "or else" tactic to drive sales. I'm not buying it anymore. Either make new material, get us single song sales, use SC's star power to fix the problem entirely, or get out of the game... but do something!

Do i want the package? Sure... lets say yes. Does it make financial sense? Not a chance. I can buy 6000 songs 3 times over for that amount of money... May not be Sound Choice, but at least I dont have to answer to them.

2 weeks ago I just beat my record singer count again at 47, and am rarely under 30 singers. Without much SC in my book.

I'm posting this because I want to support them. But won't until they get their (@$%&#!) together. Lol

One thing I do see is that the SC brand has a very large following of customers but it seems that PEP is overlooking this, maybe they have been too busy or tied up in other aspects.

If I had a customer base like SC has created over the years, I would look into releasing a GEM 2 set. I would buy another 6000 songs for 7k without question.

They are milking, and I do mean milking, their 'very large following' for everything they can based on their discontinued products. Clearly, some people think their 'current products' are worth the money.

As mentioned above, if someone asks me for SC, I either have it or I don't. Years ago, I'd do what I can to find the version they wanted. Today? He!! no. I simply tell them either I don't have the SC version or I have the song but it's just like singing the same song with a different band. They either sing it, pick a different song, sit down and pout like a child or never come back to my show. I'm 100% ok with any of those choices.

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DJ Don

This would require them to actually make and license 6000 songs.

It's actually much easier than people may think. I do recall Sunfly providing background tracks in bulk, SC just needs to put their trademark and create a cdg file to accompany.

Take a look at Mr. Entertainer, SBI, Zoom, they all using the same background tracks and making $$ from selling as downloads on their own websites.

On another note, sybersound doing same thing with Pocket songs, and Billboard hits.

Maybe SC made enough money over the years and decided to retire the brand. Who knows what runs through their minds.

I'm curious how DancingFrogKaraoke.com does it with selling tracks that KJ's request?

I was actually thinking about a GEM for a new system i'm building until they raised the price. I will probably look for other sets for my core and buy individual songs from a compilation of my top 500 lists over the last couple years.

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

and then you pay $3.50 for a Sunfly track that you can buy for $2.50. SC was popular because the audio quality was light years ahead of the other companies of the time, now that is no longer the case so why pay more for a Sunfly track because it has the Sc logo on it?


ME, SBI, and Sunfly...not Zoom.


Sybersound purchased the tracks from Pocketsongs, not LICENSING them like the others. Like Karaokecloud did with CB, and Sybersound put out the Billboard Hits series to begin with.


they failed to give consumers (read that as hosts) what they wanted and fell away. plus, they keep promising to get the band back together so there was no desire to retire the brand at all and never has been, i'm sure Jim will back that up.


by not paying for licensing.....

your lack of knowledge of anything karaoke related while still posting on this board astounds me.

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

She has absolutely no clue how licensing works - it's a little more involved than just put their trademark on it.

ME, SBI, Abraxa and Sunfly all buy from the same music source. It's the graphics that make the difference here. Zoom doesn't buy from these sources (as a rule).

No if they were to 'retire' the brand, they wouldn't be selling it in GEM sets and suing over the use of it.

Yet she's been in the business for 25 years and still hasn't a clue.

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

We aren't interested in buying tracks from anyone.



The fundamental problem was that the consumers decided to take what they wanted rather than paying for it. And guess what--they still want it.

I have a new license with a major publishing group sitting on my desk awaiting signature, and I completed paperwork for new licensing with three other publishers just today. New music IS coming.

But you are only going to sell that new music to a few hundred people, so you won't make any money on anything new you release.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Will you be selling it in digital format so we can buy it then download it just like the rest of the modern world?

Take it for what it's worth but I think SC (Pep) is very smart in creating Gem sets for professionals.

1) you get the actual disk in Mp3+g format
2) by not offering Digital Downloads
(People will just buy 1 copy and share it all over the net)

I am on that band wagon awaiting new releases if they are available on "Disk or SD"

I do not like digital downloads!

In reply to the Sunfly tracks, I was paying .50 cents each directly from sunfly in bulk packs, but Singers especially the american singers prefer SC over SF.

No offense meant to you personally Jim, but after everything that has happened, I'll believe it when i see it.

Don't get me wrong, i believe that you believe new music is coming, but something always seems to get in the way..

good luck tho

-James

I will.

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KNOW THYSELF

A boxcar of salt....

That's good. I have a number of legal contracts with the state government for millions of dollars sitting on my desk awaiting their confirmation either Wednesday or Saturday. .

(Lottery tickets, see how that works?)



That's nothing. I completed (single-handedly) preparation for an entire government-sponsored crew with 6 tons of heavy machinery that won't cost me or my company a single red cent.

(I raked my front yard for the city leaf pickup)