I saw an ad yesterday that offered a karaoke system with 53,000 karaoke songs for less than a penny per song. Wow. That puts my "paltry" collection of 8,500 songs to shame. And here I paid more like a buck a piece for the songs in my collection.
Let me state the obvious. The karaoke songs are pirated.The website is offering stolen goods for sale. It is illegal to sell them and it is illegal to buy them or use them.
I'll a little ticked off about this. I have spent thousands of dollars just for songs so that I can be a karaoke host, and this ad says that my arch nemesis ("John the Piratator") could get together a bigger collection of songs for a few hundred dollars.
Let's just say that someone is looking to hire a karaoke host. They compare John the Revelator with John the Piratator. Of course, I'm the better looking guy, but the Pirate has six times as many songs. And the Pirate presumably has a lower price, since I am spending a significant amount of my income on new songs. Who will get the gig?
I dunno if I have lost any gigs to John the Piratator. Maybe, maybe not. If I have lost some, well, it's irritating because it's unfair. But for me personally, it's not a huge problem. Karaoke is my hobby job. If my accountant tells me next April that I made just enough to cover business expenses (equipment and music, mainly) then I am cool with that. I am not relying on that income to put food on the table like other KJs in the area.
The thing that really worries me, though, is the effect on companies that create the karaoke tracks - companies like Sound Choice. They are facing the very real possibility of going out of business. In 1999, their sales were $12 million. Ten years later, in 2009, their sales had dropped to $1 million despite the fact that karaoke is more popular than ever, and despite Sound Choice's reputation for authentic karaoke tracks.
Sound Choice has chosen to combat this by suing KJs and clubs that make use of pirated CDs. In July of last year, they went after 15 bars and KJs in Phoenix. In January of this year, they targeted 60 restaurants and KJs in the Richmond VA area. Just recently, there were over 100 KJs in L.A. who received letters of "intent to sue" (see page 11).
This is a desperate move on their part. It's risky to start suing your customers. Even though I am clean, I don't relish the hassle and the stress should they decide they want to audit my books.
But, on the other hand, I completely understand their position.
Sigh.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
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15 comments:
Well, if they are suing, PIRATES (people who STEAL from them), then they aren't suing their CUSTOMERS (people who BUY from them). By (loose) definition, pirates steal and customers buy. Therefore, how risky could it be to go after thieves? And their customers (such as yourself, who have invested money) should be all too happy that their investments are being protected by Sound Choice going after thieves.
John,
I am in Virginia and has seen the effects of the Sound Choice suits!
It doesn't hurt the legitimate KJs at all and it has reduced the pirates in the area, it hasn't eliminated them but it has reduced them.
Anonymous is correct, Sound Choice is not suing their customers they are suing the pirates who are stealing not only from Sound Choice but from every legitimate KJ out here!
How risky can it be to go after thieves?
The risk for Sound Choice is that they alienate legit customers. As evidence, take a look at a few of the posts at "karaoke scene":
http://www.karaoke-forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=20238
http://www.karaoke-forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=20131
I think diafel's post on Sept 24 at 9:32 AM does a wonderful job of explaining why a legal KJ might be a bit put off by the SC lawsuits.
http://www.karaoke-forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=20236
Whether it is logical or not, there are apparently quite a few customers who are not all that happy with Sound Choice.
The risk for Sound Choice is that there may be KJs who decide to avoid Sound Choice.
Or, of course, there may be KJs who will buy more SC disks just because they applaud their efforts.
That's the risk.
Thank you Thunder, that's good to hear!
John,
In addition to what I posted earlier i wanted to comment on what you see at the Karaoke forums.
If you realize that 80 to 90% of the KJs operating today are pirates you are also going to see a huge number of them against the actions of Sound Choice, (the pirates aren't happy with it). So if 8 out of 10 KJs on a given forum are pirates and complaining about and against the SC actions it will appear lopsided for support!
They don't want to have to pay to play, once some are filed against and they settle most will turn out in support of SC many of those who do not get named will simply cease to operate. For myself I have already volunteered for an audit and I hope to have it done in November when a few of us meet at the Sound Choice offices in Charlotte for a little party, Kurt Slep has made an open invitation to KJs to come to this get together for a little party November 13, 14 and 15!
