Legal or illegal

[RandyMcCharles]

You are quite right that KJs can pull one over on the gvt and auditor, but this is true in all business. If you you get caught cheating ,fines are huge and licenses can be revoked. I do know the Kj I spoke to does not cheat and is happy to play by the rules. This may be becuase I have checked out a good number of karaoe venues in the city and and have not seen any of these 75,000 song HDs in use. Most Kjs here are still using CGDs instead of HDs, and those few that use HDs have no more than 20,000 songs and very few recent titles. They look do have copied their CDG collections from their pre-HD days and have not bought much recent music. This could all change, of course.

[billyo]

Originally Posted by RandyMcCharles

You are quite right that KJs can pull one over on the gvt and auditor, but this is true in all business. If you you get caught cheating ,fines are huge and licenses can be revoked. I do know the Kj I spoke to does not cheat and is happy to play by the rules. This may be becuase I have checked out a good number of karaoe venues in the city and and have not seen any of these 75,000 song HDs in use. Most Kjs here are still using CGDs instead of HDs, and those few that use HDs have no more than 20,000 songs and very few recent titles. They look do have copied their CDG collections from their pre-HD days and have not bought much recent music. This could all change, of course.

i can count on one hand in this area that still uses disc, i myself have about 37k , ( not including the cassette tapes )some of these disc were bought before i started doing outside venues,and when i decided to venture out in 2003 then i started buying disc by packs, ( all collections of : sgb, supercore, sound choice,chartbuster mm etc.) i don't buy 1 disc at a time..i know someone who is a pioneer of karaoke in this area used to have 50k songs all in a disc , he's songbooks must have been 8" thick, and he used to carry a big cart that looks like a 4 drawer filing cabinets with all he's cd's in it, he' the first hoster user i've seen in this area..

[billyo]

i think the best way to avoid this problem is to have a registerd license # on every cd's, ( if the manufacturer is willing to do that )that way if someone buys a disc and before it could be imported into a hhd he/she should register it first..but then how can you prevent it from making a copy of the hhd...losing battle

[muzicman144]

I appreciate all the response to this thread, especially the honesty. My final thought is the KIAA is just an organization that has been created using the kJ as a tool to become an informer on other KJs for an organization that has its own self interest in mind. There are persons that if one really researches the entire situation, that has their own self interest as the main ingrediant that stirs the soup. I sincerely believe that after reading all the material available on the lawsuits filed in Arizona that a local power play is in fact the driving point behind the litigation. The local Karaoke Alliance formed in Arizona has emerged as the KIAA. If the results in Phoenix with all the lawsuits is indictive of what we can expect nationally, we will become the witness to a drive to power of an organization that will destroy the Karaoke Industry as we know it.
I hope and pray I'm wrong. I believe we, as and industry, can self police these illegal operations without the help of self interest groups that really don't give crap about the KJ. Thanks for the response
muzicman144

[ddouglass]

I am confused. Here we all seem to profess that we hate those KJ's that are illegal and using pirated material which are hurting our business. Then when an organization comes along that wants the same thing, to get rid of the piraters who are undercutting our businesses you all say they have their own agenda and want to use us as informers. What is so wrong with that? They may have their own reasons for stopping them but the end is still the same. They are out of business and we are better off for it.
That is my parting shot.
Musicman144, good topic and it definately generated some excellent conversations.

[bryant]

Originally Posted by ddouglass

Then when an organization comes along that wants the same thing, to get rid of the piraters.

I think that the issue switched over to "Is this really an organization?" or an individual with no power to do what it says it wants to do, indicating maybe just an individual helping himself out.

[ddouglass]

It is not an individual. As to how much they can do remains to be seen. My guess is any pursuit of lawsuits will come from the production companies or may be a joint suit, but we don't know for sue and nothing on the sites tells us what they can do directly or indirectly.

[muzicman144]

Originally Posted by bryant

I think that the issue switched over to "Is this really an organization?" or an individual with no power to do what it says it wants to do, indicating maybe just an individual helping himself out.

Bryant, Dale, As respected contributors to this forum, You opinion does carry a certain amount of weight. Dale, my thought on illegal is the same as you, but to contribute to just any organization takes some thought. When one is asked to inform on his fellow man, there is a lot of things to consider. First, and foremost, the question is why, and who benefits, Second, is this a good thing, third, do all the parties agree this is a good thing. After i really looked into every aspect i could find involving the KIAA, and i spent numerous hours on the internet searching for these answers. I could not justify informing on my peers without completely knowing if i was right. i didn't see where this was a good thing because it would open a can of worms that would result in what we are seeing in Phoenix. I do not see this as a good thing. I have come to the conclusion that just as every thing is life that one benefits monetarily from, there is a price to pay. I conclude with this thought, When we look at ourselves tomorrow, did we do the right thing. Only we, have the answer. Again, thanks for you participation.
We all must do what our concience tells us, then pray for the best results.
muzicman144