Building a new music collection

Post by **wiseguy** » Sun Jun 15, 2008 7:48 pm

For you karaoke pros. If you were to start a new karaoke business today, using a laptop and hosting software, how would you begin to build your music collection?

DanG2006 · Post by **DanG2006** » Sun Jun 15, 2008 8:10 pm

I would first purchase the software needed to rip the songs onto the drive that I can't find for legal download. I would then look at the 71 disc Supercore set to have a decent core library. I would then fill in with songs downloaded off of tricerasoft.com that I did not get with the supercore.

Bigdog · Post by **Bigdog** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 2:22 am

Legally or illegally? It makes a difference.

Post by **wiseguy** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 9:19 am

Bigdog wrote:Legally or illegally? It makes a difference.

The question is how would YOU do it.

Bigdog · Post by **Bigdog** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 12:14 am

If it was just for my personal home use, I would probably buy a loaded hard drive.

____________________________________________________________________
Since I have been in business over 15 years, many of the songs I have today are from companies that no longer exist. So to create my collection today would be very difficult.

I have many songs that are no longer available and unless they were done by one of the companies that are still in business, I wouldn't have the same selection.

Of the companies left that still produce songs, building a quality selection would limit you to mostly Sound Choice, Legends, Chartbuster and many lessor knowns.

I would look for KJs that are going out of business to find older sets like Pioneer and DK.

I still think the older rock & roll songs are sung more than new songs. But the new country music is also popular. You would still have to diversify your selection to accommodate the majority of singers.

em_1975 · Post by **em_1975** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 10:36 am

I am having the same problem i am trying to switch over to computer karaoke i have a nice library all on disc but competition has 40,000 songs hard to compete does anyone have a library there intrested in selling ,sharing ...im intrested

letitrip · Post by **letitrip** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 11:50 am

The best place to start in my opinion would be the Sound Choice Bricks. You can get a couple thousand songs pretty easily that way and it's the most cost effective of on disk solutions. I wouldn't worry about trying to catch up with your competition, they've been at it for years and only time can build big collections like that. I would say get started with a minimum of a few thousand songs and then as part of your business model, set aside money each month that your goingt o spend on getting new songs. This is the best way to build a library, but it takes time.

It's very rare but occasionally you'll find people selling off whole libraries on e-Bay or Craigslist but I wouldn't count on that in your plan. Unfortunately this is one area of the business where there is no easy or cheap way to do it. Resist the temptation to buy illegaly if you're going to do this professionally. All it takes is one visit from a BMI rep and you'll be out of business and in serious debt to the RIAA. Not worth it.

em_1975 · Post by **em_1975** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 12:30 pm

I am looking to find a karaoke music site that i can download from like mp3 rocket i dont mind paying but id prefer to join a shareware program and download its a lot cheaper also if anyone out there wants to share karaoke music i have a nice library also maybe we can trade up ??

DanG2006 · Post by **DanG2006** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 12:39 pm

I don't think you're not gonna find many that support sharing files here (legallity issues) but here are two sites for Legal downloads:
www.tricerasoft.com
www.karaoke-singles.com for Sound Choice, DK, Chartbuster, Top Tunes, Sunfly etc.

letitrip · Post by **letitrip** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 4:33 pm

EM, I hope you understand that your offer to trade Karaoke music is an offer to engage in illegal activity. As Dan said, I don't think most of the KJ's on this site are willing to risk their business by illegally obtaining karaoke tracks. I urge you to proceed with caution as you look to build your library.

cowboydarryl · Post by **cowboydarryl** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 9:00 am

I "third" What Dan & Tony say!! the cost of starting up can be costly, but the cost & fines for using Pirated music is far more! You have options if you want to save money check ebay you can find deals,make sure that the discs are new unopened and not copys look into super CD+G to start out I know that they are not always as good as CD+G, but Chartbusters E1-E8 450 songs each are avalible on the SCD+G format you would need to get the software to convert to MP3+G but it would give you a good base to build on.

arlo2500 · Post by **arlo2500** » Sat Nov 22, 2008 5:19 am

Has Anyone Tried The Karaoke Systems Sold On E-Bay That Has 50,000 + Songs Or Another Unit That Has 6000 Songs That Comes With The Purchase Of The System, And If So, Are The Musicians Pretty Good Or Just Crappy

Post by **wiseguy** » Sat Nov 22, 2008 5:30 pm

These songs are almost certainly synthetic midi crap and not musicians at all. Don't waste your money. If you want "real" karaoke song tracks be prepared to pay much more for them.

JDtheKJ · Post by **JDtheKJ** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 10:43 pm

Personally, I think purchasing hundreds(or thousands) of cds was always a rediculous option. I contend that most people could have at one time run their entire show on 4-500 songs if they could have bought them a la carte. Instead you got sometimes only 1 or 2 songs per cd that gave you as many as 15 other songs that you would never play on your system and took up way too much space.

As for the question, I would begin by purchasing someone's collection who was going out of business, but then you still have the problem of proof of purchase as they more than likely lhave no receipts if they have been in it for awhile.

I differ from most people on this site in that although I pay for all my music, I don't disagree with file sharing and think that comparitively unless you are in a very competitiver market, you will never be fined or even questioned as to the validity of your music. Most bar owners are happy to have the person with the most music and best kj, rather than being worried if everything is "legal". Allow me to repeat, I follow the rules like the rest of you, I just dislike having to do so.

File sharing to you guys is terrible in most of your opinions, but I cobntend that it is more because you think, "If I had to spend $$$ for this much music, then why should so and so not have to spend $$$?" More than it is the legality of it. Face it if you were starting out and thought you could get all your songs for free and no one would ever know, very few would ever purchase another song.

I know I will take alot of thrashing for my opinion, but I am being honest. I say if you are in a market where most or all of the kjs use burned music then take what you can get. If you do however, make sure you know what the ramifications would be if you are caught. Just like anything else, laws keep honest people honest.

cowboydarryl · Post by **cowboydarryl** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 8:19 am

You wont get any thrashing from me!! In many ways you are right I hear about the KJ's saying they have 100,00 songs,ya they may have that odball song some one is looking for but for the most part its filler! (Ill Take flack for that comment) I have 10,000 songs and if im lucky maybe 1000 get sung.

Some nights it seems all I need is 2 songs "sweet caraline & piano Man" (always sung by the most drunk people in the crowd) but anyways The file sharing thing would be great if not for the risk, thats the problom. Its the way it is, until the laws reguarding music change and you know that aint going to happen we are stuck!

As for the many legal download sites most suck they seem to never have what your looking for or you download it and the music and the lyrics don't match(this includes trisersoft) so I end up dropping $15-$22 for 1 song on a CDG ouch!!

I understand that if there were no laws against copying music, 1 person could buy a cd and share it with millions, creating a huge loss of revenue to the music industry. We just need better options.

I have no problom paying $1-$2 for A leagly downloaded MP3+G song rather than a CDG with 15 useless songs! I just wish someone out there could get it right!!