John,
Come on home to www.ourkjtalk.com
I was named in one of Sound Choices suits here in Florida. The audit was set up and executed quickly and we received a letter clearing us. I applaud the actions of Sound Choice, Chartbuster, Pop Hits monthly,Stellar ect in going after the thieves that have stollen not only the product they sell but work from all legal karaoke businesses. A number of pirates have "dissappeared" in our area and I now have hope that our 16 year old company stands a chance to survive and possibly even thrive again
KjAthena
John and anyone else who may be interested. My posts on ourkjtalk give alot of information on the process of my audit. Kurt Slep and all of the people involved were very easy to deal with. Proud Sound Choice, Chartbuster, & Pop Hits Monthly Karaoke Cheerleader.
How do you eat an elephant? one bite at a time
How do you end karaoke piracy? One pirate at a time
I appreciate the comments, KjAthena and who ever else...
I don't know what anyone else is feeling, but I know that I am scared of the possibility of being audited --- largely a fear of the unknown. Thank you for the assurance that it is not incredibly painful!!
It also helps to hear that the process is getting rid of some pirates.
Some of the folks who post on karaoke scene seem to paint SC as a bunch of extortionists. I think that Kurt Slep's various articles are also helpful. It's hard to think of Kurt as big ugly guy when you have a face to associate with the company, and have a chance to understand the precarious position that his company is in.
John,
I met Athena in Charlotte when I had my audits done by both Sound Choice and Chartbuster, believe when I tell you if you have the disc for the songs on your hard drive you don't have anything to worry about!
Kurt and all the guys from Sound Choice were great to work with (they found one copied disc in my system Kurt took it and I deleted the files from my drive)they will work with you!
Debi and Norbert from Charbuster and their people were great also but their audit is a little more intensive! Debi is a riot though!
KjAthena just dropping in for an update.
The fight against karaoke piracy is really starting to have an effect in my area.
Now that more Manus are participating this can only result in a positive result for all legit KJ's.
It is simple...if you are legit ask for an audit....if not get legal or get out before you are named.
I now have hope that 10 years from now we will still have new tracks being produced and that the industry will survive
John,
Hold on to your hat Buddy and get ready Chartbuster has built up a head of steam and is coming on like a freight train. They started filing suits on 1/21/11
Hi John... and Thunder too!
I was one of those hard to convince KJ's but thanks to "Thunder" and other KJ's that I now consider friends, I'm a convert! I Belieeeeeeeeeeeeve, Praise be!
This war has had only one victim...the honest KJ. Yes, it makes it harder on the Legit KJ to prove their legality, but it's worth it. The whole karaoke scene is hurting because if the lack of QUALITY new songs being delivered by the Manufacturers. Who is causing this? The PIRATES are causing it by killing the profits of the manus! Without new material, we are hurting, our venues are hurting, and our singers are hurting...eventually even the pirates will be hurting too, they're just too selfishly blind to see it!
"To make an omelette, you need to break a few eggs"
Yes some people will be upset until they understand...I was, but now I've joined the fight!
MADPROAUDIO weighing in one the debate over karaoke piracy
Before we begin. Let me first start by saying that we are not here to start any fights, or solicit unfair reactions from others. We are simply going to tell you how Piracy has hurt our business. I honestly have nothing personally against those that burns movies, music, etc. So on a personal level if I should remove myself from the business we are in, I could honestly say I would also have never thought about the impact it has.
My name is Jeff and I run MADPROAUDIO. We customize karaoke/dj systems and are in the middle of the largest influx of digital karaoke laptop/computer users. We can say without a doubt, we put more heart into our customers than 100 other companies combined. We truly care about the impact we have on others in life. In doing so, we have endured much hardship trying to play by the rules, continually adapting and maturing in this market toward doing what we feel is morally right.
Example; We sell a karaoke laptop with 2,390 songs from a manufacturer called cavsusa. We sell it for an average of $1,700-$2000.00 These are what we refer to as honest up front pricing / realistic prices you pay based upon our knowledge of the market.
YET we are continually plagued and hurt by countless sellers both actual retail stores and online sellers that are engaging in unfair competition. No different than if we sold a Rolex for $3,000, yet another seller can hook you up with a $300 Rolex. How does one compete. We have families to feed as well and everything about being honest and caring about how you impact your industry basically has made us the true suckers.
