So you want to go Digital with your Karaoke show?

by Eric Godfrey,
President of US Karaoke Alliance
President, Starz Entertainment

US Karaoke Alliance (www.uskaraokealliance.com) members can get free help and advice and also have the ability to deal with manufacturers for discounts on collections.

1^st thing – let’s keep it legal!
All File Sharing sites and all Pre-Loaded Hard Drives are illegal.  Most of the sites I have seen on forums and chat boards for Karaoke downloads are also not paying copyrights and royalties.  The only 2 legal sites I am aware of are http://venuevj.com and Karaoke.com.  Several other sites are in negotiations to get legal content up, but according to sources at the major karaoke disc publishers, these two are currently the only legal sites offering downloads.  Before you hit me with a million comments ask yourself this question, “If Panorama or Top Hits Monthly went out of busines in 2008 due to copyright and trademark infringements and thus no longer exist, how could someone be paying royalties and copyrights when selling their karaoke content? How could that money be getting back to the artists?”  Let us quote Mr. Freedom Williams…”Things That Make You Go Hmmm.”

Directly from all of the disc manufacturer’s – With the exceptions of the sites above, NONE of the download sites out there are paying royalties and copyright fees.  I know… they say they are… but they are NOT!  Save yourself heartache… buy the new products coming out in MP3+G format and stay tuned for new legal sources.  More legal stuff at the bottom of this article.

Getting started: PC or  Laptop specs:

A Rack mountable PC is preferable as it can be upgraded over time and can have extra cards etc added.  However laptop prices have come down so far we have switched almost entirely over to laptops.  You do not need the newest, fastest, best laptop.  Remember your show laptop is just that… Do not add unneeded programs and do not go on and off the internet with your show PC.

Here are some PC specs..
Processor -    Minimum: 800MhZ       Recommended: 1.2 GHz+ ( Intel or AMD is fine) Celeron is fine!
Memory - Minimum: 512 MB              Recommended: 1GB
Video - Need an S-Video output jack for your CDG video screen unless you get a converter for a VGA port and PC allows you to extend screen to the monitor.. All with S-Video and or Composite (RCA out) allow this
Sound Card – Most onboard sound cards will work fine (standard) but Gemini just came out with a great USB sound card for DJ / KJ purposes.
Operating System – You can use Win XP or Vista – Recommend XP – Vista is glitchy (in my humble opinion)
Peripherals - I would recommend a minimum of 2 USB ports, but prefer you have 4  and that they be USB2 compatible (speed issue)
Hard Drive capacity - Most laptops (unless you spend a great deal) do not offer a great deal of Hard Drive space – Recommend an external USB Hard Drive minimum of 320GB, preferably 500GB or more.  TigerDirect.com or buy.com are great places to buy these.
DO NOT BUY a WESTERN DIGITAL MYBOOK DRIVE OR ANY DRIVE LISTED AS A “GREEN DRIVE”  They go into a sleep mode and lock up the Karaoke Player Program.
Writable CD (CDRW) or DVD Writer on board PC. Or buy an external.  Roxbox Rip N Zip will work with almost all CD writers but a Plextor is preferred.
ANY PC meeting these specs is fine – I personally prefer IBM, Lenovo, Toshiba, Compaq, HP or Dell PC’s

Ripping your CDG Collection to Hard Drive

Most CD Rom’s do not have capability to read CDG’s.  Plextor makes drives that read them properly.  The ripping program (KJ Rip N Zip) will literally teach most drives to read a CDG when ripping, but if you get an external Plextor drive it would rip faster and easier.
http://www.provantage.com/plextor-px-q840u~7PLEX24W.htm

KJ Rip N Zip (RoxBox) uses the naming convention for KJPro -KJPro.com so when ripping you type in the CD’s code and it will read out of it’s database and name the files for you.

You can also use MP3GToolz for ripping and renaming.. you will have to read their help files for info, but they are an awesome resources as you need to work on your file structures and names..

Hosting your show:

I have tried:
Tricerasoft – I know they have made improvements but it was way to complex for multiple operators t many shows.
PCDJ FX + Karaoke – Same as above and I have always had issues with the indexing features being extremely slow.
Siglos - Good Program – but a bit too busy for me and found some glitchiness in trying to run entire show.
Sax N Dotty – our early choice as best program… added history… but very very (yes I used very twice) poor support and a hardware failure replaced means you need a new activation code and now you have to wait for someone in Europe to get back to you.
CompuHost - Awesome program, a bit too much stuff makes it a bit more intense to operate and I REALLY worry about losing my USB thumb drive and having the program go into demo mode (also using up one USB port)
Hoster – Very good software, very simple to use.  Cost is a bit higher and it does not keep history as well as Roxbox and it also ties to the hardware with your activation code.

