Karaoke Forums

I recently contacted sound choice about the www.newdjandkaraokedownloads.com which is selling drives with their stuff on it..they were not happy about this..no wonder why sc wont put out any new stuff

it's been there for years, been reported may times, SC doesn't care.

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Paradigm Karaoke, The New Standard.......Shift Happens

C'mon. I'm sure they DO care, very much. But I'm sure its not easy finding out who they are. No address. No phone number. Who Is info shielded. Just a cheesy wordpress site hanging out in Cyberspace. You would need law enforcement to get more info, and we all know how much they care about this kind of stuff.

People sometimes forget that SC is a private company.

But with a team of top notch, well trained, investigators.

As good as they are, they can't climb into a network cable and sniff out who this jackwagon is.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - why in the world would SC want to shut down the hard drive sellers? Shut down the hard drive sellers, and the karaoke hosts all have to buy music legally, then SC loses all of their lawsuit revenue, which last I checked was their main source of revenue.

So tell me again why SC wants to shut down their main source of revenue? Because it's the ethically right thing to do? Cracka' please!

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C Mc
KJ, FL

There's a flaw in your reasoning. Would you like me to point it out, or would you like more time?

Ooh ooh! Me! Me!

1) SC is no longer in the karaoke production business, so no income there.

2) All the old SC tracks have already been pirated, so no new income there.

That leaves trolling individual Kjs.

Probably not the expected answer, but it fits the question....

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

Except that not being in production of new music doesn't mean we don't have music to sell. It just means we don't have new music to sell. And I assure you, if no one had access to pirated music, we would be very happy to sell them (or license them possession of) what we can, and we might just get back into production.

Still waiting to hear about this so called announcement..

Maybe 'soon' meant in Febuary.. I'm not going to hold my breath tho.

I guess the major problem is that it is realistically impossible to stop piracy. Throughout the history of man, whenever someone had a product or service that was in demand, someone else would copy, steal, fake, etc. versions to make a quick buck. There's no such thing as a popular (or even unpopular) product or service that doesn't have a black market. There's even rip-off snuggies!

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C Mc
KJ, FL

Ok, I’ll bite, where is the flaw in TopherM’s statement?
I might have worded it a little differently such as: Why in the world would SC want to shut down the hard drive sellers? Shutting down the hard drive sellers definitely would have an impact on piracy and would seriously put a big hurt on Sound Choice’s chosen source of income…trademark infringement lawsuits.
I don’t believe SC has yet brought down a hard drive seller. (and please don’t defer to William S. Bene – that was the IRS that brought him down for tax crimes)
My daddy always said “If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck…well we have all heard the saying.
So….where is the flaw in TopherM’s statement?

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Music speaks to the heart in ways words cannot express.

The flaw comes in the accusation that Sound Choice would allow or even promote illegal activities by 3rd parties for their own financial gain in favor of producing music again and obtaining revenue with a respected, quality product.

I don't know why anyone would think that Kurt and Sound Choice would prefer to sue people vs producing content. It isn't enjoyable, it isn't easier, it isn't more profitable. It is simply the only recourse they have to stay afloat.

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-Chris

We have a winner.



January.

I'm new to this topic and probably misunderstanding some part of it, but why the animosity toward Sound Choice?

They can't be expected to create new tracks for free just to give them away to pirates, and they can't be expected to just write off their existing library, either. If someone stole something from me, I'd want it back.

I can't speak to their motivations, but at least one possible answer to 'Why would they want to shut down the pirates?" is that they want to get back into the business they started instead of the one they were forced into.

Just from reading this thread, the reason they go after KJs is pretty obvious to me--they're easier to track down. People who buy stolen goods create theft, which is why it's illegal. I get the sense that the people on this forum are straight shooters and don't like the pirates, and I realize that Sound Choice is inconveniencing legit KJs. But they're also helping us all avoid unfair competition from thieves. I know there's more to karaoke than just some moron with a laptop and 50,000 tunes, but song selection matters, and I'm tired of hearing how great everyone else's karaoke is, knowing I'd have to subject myself to legal risk to duplicate it. If they shut down the thieves, and make club owners like me afraid to hire the pirates, we can all go back to buying tracks and investing in our businesses.

Like I said, this is all new to me, so please let me know what I'm missing.

