DanG2006 wrote:I and SC never said that putting your music on a hard drive without permission meant being a pirate. There are three groups now, The Certified host, The uncertified 1:1 host and the Pirate. Reverse the order to find who I find the most unappealing. In my area it would mean certain death to a karaoke company if they were to boycott the ones that are requiring audits to allow use of their product on computer. Those that did cet certified has an edge because there are a lot of songs on SC and CB that aren't available elsewhere.
Before I did my audit, I was guilty of trademark infringement but not piracy. I did it to make life easier on me not to protect an investment. But I most certainly did not do it to be a pirate.
At one point in my karaoke career I had 3 systems. Buying 1 new disc for each system would cost me about $100. Not cheap.
I have in my posession now many Souncd Choice discs that look like swiss cheese when you hold them up to the light. This means those discs are now worthless because they will not play on any player. The foil has deteriorated. Many of these discs are now out of print. That means I lost money. My discs are carefully stored in a metal filing cabinet. I feel much better knowing I have them backed up to a computer.
I will also mention the bad discs got worse and some became useless while being stored. Not from use. Some were damaged from use. That is why I started doing 1-1 CD backups. I used the copy to play out to preserve my investment.
In my karaoke career I have spent well over $50,000 for music. Anyone that thinks I would not want to protect my investment is an idiot.
I still buy discs and the first thing I do is rip them to a computer before they can get scratched or the foil deteriorates... That is strickly to protect the investment I have made. Not sell the files or become a pirate.
So am I interested in spending more money for an audit that needs to be paid for every year? I will stop buying and using the music first.
I am not worried about not having certain songs or I wouldn't be editing my song book to take out the trash music...
The only one being hurt is going to be Sound Choice if push comes to shove. In todays economy they can not afford to lose customers..like me.
I am currently trying to stay away from their product now because of everything that has been going on over the last few years. Chartbusters was my next go to company...but that is going to change too.
They are no longer the kings of the hill. Their replacements are coming up behind them very fast. I have heard no difference in sound quality from some of these new companies. As I said earlier...the singers seem to be losing interest in how good they sound...my crowds reflect that from their lack of participation week after week and their patronizing of crap KJs and smoke filled bars. And their lack of singing most of the newest songs in my updates...unsung songs translates into lots of wasted money by me.
My update selections now are being driven strictly by request. If they request it I might buy it. I am no longer buying songs of the month discs from any company just to have them...as I have done blindly in the past trying to be ahead of every other crappy KJ. Crappy KJs are winning the battle just by being crappy and in smoking venues...not based on high quality sound as it once was. The tide has turned and crap sound and smokey air is the new hero..