Roxbox - Software that is easiest and makes for best show is Roxbox  – www.kjamp.com
You also want to buy their KJ Rip N Zip Program for ripping your CDG’s to  Hard Drive. Only one of these with ability to rip Super CDG to your hard drive.  Great functionality with mixing background music in.

BACKUP
****NEWSFLASH****  Computers can fail.. Have a backup at any private or bigger show. Have something on call or on site at all bar style shows.   Always have some back up means to play some music in the event you have a PC lock up so you can play some dance music while rebooting.   An inexpensive MP3 Player or Disc Player is a great option for this.  Remember… it happens and you need to be ready.

LEGALITY
The entire DJ industry lives in the gray area of law… Music Publishers and Artists licensed CDG’s (to the few companies actually paying legal licensing fees) only to be distributed via the CDG.  The Karaoke Publishers can not give you blanket permission to put music on a hard drive or they risk being sued (…again!) by the various publishing houses.  Several Karaoke manufacturers have agreed as long as you purchase one for one copies of CDG’s and are willing to prove that via validation they will not pursue legal actions against individuals or companies using purchased content on a hard drive.  They do, however, reserve the right to be able to validate catalogs and keep a record of songs purchased that are used on a hard drive so they can keep track of who is actually displaying validated content.  An efficient validation program is being worked on currently and of course will be adapted over time to deal with issues as they occur.

Pop Hits Monthly has started releasing MP3+G disks and Sound Choice is currently working on new content being released on MP3+G, so we have come a long way on this.  Stand by as there are going to be major developments in this area in the very near future. 

Benefits of Switching to Digital Karaoke Hosting

Benefits of Switching to Digital Karaoke Hosting
by Bobby Brooks, VP of USKaraokeAlliance (www.uskaraokealliance.com)
and owner, UR Entertainment (www.urentertainment.net)

I remember when I got my first CD back in the late 1980’s?  I thought that it was the greatest new invention ever!  The CD was smaller than an album and had better sound quality than an album or cassette tape.  It was much easier to cue up a song via CD than either records or tapes combined.  The CD’s did not scratch or skip like an album or wear out like a tape (or so we were told).  Well, we all know better now.  CD’s served their purpose, however in our world of cutting edge today, antiquated tomorrow way of living we needed a different vehicle to play music and eliminate the problems mentioned above.  Plus lugging around hundreds of CD’s was a pain in the assets!  So, cue the computer, please.

When the CAVS player (MP3+G Player) was first introduced to me I was ecstatic!  Here was the answer to the problems we were facing.  It was very easy to use and portable; but loading songs was an arduous task.  Once you completed loading music into the player it was great, but adding new songs was time consuming.  When (not if ) the CAVS player broke down, no one locally could fix it.  You had to send it to California.  The customer service was a joke and you were without a machine for at least 10 days.  Then if you were out of warranty it was a minimum of $500 to repair.  Ah!  Help us oh technology gods.  We needed something new… again; to play our music!

The answer came in the nick of time.  It was in the form of your PC (personal computer).  It’s simple, affordable and easy to use.  Loading new discs is now easier than ever with the software that is available to convert CD+G’s.  For you KJ’s (Karaoke Jocks), manufactures are starting to sell discs already in MP3+G format.  Great programs like the Roxbox Karaoke Player (www.kjamp.com) provide many easy ways to play your MP3+G songs.  As for DJ’s, all the functionality of table top players or turn tables are available with computer software.  It just makes sense when everywhere you look in the music industry sales points to MP3’s.  Still not convinced?  Ok, here is a list of why to convert to digital.

1.      No more carrying multiple CD players or turn tables.

2.      Safe guard your investment by archiving your CD’s or albums.

3.      No more dead air while you search for a misplaced disc.  Just type in the artist name or title of the song or even a combination of both.

