rate of pay around the country.

[gotrich]

that for each sysem it has its own bought cds? I have 3 systems pc wise and I have 1 set of disc, that I bought legally. I own every song I have but coppied my legal files ove to the 2nd system

[bryant]

I have three setups. Setups being the speakers and mixers and TV sets. I carry around one Shuttle PC for karaoke. We usually do our karaoke shows together, except when I DJ music somewhere while she karaoke's, then I take all the music cd's and leave her only a couple for in between music if there is a lack of singers, but there never has been at our shows.

[gotrich]

I thought that i was allowed up to ten systems with one disc. i also heard 5 systems I also heard that as long as I own the company all my system are legal. Now I know common sence plays a part here and say you can have 100 systems and 1 disk for all of em but I thought 5 was a good number. Then I would have to buy new disc for the next 5. I do everything as legal as possible but I spend 3000 on my sound system so I am not one of those 75 dollar a night guys with insurance and cost of repairs and payig my DJS I HAVE TO CHARGE at least 150

Also I have tried to get the burn coppies of my buddies cds and start my own business guys out of town..bar owners laugh..why would they care its no there music and they pay bmi and ascap so who cares.. and the DJs are living easy so why would they care.and when I called sound choice, and bmi etc... bmi and ascap said the dont go after the dj they go after the establishment. and sound chice got proof? how can I proove that except word of mouth?

[kilith]

Originally Posted by gotrich

that for each sysem it has its own bought cds? I have 3 systems pc wise and I have 1 set of disc, that I bought legally. I own every song I have but coppied my legal files ove to the 2nd system

You are in fact to have 1 set of CDG's for every system. You are to have 1 set of CDG's for every computer that you run karaoke off of as well. You have the legal right to have a back up system and to have back up CDG's (or orginals for backup and run burned CDG's to protect your orginals)

Every system you run MUST have it's own set of CDG's to be legal. Even MTU states that as well. If you want to take the chance of running more then 1 system off of 1 set of CDG's many things could happen. Another KDJ could take you to court and file illegal competition suits against the parties using copied discs, a bar owner who knowingly uses a contractor that is in violation of the law risks sanctions including the loss of their liquor license. So if that is something you want to risk you can.

Yes it is expensive to buy all them CDG's for every one of your systems. If you do not have to pay for every set you can charge way less. So you now know why I charge from $200 to $300 a night. It is just like a DJ they had to pay for everyone of their records or CD's that use in their shows. Now there are ways of doing it in the digital world from download companies (I am not talking about Kazaa, Limewire, or Bearshare thoese are P2P clients) Dj's cost from $500-$1200 a night. They also hold more music then a normal KJ does so they have paid much more for their music.

[kilith]

Originally Posted by gotrich

I thought that i was allowed up to ten systems with one disc. i also heard 5 systems I also heard that as long as I own the company all my system are legal.

One 1 system per set of CDG's

Originally Posted by gotrich

Also I have tried to get the burn coppies of my buddies cds and start my own business guys out of town..bar owners laugh..why would they care its no there music and they pay bmi and ascap so who cares.. and the DJs are living easy so why would they care.and when I called sound choice, and bmi etc... bmi and ascap said the dont go after the dj they go after the establishment. and sound chice got proof? how can I proove that except word of mouth?

I would be careful... They are not going after the KJ's right because of homeland security and federal agents are not dealing with these type of issues at the moment. They have in the past gone after KJ's. Also like I said Sound Choice and them do not have to go after you. Your fellow KJ can sue you for illegal competition. So which is better? Run a legal system with the right ammount of CDG's? Or have someone come in and put you out of business by suing you? Also a way of proving someone have burned CDG's is very easy. Have a group of friends go up and sing... try and catch the KJ flipping through their CDG's (if they use them) and catch it in a picture. It is either us that clean up the illegal people or you join them and risk getting into a ton of trouble.

[SteveWalker]

Originally Posted by gotrich

I thought that i was allowed up to ten systems with one disc. i also heard 5 systems I also heard that as long as I own the company all my system are legal. Now I know common sence plays a part here and say you can have 100 systems and 1 disk for all of em but I thought 5 was a good number. Then I would have to buy new disc for the next 5. I do everything as legal as possible

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by kilith

One 1 system per set of CDG's

That is 1 operating system. We have 2 systems but only is doing a show at a time. If we ever have to do shows at once then we would need a second set of CDGs.

[kilith]

Well yeah in your case. As long as both systems are not used at the same time then you are fine. Heck you can even have the second one with you for backup just incase one crashes. What gotrich is doing wanting to copy his buddies CD's and then also running multi-copies on different computers of his orginal CDG's is illegal. Just copying his buddies CD's is bad since he would be using copied CDG's that he does not own himself

I do want to ask... who in their right mind told you that you can make upto 5 systems using 1 set of CDG's or even 100 systems? Also what does it matter if you own the company... You do not know Sound Choice, Panorama, Top Hits Monthly, Star Disk, or any other CDG company.... If you did own Sound Choice then there would be nothing we could say to you because you would be able to give yourself permission you run copies on different systems... but we all know you do not own the CDG companies So no just because you "own your company" does not mean your systems are legal to run off one set of CDG's. If that was the case I would after 12+ years have 10 systems... I just know there was no way in the world I could afford 12 sets of CDG's... I also know there would be no way to get 10 sets of DK Karaoke CDG's either anymore. So Gotrich... if yo are running illegal systems I would be careful... never know if someone that KJ's in the same place as you might not try and steal your shows by reporting you as a fraud at the bars you play in...

