Rant on piracy

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.