Karaoke Forums

so what are you using to back up your library? you saying you are 1:0?

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

Based on past posts, i would say downloads, GEM series and perhaps a charbuster drive

I could picture PEP trying to buy up one trademark a year, so the could make audit money on us in perpetuity. NO thanks!! I will never submit!!

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

OK, then.

Thats a good question good thing is that KaraokeCloudPro user ID and password is on not only my Macbook pro but also on my iPad (Used as a backup) Log out of one and log on to the other and run a flawless show.

Check out Karaoke Cloud app and also Tricerasoft Karaoke anywhere for Apps.
Another cool trick for mac users is that you can create an image of your internal hard drive with all your software installed and copy image to external hard drive that runs directly from USB just in case of internal hard drive fail, you are good to go.

The primary setup process can be time consuming because Karaokecloud downloads all the .dat files for offline use within the player software.

Also on another note when i buy the mp3+g files (Zoom, Mr. Entertainer) they send disk in the mail for your backup. you can get all the latest songs on their disks from ebay $35.00 100 songs.

Concerning PEP acquiring Chartbuster > I remember a while back, and I think it was at one of the Karaoke Summits, Mr Slep stated that Chartbuster could not be allowed to become freeware. I agreed and am ecstatic that they have acquired that label.

Previous conversations between myself and other hosts (pirates) it was stated by several that they would just drop SC from their library if caught and use primarily CB. That reasoning was never a protection because if they were named in a suit and it was proven they pirated SC it was still a Trademark violation regardless, right? Sued or accept GEMs.

Now if they wish to escape suits they have to drop SC and CB, then purchase a new laptop to reflect that they never had anything pirated (due to the 'Forensic' drive placed on the current laptop, probably issued by the FBI) or pay for the GEM series and whatever other series comes out for CB and wipe their drives clean of the pirated material. Sounds expensive to me. HAHA!

Any way I believe it will run some out of business, make the playing field level with us legals, raise the price of doing business with venues (which may cause a scaling back of shows for the venue), and give me an edge with venue owners especially any running their own pirated shows. Whatever happens, it will be a much easier adjustment for us legals.

I applaud the acquisition, even if it means another audit.

Hopefully, I will remain exempt from monthly fees since I was in on the early audit with SC. Chartbuster was out of business and dropped their audits around the same time I got in the business.

I have not kept up with everything PEP nor this forum lately. I do hope PEP places their library up for downloads. Streaming is simply for newbies.

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@DVDGDRY, you are kidding yourself, if you think this will level anything. For every pirate they have put out of business, ten more have taken their place. These suits take so long to happen, and the pirates keep coming. It is WAY to late in the game to sue these people and have it make a difference. Just ask those on this site, how many have all out reported pirates in their ares, YEARS ago, who are still in business to this day.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

You have a narrow vision on this.....

If PEP could somehow acquire the trademarks for the more relevant labels and combine them all into a single audit/licensing scheme, that would absolutely have an impact on piracy. Think about it....SC/CB/PHM all under one umbrella? The quality of the remaining orphan brands drop off very quickly at that point.

Now there is an distinct quality difference between a legitimate show and a pirate show (discounting all of the pirated overseas label).

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-Chris

It's not a narrow vision. Come on, Chris. This has been going on for YEARS, and there are STILL tons of pirates. Unless PEP gets an ARMY of lawyers and judges to join the cause, I mean THOUSANDS of lawyers, not a few in each state, but throngs of them to blanket the whole country, the pirates will NEVER go away. PEP can acquire EVERY trademark, and it will make no difference.

I am tired of hearing about this substandard show crap. I run a perfectly good show without any of the big three. PHM sucked, for the most part.

I have PROVEN that a successful show can be run without them. I have one of the busiest shows around, busier than those who DO use the big three. You SC people are a bit of a snobby bunch. I am not afraid of shows that run the Big Three, because I beat most of them, hands down, in my area.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

