Karaoke Forums

I see some good and bad shows.
I am an ok host when with drink.
Not much more than a name caller when sober.
Blame it on a bad marriage.
Hey got to blame it on something.

I have seen some pretty good shows put on by pirates.
Some awful shows as well.

Thing is...

A pirate CAN put on a really good show.
They are contenders.

Except for the piracy... (Biggie)
How do you ....
What is the phrase I am looking for.
(Accept it) Work with it?

Yes, there are pirates that can be good KJ's. They can even have great sound systems. After all, since they have no investment in music, they can spend the money on equipment.

Our only line of defense is to educate the venue owners as to the ramifications and consequences of hiring a pirate.

Is a pirate in the UK the same as a pirate in the USA? Do you mean they steal most of their music or they just don't have the produb license or? Does anyone check or monitor the Produb licenses?

My experience is our aren't anyone I would want to hang out with. They have other ethical/personality problems besides stealing. One in particular has quite a temper and gets physical--and she's a female! I can't say that I have accepted them. I have desisted from confronting them at weddings and funerals but if they come into the bar trying to badmouth us and steal customers the bar tendress smiles and shows them the door.

There is one polite one we have tried to educate and we don't kick him out. But we don't hang out with him.

...

The produb is early days.
It is just another licence we have to pay.
A pirate can get one and look good.
It's a bit silly really.

Yep there is a low percentage of pirated shows that actually have good equipment & know what they are doing! They are called "FORMER legal hosts" more often than not! I know a few personally as well.

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A pirate in the uk is the same in the us, Some pro dub users have the original discs, some don't. To my knowledge the people at produb just want to know you have the licence. Some of the Uk karaoke manu's that exist don't have any discs registered with Produb (so technically we don't need it for them), some that are registered are annoyed by the freedom the produb licence allows. Eg If I had my way on karaoke by several manu's I only need to pay produb for one copy !!!!???!!!

Most pirates in my area have harddrives full of songs all downloaded for free, the largest company in my area has had several hosts copy their legal songs and set up on their own.

The licence has opened a bigger can of worms and means very little on paper (the people organising it focused on DJ's and then quickly thought about karaoke and tagged it on the end.... talk to them on the phone and they have no idea who Soundchoice are ), but without it if you are on a computer without it you could face a hefty fine... or as they told me they could take your equipment if they catch you.

I'm not quite sure what you're asking here.... especially since you're saying " Except for the piracy... (Biggie) " in your question. But, since your OP seems to be all about pirates and whether they run a good show or a bad show, I'll go in that direction.

As a Karaoke Singer, I have been to many shows over the years. As long as I got my "Karaoke Fix," I didn't care if the KJ was a pirate or not. Since I do buy my own discs legally, I have a pretty good idea which shows are run with a pirated library and which ones are not. I do care how the show is run... the rotation, the sound quality, the crowd/clientel at the place... Other than that, unless I have something personal against the KJ (and this goes for legit ones too), I won't knowingly patronize a show where they are.

As a KJ (part time, and not too regularly), I have competed against (for my own gig/s) and even filled in for several KJs (both legit and pirates). If I am available, and they need a fill-in, I have no problem doing their show for a night. When I do this, I do NOT hand out my business cards, nor do I announce anything about shows I might be doing. I DO make it perfectly clear that I am filling in for xxxxx (fill in name here).

As far as trying to "educate" these pirates, they already know what they're doing, and they don't care. I don't need to discuss this point any further, because I've already made many comments about this in other topic threads here (over the years).

I have heard so often here that a pirate has bad gear, bad attitude and a poor show.
The only difference I see is that we pay and they don't.

Oh and they have more music than we do.

It's not fair and it's really not ok.

The good pirates blend in with the legal crowd, and are far less obviously pirates.

I personally am far less satisfied with the average quality of the shows put out by multi-rig groups than pirates (at least in my area).

With multi rig setups, the KJ is generally just working for a low wage and has little interest in putting out a show. Few of them last very long. On the other hand most of the pirates I know at least have SOME personal investment in their show.

Probably the situation is different in different locations, and a good multi-rig owner can hire good KJs if they put in the effort. So far I have not seen it to be the case in my area.

As a relative novice in the professional KJ arena, I can only speculate, but speculate I will.

The most common narrative that I've read goes something like this:

Legitimate KJs are at a disadvantage competing against pirate KJs because they must recoup the cost of their music collection through charging more than a pirate does for their services.

That makes sense.

It's not, however, entirely logical to extrapolate that since the pirate KJ hasn't spent as much money (or any at all) on a karaoke track collection, that they're more likely to be a poor host.