Chris, Jim… there has been no accusation that Sound Choice would allow or even promote illegal activities by 3rd parties for their own financial gain.
Hard drive sellers exist and operate freely in the open without fear of Sound Choice ever going to make any attempt to put them out of business! Why is that?
It is because Sound Choice has done NOTHING to put these people out of business. Name me one.
Heck Chris, you post on both sides of this issue and once even posted that you might consider adding selling loaded hard drives to your business portfolio because of the non-existant attempts at prosecution. (we know you were being sarcastic but that in itself says a lot)
I certainly don’t deny SC their right to recovery from pirate KJs (now non pirate KJs whose only crime is media shifting is another story) but why, tell me why have they done NOTHING about hard drive sellers?
Is it because it is the fuel that feeds the fire of their chosen source of income? That is what it sure looks like!
Again if it looks like a duck…

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Music speaks to the heart in ways words cannot express.

That sounds contradictory to me. I'm treading lightly here, because I'm well aware of 'newbie' next to my name. I became aware of this when I was talking about changing my karaoke setup, and one of my regulars said, "Google 'SoundChoice lawsuits' before you do anything."

It seems to me that going after the HD sellers would be like Whac-a-Mole--if you shut one down, another would spring up.

On the other hand, if clubs are scared off from hiring pirates, even 400 bucks for 100K songs won't be a good deal, because you won't be able to use them anywhere. If no KJs buy them, you might not need to go after the HD sellers.

I beg to differ because in my opinion it should be obvious to any reasonable person that they can't do anything about the hard drive sellers. If any manufacturer could, I am sure they would have long ago because those drives contain EVERYTHING, not just Sound Choice. There hasn't been a case brought again any hard drive seller by any karaoke manufacturer that I am aware of. The Bene case was brought by the Feds/IRS for tax evasion.



Because they don't solid ground on which make a case? That is my guess anyway. I imagine it is very difficult. I have had phone conversations with Kurt Slep. I can hear his blood pressure go up and his face get red over the phone when we talked about KJ Bill. I know the Tom V. of Stellar would have loved to have nailed KJ Bill to the wall as well. So I don't think it is a a matter of SC allowing it, as much as it is a matter of SC having their hands tied or not being able to afford to build a proper case.



True statement. But not for the reasons you originally suggested. See previous comment/



Thank you for recognizing the sarcasm. The only think it says a lot of is that I too am frustrated by how they operate out in the open with impunity. I have reported a dozen drive sellers to The FBI and DOJ Intellectual Property Theft investigation groups. I wasn't surprised to never receive a response. If you look at their headlines, it seems that the only things they ever prosecute have the words "multi-million" and "dollars" associated with them. And honestly, I want the FBI looking for ISIS operatives more than karaoke pirates. But I am still extremely frustrated that NOONE seems to be able to do want to do anything about it except the folks it hurts the most and have absolutely no recourse. It's like watching your dad get beat up on a video monitor. Not a damn thing you can do about it no matter how much you want to.



Again......if you close your eyes to the rest of the story, it is easy to end up there. I think you are actually smarter than that.

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-Chris

this is the part i have a problem with.
1) solid ground
KJ's are taken to court with no more evidence than possibly being viewed playing SC content and having a computer on site. that is enough to go after them.

now lets talk KJBill
would it not be easier to take him to court?
A) he is advertising SC content on his drives (which is against SC rules obviously as KJ's are taken to court fotr the same thing).

B) buying several drives from him will show the copied, repackaged, and resold content he is distributing without compensation to, nor permission from SC.

C) going to court with more than "he played our tracks in public and i saw a computer there, someone saw him. let me look through his stuff to see if he really did anything wrong"

but having...
1) He is selling hard drives loaded with SC content
2) He has not paid royalties for that content
3) He does not have permission to repackage SC content
4) He does not have permission to make counterfeit tracks bearing the SC Trademark
5) He is not authorized to gain financially from use of the SC Trademark
6) He is causing confusion leading buyers to believe that he is selling authorized content
7) He is causing confusion leading buyers to believe that he is endorsed by SC
We have purchased 10 drives from him all containing SC content as proof

that sounds much easier to get proof and take to court than the KJ's.

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Paradigm Karaoke, The New Standard.......Shift Happens