he is right though Chris.
not one reported pirate has ever been investigated.
of the thousands of suits, how many have they won?...not including the drive SELLERS. how many hosts?
the number of pirates (according to SC) has gone UP not DOWN. we are competing against more using stolen SC material than we were 5 years ago.
there has not been a positive outcome of the suits thus far, i can't see why suing more people for more things will give a positive outcome.
look at your case....
you have the CAP certificate, there is no record of those. you will be seen displaying the PHM logo and no discs. = lawsuit. now of course you can then go and get an audit for all of your rigs (6? 7?) most if i remember are install rigs so drive from venue to venue over 2-3 days to do these audits at $250.00 each.
as it is, you do not have CB certs for your rigs so that is already happening.
what about those who bought drives or SD cards? those were meant for computer use. how do they check for that before suing? they wont do it on SC because it gives time to destroy the evidence so they sue first then ask questions later to preserve any evidence of wrongdoing (i actually get that) but displaying the CB logo from SD card or HDD sold material is NOT counterfeit and can in no way be construed as counterfeit as it is being used as intended by the seller.
i think this was a bad move as far as law suits go.

now picture this....
i go buy the MM trademark, and now begin requiring audits for material i never sold. how many, including yourself, would be telling me that doing so while CORRECT in the legal sense, is WRONG in the moral sense? i would be called a troll immediately.

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

But I think Chris has a point as well, IF (big word) all the major orphaned brands were bought up by one entity, THEN the possibility of at least reducing piracy could maybe occur. When it was just SC, a lot of kj's dropped the brand and continue to pirate the other brands. If those other brands were now under some kind of control - it's quite possible it could be reduced, especially now with UK manus starting to be blocked from the US. But all the major (orphaned) manus would need to be acquired under one house in order for it to work. I could definitely see some pirate kj's anyway either dropping out of the scene altogether, dropping all the brands being enforced and continue using the junk brands which most don't care about anyway, or getting legal.
But I don't see any of this happening.
ASCAP/BMI/SESAC don't own any of the music they enforce, the artists/writers/etc pay a membership fee for them to be enforced by these companies and in turn receive royalties. This could essentially be where this is heading where PEP wants to be that kind of entity for karaoke. The manus pay a membership and PEP will go out and make sure kj's and venues are legit with ALL brands. THAT sure would turn kj's around.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Like I said, I have ONE CB disk. Now when Chartbuster still existed, I spoke with Gretchen, and TOLD her I had ripped it to my hard drive. She told me they allowed 10 disks to be ripped without having to do an audit. So I ripped it. Anyone here, including Jim, have a problem with that??

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

I doubt they'd have a problem with it, if I recall somewhere else even if you had ripped SC discs to your system, it would need to be more than 1 or 2% before they would really do anything, maybe I interpreted it wrong, it was a while ago.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

I have no problem with PEP aquiring the cb logo PROVIDED it doesn't cost me any more money.

I think anyone who has already paid for an audit should just submit a video of them stamping their cb discs and that should be the end of it. For those that haven't actually completed their audit yet, it should just be included as part of the process

-James

"Control" is exactly what they want.
Audit contracts "control' the KJ
Help Licenses "control" the KJ.
Safe Harbor controls the venues.
Gem licenses control the KJ's as well.
This organization has produced lots of contracts and lawsuits... and exactly zero discs of new music for how many years?

There is a big difference here Lonnie: ASCAP and the others are bonafide performance societies that are written into federal law. They represent the owners and creators of the underlying intellectual property used in karaoke tracks.

PEP doesn't represent anyone and they didn't "create" the underlying intellectual property and as a matter of fact, there is nothing creative about it: It is specifically the goal and objective of the karaoke manufacturer to accurately mimic the owner's work. It is not a derivitive work in any sense of the word nor does it have an ounce of creativity. ASCAP collects "performance fees" for karaoke, bands, dj, televisions, etc.. at a rate of one-time-per-venue. Pep just wants you to pay (them) again for the honor of using the karaoke tracks you've already paid full retail for and the venue has paid for the performance license.

It amazes me how many KJ's really think that PEP is somehow doing them a favor...

For ONCE I will say this, Very well said, Chip!! He has hit this nail on the head!!

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Personally, I have not noticed the difference in quality between a legit vs pirated show. I seriously doubt that I would be able to tell the difference between a track at 128 vs 320. It must be all the background noise from the Bars.

I believe that the 2% differential was for all of your SC content (when being Audited), not everything SC produced. So, in Smoothedge's case, he has 1 CB disc. That would be 100%.

Cue, with a statement like that you just might bring Joe C. out from hiding. Bazza will probably chime in that "you can't be serious that you can't hear the difference between 128 and 320 in a noisy bar?"