sound like an impostor

Kinda sad really.. extortion and all like that..

Pay or be sued.. Yup, that's extortion..

What about sue me and I win? Then sue them for atty cost plus slander...

I know that in some areas, letters from the organization that shall remain nameless were sent to every venue that advertised having karaoke before any investigators arrived on the scene. So the venues did have a warning. Also, SC has developed a program they call Safe Harbor that is designed to educate the venues but I don't know if any mass mailings have gone out yet.

From the way they have handled it in the past, if a venue and host have been named and the host either passes an audit or settles, then the suit is dropped against the venue. I think the venue also has to agree to hire a legal host in the future but not sure on that point.

I think that it is less a matter of the venue not being informed and more that the venue got a "How to tell if you have a legal host" letter and ignored it.

Somebody came in to the Lamplighter (investigator or a web bust, they weren’t sure), the Sound Choice logo was seen and the KJ was informed (in what exact way they weren’t’ sure) that he would be sued if he didn’t pony up $7k. The owner was told that they would be sued as well.

So JD, you buy a house and don't pay the mortgage and the lender says pay up or we'll sue you, so that's extortion. You rack up your credit card and the lender says pay or get sued, that's extortion then, is that right? This is no different. If a host doesn't have originals then the manufacturer has the right to say pay up or be sued. No extortion, just rightfully going after what is their due.

The ongoing war between Big Media and Internet users shows no sign of de-escalation. When I write "Big Media" I mean the likes of the Motion Picture Association of America (the MPAA), the Recording Industry Association of America (the RIAA) and a number of other organizations.

Over the last few years Big Media has executed a campaign of harassment, extortion and prosecution of alleged pirates. This offensive has targeted corporate entities such as Napster, which was squeezed and sued into oblivion, and private citizens such as Jammie Thomas Rasset, who was fined $1.92 million for downloading 24 tracks (which she could have got from iTunes for just over $12).

Indeed, the extent of the RIAA's prosecution of consumers is impressive, involving actions against more than 30,000 individuals with the majority settling out of court for around $5,000 each.

The problem with what Big Media is doing is that they can't win. If the U.S. federal government is pouring billions of dollars into the "war on drugs" with little or, as some would argue, no results, what can the well-heeled members of Big Media achieve against the piracy of non-physical property?

Big Media vs. everyone will not work because the marketplace has changed and the digital world has made their way of business untenable. They are enormous, lumbering analog dinosaurs in a world of nimble, digital mammals. What they need to do is change their business models, but to do that, they must change how they think about their business and themselves.

I have a 12 step program for them:

1. They must admit that they are powerless in the digital world -- that their business models have become unmanageable (and unfeasible).

2. They have to believe that the Public, which is greater than them, will drive them to insanity if they continue as they are doing (some might argue this has already happened).

3. They must make a decision to turn their business and their profits over to the care of new business models that don't involve hostility towards and gouging of customers.

4. They must make a searching and fearless moral inventory of themselves (this might be asking a lot).

5. They must admit to the Public, to themselves, and to each other the exact nature of their failings.

6. They must be entirely ready to change all of their defects of character.

7. They must humbly ask the Public to pay reasonable prices for excellent content.

8. They must make a list of all persons they have harmed and be willing to make amends to them all.

9. They must make direct amends to such people wherever possible, except where doing so would injure them or others (this will most likely not happen, but it would be nice …).

10. They must continue to take personal inventory and, where they were wrong, admit it.

11. They should seek through prayer and meditation to improve their conscious contact with the Public as they understood Them, praying only for knowledge of what the Public actually wants and the power to deliver that.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, they must try to carry this message to all other owners of decaying business models, and to practice these principles in all of their affairs.

So, ladies and gentlemen of the MPAA, the RIAA, et al, we'll have the first meeting at my house. Please leave your lawyers at home.

That's likely an impostor. Sound Choice investigators make a point of not identifying themselves.

Have him arrested for fraud next time he shows up.

I just called them up. Here's what they told me...

Some guy was singing, he started to ask a bunch of questions at the KJ, he was informed right then and there that his hard drive might be an issue. I was told that this KJ is in negations with them and that the issue is still open. I asked them if they thought this was a real charge, etc., and they just don’t know but they said it "feels" like a con or fraud. They think it might be a fraud because of the way it’s going down.

I asked them if I could come and talk with the KJ (he’s still on the job) and they said sure. He supposedly has all the discs and he dropped them onto the hard drive but…

When somebody brings in a disc, he’ll up load those as well and a convenience for regulars… interesting.

Anyway, I’ll drop by there this week and I’ll have a talk with him.

I think you guys are right, sound like a con job to me, real investigators don’t behave this way. The less you know the better until they pull the trigger.