[gotrich]

I am not runing burned cds or anything like that I know people who are and I tried to turn them in bit no one cared. I tried to call laywers ans such,,again no one cared. I had no proof..even a photo could not be enough I was told.

I was asking about the cds being used on how many systems

[SteveWalker]

Originally Posted by kilith

... I just know there was no way in the world I could afford 12 sets of CDG's.....

think of it as "business units" each one sustaining itself In reality, karaoke is a charitable no profit organization.

[kilith]

Originally Posted by gotrich

I am not runing burned cds or anything like that I know people who are and I tried to turn them in bit no one cared. I tried to call laywers ans such,,again no one cared. I had no proof..even a photo could not be enough I was told.

I was asking about the cds being used on how many systems

Sorry I never ment to say you were using burned CDG's however you using your 1 set of CDG's on many computer systems is like using burned CDG's. It would be illegal for me to run my computer system and run my regular player system at the same time. Also when you went to the lawyers did you proclaim you want to sue for illegal compitition? If you took them to court for this THEY would have to prove to the court THEY are not doing illegal activities. You would not have to prove that they are. I guess you need to find the right kind of lawyer.

[kilith]

Originally Posted by SteveWalker

think of it as "business units" each one sustaining itself In reality, karaoke is a charitable no profit organization.

I believe that statement is untrue since I do know companies that have made a living and a good one by running karaoke. Aldo they ran legal systems all with orginal CDG's. Their books were not the same in any way and some systems were really crappy using only music mestro or SAV but however they still makde a living off of it.

[SteveWalker]

kilith,

I know many KJ's who have sustained their karaoke business since 1988 starting out with the laser discs. There are just too many KJ's who will work for $50-$75 a night which hurts the business. You will find the top people in ANY field who make the BIG money for what they do. There are many on this board who are doing this but they do not represent everyone. Just as in sales: the top 3% make 90% of the money. You've seen the ads in the paper that say you can make $120,000/year but the average guy will make $30,000.

[alanross]

Originally Posted by SteveWalker

you can make $120,000/year but the average guy will make $30,000.

That is absolutely true. And they don't tell you that the $120,000 is not the NET figure, that's the gross. AND, you need to be in a market that will sustain your company doing 600 shows per year @ $200/show.

That necessarily breaks down to needing two systems, each doing 6 shows/week @ $200/show. That means you necessarily need 2 copies of every disk and you have to pay another person to run the second system - unless you yourself can handle doing two shows a day, every day, six days a week, all year long.

In my second year of business, I did ten shows a week, myself, for about four months before the season ended. For another 5 months of that year, I was still doing seven shows a week and even in Dec, Jan and Feb, I was doing six shows a week. I was just building the business at the time, so I wasn't able to get more than $150 a night. Even after all that work, I still didn't gross anything like six figures, but once I started hiring, it still took two more years to build up enough business and raise our rates to break the $100,000 mark.

Even then, the net profit is very low and it's an enormous burden to be the top entertainment company in your area. To keep good hosts you need to pay them at least half of what you gross each night. You must keep up on all the latest music and you must remain vigilant in knowing your competition.

Preditors will chomp at your heels trying to replace you in the local hot spots. Everyone wants to play in the best venues and if you're the one playing there, you can bet there's a line of wanna-bes waiting to take you out.

If you work hard and put an enormous amount of energy into it, you can make a living working solely as a Karaoke show host. But running a Karaoke business is something you have to have in your soul or you won't last five years in the business. You will spend a lot of time and money, make very little profit and in the end, very likely sell your equipment and go back to being a regular Karaoke patron. The stress of handling more than seven shows a week can be debilitating. When you have to start dealing with employees on top of it... let's just say, my hair used to be a lot thicker and a lot darker.

By the way, if you are in an area where you can only make $150/night you will need to perform 800 shows that year to gross $120,000. That's more than 15 shows a week - every week. You'll need three systems.

To earn a NET figure of $120,000, you will need to more than double that and perform about 40 shows a week. But you also have to be very careful to watch your expenses or you could have to do more shows to make up the difference.

The best our company has ever done is 23 shows a week during the summer tourist season. Those four months go by very quickly and then we're back to between 12 & 15 shows a week. In the dead of winter we're lucky if we can maintain 10 shows. But even with all this work (and we're making $200.00 a night), we've never NET more than $40,000.

Karaoke is not a get rich quick money maker. Karaoke has to come from your soul or it's just a hobby. Do the math.

[bryant]

I'm not sure, I think if someone just puts in a vote but doesn't say anything, it registers a new "visit date".

Does this make sense?

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by bryant

I'm not sure, I think if someone just puts in a vote but doesn't say anything, it registers a new "visit date".

Does this make sense?

You got it.

[mutleymoose]

is the vote in dollars?

[kilith]

Originally Posted by mutleymoose

is the vote in dollars?

Yeah that would be in dollars at the top of the page if you voted

[sleflar]

I started doing Karaoke Shows since 8 Track Tape. Started at $100.00 per night. Since then I now do only private functions at major venues in No California. Our DJ & Karaoke Services are $975.00 for the first 4 hours & $150.00 per hour for each additional hour or part of an hour.

[bryant]

Well, to say the least, you're the topdog when it comes to pay, no doubt.

At private functions I try to get 450 dollars at minor venues, 650 at major ones. Sometimes settle for less.

No money in Central maine, but remember, you can rent a full size house for 600 dollars a month here, too, and a very nice full family apartment for 450 dollars.

Most places gasoline is still less than two bucks.

At clubs, weekly gigs less than a mile from my home and using most of their house equip., I get 150 -250 now, which I don't think is too bad for 4 hours.

You been at it a long time, how many unduplicated songs do you have?