The Lawsuits Have Started In Virgina

[billyo]

Originally Posted by Musicman51

Well billyo, sorry to be the messenger of bad news. But if you will look under the thread KIAA Membership, i posted two craigs list links. According to that guy, 80-90% of all kj's are theives anyways. And those who don't make $200 a night for a week night show, and $250 a night for a week-end show, is a theif. So is that Billy Theif, or do you prefer William Thief? hehehe...see how crazy this has become? if it wern't so **** sad, i'd be funny....

i was making that much , but i also do a lot of charity work, friends parties ( wedding, daughters 18th b-days graduation days etc. all freebies ) if i were to charged people and if playing music is my means i would be charging more than $200-250, i would spend that much in a hearbeat and it wouldn't bother me..i only charged $ 175.-$200 a night but i don't have to pay for food/drinks tabs..the most you can get around this area is $200 since the economy went down, and i stopped playing for a year all the offers i got within that year, was passed on to friends that do this for a living, i only started playing again maybe the last 6 mos. which is only 1 day a week and the country clubs every other week..and if he categorized that as being a thief..well that's he's problem..i know that i'm not..and also what is the diff. bet weekdays and weekends,anyway, you bring in the same gears on both days anyway, set up the same place( area)? sing the same songs..etc.

[RandyMcCharles]

I think what SC is suggesting is that "illegitimate KJs" made lots of money because they did not put out a fortune to buy 6000 licensed tracks. I could not get a feel from the document of how profitable they felt legitimate KJs may be.

I'm sorry if I sounded like I was supporting SC's position. I am not. I was just suggesting that they have described their problem in terms a jury can understand, in a few simple four letter words.

SC's problem is real. If they cannot make a profit on CDG sales they are out of business. Piracy, which they have described, contributes to that problem. All of Canada's karaoke producers have gone out of business. None of them credited this to piracy. All of them said it was due to rising license fees from rights holders. Even fees on manufactured products went up so they had to raise sales prices to between $40 - $50 a disc at which point sales fell off a cliff. Result? The Canadian industry killed itself.
SC makes no mention of rising royalties impacting their bottom line, though I am sure that is a big contributor.

I have heard that country music rights holders have not increased fees as much, which may explain why 90% of Chartbuster new releases are country.

SC also makes no mention of increased competition from UK manufacturers, which as far as I can tell are taking over the market. Canadian karaoke suppliers all carry UK brands, most at better prices than SC. I have seen play books here with virtually no SC tracks and I think this is because the KJ only bought cheaper discs (which is often painfully obvious).

I agree that SC is going about this whole business backwards and all they are really doing is just speeding their demise. If piracy is the final nail in the coffin (which it isn't) then the entire industry will soon follow. Because the entire industry won't die but will just go global, SC is clearly wrong.

I mentioned in a post many months ago: the only KJ here in Calgary with HD that I have talked to about licensing says she gets her discs and HD audited twice a year as part of her business licenses. Seems to me that is a far better solution. (She uses Hoster BTW)

[Musicman51]

I have heard that country music rights holders have not increased fees as much, which may explain why 90% of Chartbuster new releases are country.

No thats not the reason actually. Chartbuster is a spinoff from the old "American Accompaniment" in nashville tn. American had a state of the art studio back then in nashville, and went to recording full time and gave up the karaoke aspect of their business, which was all cassette by the way, with the exception of 2 or 3 cdg's. I purchased one of each copy they had left in their library upon their closing up shop. When the FedEx man delivered those boxes of cassettes, my family thought i'd lost my mind. Took all of us about 10 minutes to unload that truck. Great multiplex and vocal track karaoke cassettes. Those old recordings beat anything...anything done today. Using the original musicians on mostly first run original tracks. So now chartbuster is located in Knoxville TN, and uses some of the same nashville studio musicians you hear that play on the original recordings on the radio today. Chartbuster is clearly the leader in country karaoke, just as american accompaniment was before them. Pocket Songs for instance is clearly the leader in big band, and standard music by the way. Pocket Songs are not known for their country releases by the same token. Hope this helps.

[muzicman144]

I mentioned in a post many months ago: the only KJ here in Calgary with HD that I have talked to about licensing says she gets her discs and HD audited twice a year as part of her business licenses. Seems to me that is a far better solution. (She uses Hoster BTW)[/quote]

The last thing i want is the government attempting to regulate, license, and enforce the "karaoke" business. I don't think it will be too long before some town or city is going to require a business license because it is a pretty huge tax loss as most KJ's pay no tax on their income unless they recieve a 1099. We are talking millions and millions of tax revenue across the country. It's got to happen!
muzicman144

[RandyMcCharles]

Musicman51, great background on Chartbuster. Thanks.

Muzicman144, I was suggesting the licensing/audit as an alternative to KIAA going around dragging KJs into court. I would rather have the gvt give me the 'good-to-go' than buy a promise from KIAA. Lesser of 2 evils.

BTW Small business in Canada is more rigorously regulated than in the US. I know a guy who started a company and was driven out of business by regulation. He started again in the US and was a millionaire in 3 years.

[muzicman144]

Originally Posted by RandyMcCharles

Musicman51, great background on Chartbuster. Thanks.

Muzicman144, I was suggesting the licensing/audit as an alternative to KIAA going around dragging KJs into court. I would rather have the gvt give me the 'good-to-go' than buy a promise from KIAA. Lesser of 2 evils.

BTW Small business in Canada is more rigorously regulated than in the US. I know a guy who started a company and was driven out of business by regulation. He started again in the US and was a millionaire in 3 years.

I understood that, but, i feel the KIAA won't be around too long. The government stays forever, and you can just make a bet, the government will make you pay. jmho
Just isn't any easy way to cure this problem. It is all about slicing the pie a little thinner to give everyone a piece.
muzicman144

[Musicman51]

Walt, i agree withya. If this non scense gets too far out of hand, i will sell my gear and git out of it. I'm serious. I'll go back to playing guitar and pedal steel in a band. At my age, my blood pressure doesn't need the excitement..hehehehehe

[Musicman51]

As you can see from this photo i'm an old geezer..lol The sweet young lady next to me is my new found love of my life. We met last year at the American Legion where i do karaoke, this is where this photo was taken. She consumes a great part of my time, and my life. A wonderful person. I am so glad to have her as a true friend and she takes great care of me.....George

[RandyMcCharles]

Hey Musicman, we could be brothers. I am about to turn 51. Your new love looks like a keeper. Lots of spunk.

[billyo]

Originally Posted by Musicman51

Walt, i agree withya. If this non scense gets too far out of hand, i will sell my gear and git out of it. I'm serious. I'll go back to playing guitar and pedal steel in a band. At my age, my blood pressure doesn't need the excitement..hehehehehe

you don't have to do that,as you were saying at your age, you dont wanna go out and travel to diff. venues ( town ) again ..maybe one of the solutions is to not play any SC disc..i myself will put it on my marque that i won't be playing any of their disc..or will buy any of it..and lets see who's pocket will be hurting

[RandyMcCharles]

If you get too publically anti-SC you may draw their attention and their wrath. I don't know that you want to waste you time on it. Better if you just quietly promote the purchasing bouycott with KJs and singers who buy DGS. Strained sales will send a message bigger than any public outcry.

[billyo]

Originally Posted by RandyMcCharles

If you get too publically anti-SC you may draw their attention and their wrath. I don't know that you want to waste you time on it. Better if you just quietly promote the purchasing bouycott with KJs and singers who buy DGS. Strained sales will send a message bigger than any public outcry.

isn't that good to get their attention, this way they will feel kJ's wrath, to let them know that they killing their business themselves..