I do see this extrapolation a lot, though. The most common reason for this seems to be:

They've broken the law, so they're likely bad people. Bad people tend to have bad personalities. People with bad personalities are probably bad KJs.

I'm not sure that breaking the law necessarily makes someone a bad person. I know a few gentlemen that smoke marijuana recreationally, and they're both wonderful guys. I don't hold it against them.

I have a close friend that uses limewire or some such program to steal (but she doesn't think of it in those terms) the hottest, latest pop hits on the radio. She's one of the most friendly, caring individuals I know (and a great mom too). I have the hardest time labeling her as a bad person. I'm legitimate, and, hell, she's a better person than I am.

Some people tend to have a disconnect when it comes to complex issues of morality, and file-sharing (piracy) is no exception.

Is there any legitimate excuse for their behavior? Probably not. But I won't make a character judgement on them. Maybe some of you will, and you wouldn't be unjustified to do so.

I digress.

If someone is KJing, they're likely doing it because they love karaoke, regardless of if they're a pirate or not. If they love it, they're more likely to have a passion for it. If they have a passion for what they do, then there's a higher likelihood that they'll be a good KJ, regardless of if they're legitimate or not.

The issue of legitimacy, in my estimation, is a non sequitur to performance as a host. I would urge those who assert this to look at their own (though justified) bias against pirates as the source. Or, perhaps, I'm not considering some major factor. If so, lemme know

The main reason pirate KJs are often worse than KJs who have invested in songs is that a KJ who has spent money on songs has a reason to make his karaoke show succeed. Otherwise the investment in songs will be lost.

On the other hand a KJ who has pirated their songs has no such investment and is under no such pressure to do the best possible.

Non song investments in gear used for karaoke tend to be useable for multi purpose. Many people might have a laptop, PA and mic for other reasons (such as being in a band). The only indication of dedication to the profession is buying songs.

Yes a pirate KJ CAN put in serious effort, but they have far less incentive to do so. Personalities vary, but on average a pirate KJ will put in less effort to run a successful show than a KJ with purchased songs. This assumes that it is a "choice" that is meaningful, a very rich person might not treat the cost of songs as a sacrifice, and a very poor person wanting to be a KJ might not think that they can afford the option of being legit. But those are exceptions on the extremes, and for the vast middle area the generalization has some truth.

While this can be true, more often than not, it isn't - at least from what i've experienced, but then i've seen some pretty bad shows with original discs as well. Most of the 'better' PIRATE shows i've seen are from hosts that used to be legal and succumbed to purchasing a hard drive off of ebay.
Kind of OT I had a new couple in tonight & asked how many songs I had, I told them flat out it's not how many I have, it's whether I have what you want but if you must know I have approx 12K songs - which they kind of looked at each other and rolled their eyes at first. They later told me that I have songs they've never seen at any of the 100K advertised shows and sang their hearts out with excitement that I actually had the songs. Said they'd be back, we'll see, but seem'd pretty eager as they gave me all their contact (phone, email, FB & address) info to keep them informed.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Some in my area have gear that is good. There is some gear I'd like to have but damn, I have to pay for my music. You see where this goes. Ok, I don't have to pay for it but I choose to take the moral high ground.

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No venue to big or too small. From your den to the local club or event, we have the music most requested. Great sounding system!

And in some circles, people thought Ted Bundy was a great guy. Ain't that guy, John Wayne Gacy who everyone thought he was a good clown, had a crawl space full of dead people. I have no respect for nor consider pirates as good host no matter how good they are behind a microphone or how nice their personality is. They are thieves, that is the long and the short of it. Am I biased, you bet! Their passion is noexistance except for the shortcut to money. Can you say, steal your way to the top! I have worked my a#$ off to get where I am in the business. I have sacrificed in other areas of my life to pay for the things I need to be a true professional in this business. I did not get to this level overnight and I resent the fact that these pirates (aka thieves) are able to get where I am, pretending to be professional. That is where the passion is. Whew!!!!!!

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No venue to big or too small. From your den to the local club or event, we have the music most requested. Great sounding system!

Thank you, Rumbolt.

Well said Rumbolt...

Yes. Well said Rumbolt.



Yes. Many have and in every walk of life.
From kings to corporates.

Sadly our anger towards them changes nothing.
Most patrons don't know pirate or legit.
They wouldn't sit in judgement anyway.
They just want a good night.

It is us. A very tiny minority that feel cheated.
The only people that may help even the field
half of us don't seem to like.