The Lawsuits Have Started In Virgina

[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.

[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

[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..

[RandyMcCharles]

They will get the message regardless with falling sales. They know who their customers are.

Oh. If they hear vocal KJs they will assume they are pirates. If their sales fall, they will know it is purchasing KJs who are upset.

[admin]

We respect Sound Choice as one of the best producers. We hope they are only going after true bootleggers who don't deserve to steal your shows. If you know of a KJ making money who bought a hard drive on EBay for $400 with 35,000+ songs or who bought a hard drive copy from anywhere else (it is illegal) or who swap songs with friends or other KJs, or who downloads CDG songs from MIRC servers, please turn them in to Sound Choice. We need to clean up the industry.

Here are the facts that we are aware of:

1. About six years ago Sound Choice went after a KJ in the Michigan(?) area under copyright law, who refused to settle out of court. The case went to court and the judge threw Sound Choice out, based on their claims. The KJ was cleared.

2. Sound Choice has never taken anyone to court since, to our knowledge and research.

3. They are blackmailing KJs into paying them $6500. If you sign anything as a settlement out of court you are bound under contract law to obey whatever they have you sign. Check with your own lawyer but we recommend that you never sign any contract preventing you from doing anything with karaoke.

4. If you have legally purchased all of the songs you have on your hard drive, to the best of our knowledge and research, YOU ARE LEGAL. Tell Sound Choice you'll see them in court.

5. If you have any illegal songs you did not pay for DELETE THEM NOW. If you are found with illegal songs, pray. That's your only hope.

6. Twice before MTU has paid IPJustice.org to research all current law for your rights as KJs/users of CDG legally purchased songs. Please click here to read their report. Pay special attention to "format shifting" from one media to another. It happens world-wide every day.
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[Musicman51]

Admin, thats pretty much as things stand right now, as i understand them as well. Might i just add that at this very moment, as i type. Both Sound Choice, and Chartbuster, just to list two, both consider "Format Shiffting" as being illegal. As i have read the legal suit, not one lawsuit was brought against a kj using illegal disc, all had format shiffted. I tend to think both companies are wrong about this, and your legal research is 100% correct. I have been told by my family lawyer as well, that format shiffting is legal.

[Musicman51]

or who downloads CDG songs from MIRC servers,

what'sa "MIRC" server?

[RandyMcCharles]

From what I have seen KIAA states that downloads are illegal but were themselves going to introduce legal downloads, one statement stated "in 2009". I have seen nothing from SC yet, but Charbuster has had downloads in beta for a while now and recently added MP3+G (CDG) format. They are charging $5 per track (which seem to me as more expensive than their custom discs). This feels like another case of "we are legal; our competition is not). Most UK brands have been downloading for at least a year.

http://www.chartbusterkaraoke.com/downloads.aspx

[capnvic]

Originally Posted by Musicman51

what'sa "MIRC" server?

MIRC or ICQ or similar web servers act as a place were file swapping (in particular Karaoke mp3+G) files were being shared out. This is highly illegal, since all the participants are doing is sharing files.

This was being done by some companies like KAZAA and Napster, and see what happened to them, they had to "legitimize" themselves, after the RIAA, the various publishing companies and artists launched lawsuits after them for violation of creative rights. (royalties and the lot)
These MIRC servers are on the fringe and should be avoided at all costs. If you are participating in this music swapping process, you are breaking the law, and there are other reprocussions, such as malware and other nasty little things that could happen from these downloads. I know of several people who have been members of these sites, and while some of them have seen the error of their ways, others still persist in downloading, because they don't want to pay for the disks. I have seen first hand some of the nasty little viruses these files can contain. I will not use copied disks for that reason.

Food for thought...

[Musicman51]

Thanks for the explanation. Please don't list any links we just don't need that kind of thing here. I've never heard of such a site, i have heard of Napster but thats it. Learn something new everyday. Thanks, i will avoid them at all cost. I don't even visit lyrics sites anymore because so many of them have carry a virus.

[capnvic]

Originally Posted by Musicman51

Thanks for the explanation. Please don't list any links we just don't need that kind of thing here. I've never heard of such a site, i have heard of Napster but thats it. Learn something new everyday. Thanks, i will avoid them at all cost. I don't even visit lyrics sites anymore because so many of them have carry a virus.

