Hell i'd drive 50 miles for $200 gig

In my own individual bottom line scenario I had the best outcome that could be expected.

I ran my business for over 19 years and was not bothered really by anyone.

I did not play in a garage I was out and about, I never used a website to promote, yet I had plenty of work from just word of mouth.

I did not have to pay protection money nor was I run out of business by illegal competition.

Some say I was just lucky, I like to think that I offered the best product in my market area at a fair price. After all isn't that what American capitalism is all about?

I don't feel threatened by illegal hosts even though they knock on my venues doors every week. They can't compete on anything except price and it is obvious that the venues will be getting what the pay for.

Are you saying it isn't possible to offer the best product at a fair price and also be lucky at the same time? I think it is likely also attributed to living in an area where there is less competition. I have said many times that there is a very big difference between competing in a low population, more rural area and trying to run in large population, metropolitan area. That is less about luck and more about where you live.

-Chris

I disagree... The implication in this statement about getting what you pay for does not necessarily mean that a pirate will undercut everyone else and give them less value for the buck. I have seen many pirate KJs out there who charge the average going rate and run a better show than the legit KJ (and I am not referring to having a larger library to accomplish that). But this is talk for a different topic thread, so I am sorry for the quick hijack.

Private parties and private clubs were the bulk of my business the last year, with a good amount of weddings, and unfortunately FUNERALS ( my embolden- JC) that paid top dollar.

I don't know how you did them. I have refused requests in the past- no heart for it....

Same here. Never paid a dime in protection money to any karaoke mafia (I don't think one exists).

8) What else is it but protection money leveraged by the threat of a legal lawsuit? If you pay off the manus in the guise of legal recovery, what you are doing is paying them off to go away. That is the whole purpose of the legal process to demonstrate that the manus are willing to sue a host and that the host needs to protect themselves and their business interests. This is not some law enforcement agency or government doing this, but rather a company that has taken upon themselves the job of the police and the D.A.

Do you get all of your information from Bob Loblaw's Law Blog?

-Chris

8) What else is it but protection money leveraged by the threat of a legal lawsuit? If you pay off the manus in the guise of legal recovery, what you are doing is paying them off to go away. That is the whole purpose of the legal process to demonstrate that the manus are willing to sue a host and that the host needs to protect themselves and their business interests. This is not some law enforcement agency or government doing this, but rather a company that has taken upon themselves the job of the police and the D.A.

8) That's all well and good to go around trying to deal out your own brand of justice. If you take on the job of the law, I would hope before you start playing cop you at least make sure you are clean. If not then I fail to see how any real justice can be realized.

Do you get all of your information from Bob Loblaw's Law Blog?

-Chris