Recent examples of how it hurts us. We had a consumer call us and wish to purchase a full karaoke system. We put together a decent package in the range of $4,000.00 with a karaoke laptop, 2,300 karaoke songs (purchased legit which cost real money). and YET another seller online was willing to sell a comparable system for $1,999.00 with 60,000 karaoke songs, plus thousands and thousands of dj songs. How does one compete with this?
Another consumer spent a few days speaking to us and we even educated this customer as to what to look for and what questions to ask any seller in order to reveal what they were up to whether it be good or bad. This consumer thanked us for all our time and even went out of their way to express that we helped more than anyone else and they for sure wanted to buy from us on that basis alone. Sure enough, we get a call approx 6 weeks later with the same person asking questions about karaoke computers/music as if they never called us before. Because we are very keen on genuinely helping people, I was able to catch that he might of been the person I spoke to several weeks ago. Sure enough he was. He proceeds to tell us about this horror story of events he experienced. He apparently called another company after us and they promised him the world. I believe he said they were giving him 18,000 karaoke songs, karaoke unit, hard drive, tv stand, etc. etc. for under $2,000.00 WOW, that was way better than the approx $2,000 we were charging just for a nicer karaoke computer alone even BEFORE adding music. He stated that he was not happy with this company and after speaking to him for a bit, he revealed that the other company who sold him a loaded computer loaded it with karaoke brands such as Tophitsmonthly, soundchoice, chartbuster. We had him speak to the manufacturer's who released those tracks and they ALL advised him that they never authorized ANY company, let alone the one that sold it to him to do such a thing. The actual raw equipment this customer purchased amounted to approx: $500-$900. So if this company basically burnt music to a hard drive and never paid a dime to purchase it legitimately, then that means they not only made profit off the equipment, but they also made approx $1,100 pure profit selling the pirated music!
PART II
Or even as recent as today. A potential consumer contacted us and expressed that they wanted two loaded computers with about 18,000 karaoke songs. There is not a single manufacturer that sells karaoke discs/music right now that we know of that even sells anything close to that amount. So therefore it would possibly cost over $10,000 to acquire. Yet because this consumer see's so many ads out there willing to sell loaded computers for 100 times less than we could EVER sell it for. The consumer now has a false sense of reality on what it should cost. Once again, how does one compete. Before we even proceeded to try to assist this consumer, we simply asked. Did they even care if the music was licensed or not and they clearly said they did not care. Even though we declined to assist this customer with a purchase. I still spent over an hour of my time late at night drafting up a very detailed and personal letter to this person expressing how much piracy is destroying our business.
Believe us. On one hand, we truly believe we are the ones that are the suckers, we are the company that deserves to lose because it seems that the only way to get ahead in this industry is to cheat. Something in which goes against our core principals. As the owner of madproaudio, I am a Former Military disabled vet that had the highest marks you could receive in service. A family owned company that truly cares about people and life in general and applies all of that to our business.
Two days ago, my sister asked how business was and I said that I genuinely hurt from all the unfair competition. She said, why don't you just report it. Hmmm, novel idea. I said, we already report everything we see as possible piracy and unfair competition and no matter how in depth, no matter how much information is presented to the RIAA or other organizations, they basically blow you off on stopping these pirates. What does my sister say? If you can't beat them, you might as well join them. That's really sad. I rather lose my business before I do something I am completely against.
The person that started this post and mentioned that it is time the government take control of this. They are right in many ways. I have already begun research to see if I could use my military experience, my disability and find someone ~ somewhere that would be willing to create a division that concentrates on music piracy alone, especially the karaoke market that accounts for Billions of dollars of revenue. I would gladly shut down my business and dedicate the rest of my life to protect others. What I would say to my sister who see's my pain and only wishes to ease it. I would rather dedicate my life to fighting this type of piracy because my business suffers from it every single day. Companies that care are a dying breed and people like me who put all of their heart into the business are not appreciated as much as the smarter~ cheaper ~ win at all cost businesses out there.
This posting is one of concern, one of pain. Not meant to judge others character based upon this one part of life.
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