Karaoke Forums

Is there a way to report piracy to Sound Choice or some other entity that can/will take action?

The following is a common entry on CL. I flag it, notify the seller and a week later there are two more

http://greenbay.craigslist.org/msg/1934418006.html

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-Kona

Soundchoise is not interested in prosecuting piracy, just trademark infringement. Piracy is a criminal offense, so there's no money in it for them, while trademark infringement is a civil matter. ChaChing!

They wouldn't go after this guy if you delivered him to their doorstep.

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C Mc
KJ, FL

Both Sound Choice and Chartbuster have a link on their sites where you can report this (look toward the right hand side of the page).

Funny thing is, you can report the same companies on their site 50 times and nothing is going to happen. No money in that for them, like someone said.

I'm not sure if it is a matter of nothing is going to happen so much as it happens slowly. They are working with the FBI on the illegal song sellers and I don't think SC has any control over speeding up the FBI.

As to the karaoke companies, it has been over a year since we first heard rumors about investigators in the area and suits have still yet to be filed. It doesn't seem to be an "overnight" process.

You're probably quite right on this - nothing happens overnight. I started reporting several companies probably 2 years ago, provided links to websites, to the places they were working at, everything but their mother's maiden name. Be interesting to see if anything EVER comes of it.

Keep in mind that SC has actually "outed" informants on another forum. This means that not only will they do no good ( no proof of a pirate folding OR raising prices, and in almost 2 years NOT ONE court date set.), but may cause you problems in your community. WHATEVER you do, do not include contact info...

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

That and it would dry up the sources of those pirates that they are suing.... Wouldn't want to stop the gravy train, now would they?

Why not just report to the FBI or the law enforcement agency which deals with copyright infringment? Granted it won't be a high priority case but there will be a report.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

The "outing" on another forum took place in the heat of battle when Kurt Slep was trying to defend himself and mentioned that even a named pirate was supporting them by naming others in the area. He later realized that wasn't a cool thing to have done and edited it out of the post. It gave me a bit of pause as it shows that he will sometimes let his "I'm only human" side overcome his businessman side
so I keep aware of it but don't live in fear of it.

In any case, the reporting can be anonymous if people choose to operate that way, so no one will have your name to make a mistake with in the first place. Also Chartbuster has a "Report Pirates" link if people don't trust SC.

I have found that if you show awareness of the issue and try to educate bar owners and singers and even pirates, you will become a "rat" suspect anyway. At that point you just have to decide whether you support stealing or don't support stealing and forget about trying to hide it. Potentially some shady bar owners won't want to hire you but it is like that in any business.

Precisely, the FBI is handling illegal distribution on their terms & time lines...

Throughout history, Police everywhere have accidentally outed informants as well. It happens. Because of this, you should probably not call the police either when you see a crime being committed. After all it's just going to cause problems to get involved.

SC DOES NOT = the police!

Stating the obvious ain't ya.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

[schild=4 fontcolor=C0C0C0 shadowcolor=C0C0C0 shieldshadow=1]LOL[/schild]

Not to some on this forum..... not only karaoke police, but karaoke gods... i agree with almost everyone in this thread. Haven't seen any improvement myself yet anywhere in the country. now of course.....i'm not the kind of guy to say "i told ya so"....... There is big big money to be made in fear, threats, intimidation, chaos and empty promises....

Now smile for goodness sake..look around you, you have more gigs, you're making more cash each night , and your songs are cheaper then before the sleps started helping you out....right? i say right? well...smile anyway. Now on the serious note...ok ok is Ambassador Slepp going to actually dress up like santa this year, and give all us legal kj's a present for being good little karaoke subjects and turning in all those awful nasty pirates and making him a ton of cash, and loosing a few good karaoke clubs along the way?......i can't wait, only 77 more days till christmas.........

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Sweet Little Me In Karaokeland........