Thread: KIAA Membership
View Single Post
  #69  
Old February 6th, 2010, 12:45 AM
Musicman51 Musicman51 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Michigan
Posts: 575
I found this forum posting, from the anoited one Kurt Slep. Thought i'd pass it along. You make up your own mind.

 



Sound Choice

Member

Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 27
Thanks: 0
Thanked 93 Times in 23 Posts


If I had the time, I would try to answer everyone point by point, but let me say this: For those who are predominantly "legal" (i.e., they have an original legally purchased Sound Choice disc to support each and every copy that they have of a song file on a hard drive or CAVS system) we are not going to pursue a lawsuit against you if you have the discs BEFORE we investigate and file suit. We are not being hardnosed or unfair. If you are "legal", we recognize that there might be a disc or two missing over the years and you shouldn't have any concerns. Come on - I hope that no one really believes that we would waste our time pursuing someone in that situation!

Those that settle quickly are only being charged what would be a little over full retail for the library of discs that we ship you - although we could be much more punitive. You also have a permanent physical "record" (the CDG) in case the music publishers ever decide to come seeking retribution against the KJ community. (Remember the on-going RIAA lawsuits for huge amounts - and those settlements have been against HOME USERS, not even commercial users like KJ hosts). If we wanted to go to court, the MINIMUM we could ask for would be $200,000 and the maximum could be $4,000,000. So why would any KJ be so stupid/stubborn to want to go to court to learn they have no defense and pay tens of thousands more than it would take to get themselves legal?

Basically we want to be paid and WE SHOULD BE PAID for the music that many KJs have been using for years to earn a living or for pocket change or whatever. If you disagree with this statement, then you shouldn't mind if I come to your house and steal your car or something else you own. If you have a great many discs already, but maybe slid to the "dark side" in cloning a rig or "filling out" your library with stolen, traded songs, etc. we will take that into account. But whatever the amount is, just remember it is a "pittance" compared to what it could be. For those who are named in a suit and wait to respond until they are served (we try to give at least a 20 day response time via an advance letter after you have been named), their cost will go up because our costs to deal with the matter goes up. The smarter KJs (and yes, we are running across more and more of them) are buying a library of our discs BEFORE they even get investigated. And that's OK with us. They save money and we save a hassle. Sounds like a win-win.

For those who chose to buy before we "catch you" the library of discs on hand is being sold for about $0.75 per song. We are working on relicensing about 7500 songs in our catalog and releasing them in 320kbps MP3+G format, so that you don't even have to go to the trouble of format conversion. We still can't legally grant you the right to put them on a computer because our licenses do not specifically state we have that right. But since publishers know that our CDGs are being used in a commercial setting (and authorize them for that use), it is our opinion that as long as you have a 1:1 ratio of disc to song file, the US publishers aren't going to worry about the format shift problem. (In Australia and the UK they DO have a format shift license that allows this and it costs about $400 a year and covers your commercial music and karaoke discs).

As for suing venues, we are fully within our rights to do so if they continue to benefit from a host running an illegal system. It's called CONTRIBUTORY INFRINGEMENT. And we are pursuing this approach AT THE INSISTENCE of and for the benefit of many of our long time karaoke hosts who have bought our products and who have been put out of business or suffered financially from competition from thieves who have had the unfair advantage of not having any investment in their music. As more thieves lose their gigs because a bar doesn't want to be at risk and the bars hire legal KJs, those who are legal will thank Sound Choice and the KIAA more and more because they can get more gigs at a higher price. If you are a thief (we are going to move away from the glamorized term of "pirate") you will probably cuss Sound Choice and the KIAA more and more as you find your opportunities limited.

For those who are adamant that Sound Choice is the “bad guy” in the on-going scenario of lawsuits, I would be hard pressed to even understand your position if you think we are not entitled to being paid. You might not like our “collection methods”, but there is a perfectly legal solution if you are worried about a lawsuit and how you would defend or respond. Avoid the suit altogether - be PROACTIVE – BUY BEFORE YOU “FRY”. No one is stopping you from doing what you can and should legally have been doing all along – buying our products. We are even doing some limited financing and are trying to arrange credit sources prior to the launch of our new products. Stay tuned for all that.

Kurt Slep
CEO Sound Choice

PS. I won’t be monitoring the responses to my post here. I will be busy trying to get our new product out to market, so that we can have a better solution for our KJ customers.
Reply With Quote