Karaoke Forums

Every legitimate host has the option to use the product we sold them, the original discs, without any further fees or hassle. And every disc we've ever sold has warned the purchaser that our permission is needed for copying.

Certification is now $250?? God, now it's just greed. 38 discs at $250. Ha!!! $6.58 a disc. That makes my discs cost $31 each. Not worth it.

Guess again counsel; every single one of your gem customers have been "subjected to a lease"... but you like to call it something else.... because it sounds better and that's a "fact."

Don't be obtuse. The subject was hosts who were legitimate to begin with. No legitimate host has ever been required to obtain additional product to end a lawsuit or get certified.

Sorry I couldn't resist...

I don't believe pep has ever sold "an original disc" period. Your firm is not in the manufacturing business, has never produced a single disc or even track (yet). But you're happy to try to take credit riding on the coattails of a now defunct company.

Facts, counsel... stick to the facts.... not the make-believe versions you'd like to convince us of.

the pirates have no money and have no desire to pay for music, suing them gets no financial return, so no reason to sue.
the Pirates display the SC logo keeping, it in the face of the singers....advertising.
the legit hosts pay for music properly, therefore are more willing to spend money to stay legit
suing legit hosts or forcing audits (or GEM leases) gets financial return, so a reason to sue.
suing the bars who hire pirates...same problem as suing the pirates themselves, no financial return from someone working with the lowest bottom line (read that as cheap) as they are unwilling to spend for it anyway, they would just drop karaoke all together removing the logo from view of the patrons and lessening advertising)

i wish they would too but it is more cost efficient to send investigators to new uncharted areas for legit hosts to strongarm than it is to follow the certified hosts and help them in return for being helpful (by going for a voluntary audit to make the job easier of differentiating between legit/pirate). in a place like Phoenix for example, there are numerous certified hosts who could use some help after helping SC, and while suits continued here, we are left to flounder in the pirate swamp.

SC/PEP, we helped by doing our part and getting audited (we as the collective certified hosts, not we as in ME specifically), to date (5 years later) none of the "help" or "benefits" of being certified have come. there were promises of increased suit activity against pirates in the direct area and assistance taking the bars by giving bar owners their own way out (leaving the pirate to be sued alone) by hiring a certified host. none of that has happened. so far the only help we have received in return for doing the right thing and helping SC has been the privilege to do it all over again for CB discs, and pre-pay for new discs that (once again) never came. no pirate hosts are afraid, no bars are afraid, and they have no reason to be. they know as well as anyone, they will not have anything happen. anyone they know who has been sued, has been let go. they can look at court records (if they even know these suits are happening) and see nothing but dismissals. they see no deterrent, and because of that, they have not only not stopped, but piracy has (as Jim has reported) increased since suits began. we are handing you pirates, and in return, we are given the finger. so much for helping the helper.

There is no reason for an already-legitimate host to license the GEM series unless they want the additional music.

There is no reason for an already-legitimate host to purchase a HELP license unless they want to use SC tracks they don't have discs for.

We lose money on the certification process. It's not a profit center.

We NEVER sue a host we expect to be legit; doing so would be a huge waste of time and money. We don't target legitimate hosts. We target pirates. And fewer than 2% of the hosts we've sued have turned out to be legit. (The actual number is around 1%. That's a record I will take all day long.)

We usually charge for certification, because (a) you need our permission to media-shift, and (b) it costs us money to do what's necessary to get you the permission you need. Every legitimate host has the option to use the product we sold them, the original discs, without any further fees or hassle. And every disc we've ever sold has warned the purchaser that our permission is needed for copying.

DJ Jobs are easy to get when you're "Legit" and offer good service.

Actually to be able to purchase Legit Sound Choice tracks @ 50 cents a song, why bother even talking about piracy.

On another note, I wonder if Pep will take in trades for my SC CDG disks and exchange for GEM set?

If you say you are "Legit" then I believe you, but What a very good thing to do on your end is enlighten the Bar Owners on the legalities that they will face when hiring a pirate to run a show.

I did that in my area on my own time and I was booked 7 nights per week. I'm older now so I cut down to 3 nights per week in the winter times.

Can't be....they have NEVER sued a host with all his discs....NEVER!

I prefer not to spread the propaganda and/or fear. I would IF I knew that Pep were indeed going to go after pirates in this area. Since April, me, I alone, my SINGLE op company is the ONLY KJ in the area to be hassled by this nonsense. Now if you'll allow me to enlighten, two of my four regular weekly venues received a "letter" in April. They mentioned it to me, in fact asked a couple of questions. The owners and I believed it was either a scam, or we'd be okay because I had discs and receipts. July two of the four received lawsuits (which also named me and my biz of course). A few days later my attorney emailed me ten pages of demands/specifications I had to meet for the "post lawsuit audit". There happened to be a sentence in there that made me feel that, even though I had discs and receipts, the demands were worded in such a way, that I felt that submitting to the audit (POST lawsuit) it would've been threatening. Or I mean to say, I felt threatened that I could face stiffer penalties. Not from a judge or a court or jury of my peers, mind you, but from the plaintiff's audit company. I chose to be safer, and NOT agree to an audit. The point is had I known that Pep was doing this, had they notified ME, sent me a letter, or contacted ME, I would have gladly, in a heartbeat become "certified". Paradigm had it right. It's NOT about going after the bad guys! It is about $ and $ only!

Pretty sure that if you have discs, all you have to do is demonstrate that and all this goes away. I have been through the audit. It just isn't that big of a deal. Also, I don't know of any cases of anyone getting in trouble post-audit.