Wasn't planning to list any links, The reason I mentioned KAZAA and Napster is for historical reference, even though they shared music not Karaoke files....Those two companies were involved with some heavy duty lawsuits.

[ronw]

Here is and up date on va lawsuites as of monday 7 names have taken the by out offer of 6,500,00 from sound choice also, Steller Records has jumped on board go to, http://www.stellarrecords.com/ just a big mess i am still fighting

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by ronw

Here is and up date on va lawsuites as of monday 7 names have taken the by out offer of 6,500,00 from sound choice also, Steller Records has jumped on board go to, http://www.stellarrecords.com/ just a big mess i am still fighting

Did they add their name to the lawsuit or are you saying this because they joined KIAA and now have a CAP program? They have been members of the KIAA since the beginning along with Sound Choice.

[ronw]

They were names allready on the lawsuite and now they have been droped from the lawsuite And sound choice got 6,500,00 for each rig that they have its all about the money, My onley guess is they thought it was the best thing to do, Lawyer fees start at around 300,00 and hour i have talked to two lawyers about my suite

[ddouglass]

I was meaning Stellar Records. Did they add their names to the lawsuit with Sound Choice?
The lawyer cost is probably what they are counting on, so they can get their settlement. The only problem I see with that is you have to admit to guilt and that is the part that would make me fight them no matter the cost. They had already tried this before in a case up north somewhere and the judge had thrown the case out.
The problem is we don't know all the results from Arizona or North Carolina but my guess is they all settled out of court which is a big mistake. In fact one guy reported (Arizona I think) that Sound Choice had refused to do an audit on his discs and only wanted to settle with the admission of guilt and purchase the $6500.00 set. What does that say about them.
The big question is how do we fight them when most of us are barely making a living as it is?
What did the two lawyers you spoke to tell you?

[ronw]

No steller did not add ther names to sc lawsuite and the lawyers i talked to said it would cost me more with them if it draged out in court because there are so manny named in the lawsuite, And yes 7 of the 45 named in the sc lawsuite for va did pay out the 6,500,00 and have been droped from the lawsuit you can go to www.stellerrecord.com to see what they are trying to do

[Musicman51]

I found this on another site, thought i'd just pass one persons thoughts along, what he bases this on, i have no idea. Is he right or way off base?...again, you make up your own mind.


Here are a few more of the myths that exist until this day about pirates:

Pirates charge less
Pirates are bottom feeders
Pirates don't spend money on anything
Pirates don't know what they are doing
Pirates don't keep their libraries up to date
Pirates are not professionals at running karaoke shows and running their businesses

Here are the facts in my area:
The first pirates were people who had established shows and switched from disc to computers
The original pirates here spent a good deal of money on their equipment long before they became a pirate
The original pirates here spent a good deal of money on their libraries before they became a pirate
Some of the pirates are using CAVS systems and don't even realize they are pirates. They run their shows like anyone else and complain about the pirating going on.
The newer pirates can and do purchase better equipment and software than the older shows have because of all their money can be directed to purchasing those things rather than spending $000's on a library. And it is so easy for them to multi-rig; just get more equipment.
One pirate charges more money because he has multiple rigs and has to pay the help!
None of the pirated libraries I am familiar with have any noticeable "flaws"
If there are many dups in their files, so what. A library of 100,000 containing 50% dups still leaves 50,000 unique songs. I have a library of less than 15000 with over 25% dups!
The pirates here know as much about running a show as anyone. Several work everyday of the week.
With the size of their libraries pirates CAN'T print complete books and most don't print any. People have been trained to simply put in their requests because the tracks is there. Hence, the pirate saves even more money by not printing books.
I can only think of 5-6 shows that are run off of discs around here!

So what is the downside for the person who unknowingly hires a pirate? And what is the downside for the person who attends a pirate's show, particularly if they are finding tracks that they can't find elsewhere? And how about singing with some of the best equipment around. For example, are Shure mics and 12" QSC speakers good enough for Karaoke, accompanied by a QSC sub?

And some think SC will help make it go away. Well, IMHO, once SC is done with their audits and out of the picture, the existence of pirated SC tracks will triple..... and the number of pirates will likely increase, as well!