4.      NO MORE SKIPS.

5.      Faster and more efficient way of running karaoke shows.

6.      It is Easy to generate song books with a multitude of programs available.

7.      Easier to organize your singer lists and keep track of each one’s favorites.

8.      Keep a data base of singers’ history so you can track top songs.

9.      Adding new discs to your library is very simple.

10.  Repairing of a computer is more cost effective than CDG players.

KIAA (Karaoke Industry Alliance of America) joins in helping Karaoke community!

Advisory Board members of the Karaoke Industry Alliance of America traveled from across the United States to serve as judges at the finals of the Chicagoland Karaoke Olympics.  Sound Choice President, Derek Slep from North Carolina, Stellar Records President Tom Viveiros from Massachusetts, Stellar Vice President Tony Walstra from Connecticut, and US Karaoke Alliance President, Eric Godfrey from Arizona all traveled to the south side of Chicago to a club called Trio in Palos Heights, IL for the crowning of Chicago’s Karaoke Olympics medalists.

1^st Place Winner Kristen D’Andrea of Orland Park IL won $5,000 cash with her renditions of I’ll Be There by Mariah Carey and No One by Alicia Keys.   She worked the crowd into a feverish pitch with her performances.  2^nd Place Winner Don Grillo of Countryside IL won a complete DJ / Karaoke Rig with Sound Choice and Pop Hits Monthly Library, worth over $6,000 with his performances of Piano Man by Billy Joel and At this Moment by Billy Vera and the Beaters.  3^rd prize was won by Hard Rocker, Kevin Benson of Indian Head Park IL and included a Budweiser Prize Pack and $1,250 worth of Pop Hits Monthly Discs with Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy by Big and Rich and Plush by Stone Temple Pilots.  A crowd of over 400 packed the club for the entire event.  The Karaoke Olympic Finals was the climax to 12 weeks of qualifying and then club finals and wild card semi-finals.  The even was co sponsored by SingChicago.com, Nitelife.org and www.chiliskaraoke.com.  The host and MC for the event was Ron Larson, owner of Chili’s Karaoke.

KIAA board members used the event to help the local Karaoke community and pitched very expensive disc collections as prizes.

Sound Choice joins efforts of US Karaoke Alliance!

USKA President Eric Godfrey, will be the moderator for the Karaoke forum at the show and Mr. Slep will join him at that event to field questions from Karaoke companies and Karaoke enthusiasts.

Sound Choice has been leading in the efforts to fix the karaoke problems in the Karaoke world for years now.  In years past they have contributed prizes and a great deal of money in sponsoring national karaoke contests.  In recent years as sales have plummeted due to piracy, they are no longer in a position to give back to the community, but they are working to do all they can to improve the climate.  Sound Choice is now joining forces with the US Karaoke Alliance which is taking steps to help Karaoke Jockeys, Karaoke manufacturers and is allowing all disc manufacturers free membership in its group.

Currently the US Karaoke Alliance sponsors Karaoke2Night.com, FindKaraokeBars.com and WeSingKaraoke.com as sites to help KJ’s to advertise their services and their venues.  USKA Members get discounted rates on premier listings on these pages; however any company wanting to advertise is eligible for a free listing.

Digital Karaoke, Copyrights, and the Disc Manufacturers

My last post had a response from Bill Smith who stated,

“SoundChoice and Chartbuster came out and stated that they have no problems with a one for one copy of a legally purchased disc, I think I would be moved to initiate that. I also believe it would clear the air one and for all.”

Bill said he was looking for some clarity.

Let me explain the problem a step farther. Stellar Records (Pop Hits), Chartbuster, and SoundChoice have all been sued repeatedly (and some still have pending lawsuits) by various music publishers. Since they are the only pockets deep enough to go after they keep getting hit. The problem is that Karaoke has never been specifically addressed. There is a rule allowing anyone to put out a remake of a song and sell it. The section of the law defines a procedure for what is called “compulsories”. In the early days all the Karaoke companies (the ones trying to be legal) were paying these fees and registering their songs. However, since CDG’s combined active graphics the publishers pointed to a section of the Copyright law stating that it was combining the music and a visual production and thus did not qualify as a “phonograph” recording and compulsories did not apply…? This was the beginning of the end of many Karaoke disc companies. They now must get a compulsory license and for lack of a better term a “Karaoke sync” license. They must get every writer, composer, performer and publisher to agree to allow the track and after that negotiate a contract with each one prior to releasing the track.

The problem is this. SoundChoice, Chartbuster, Stellar etc, get the license and it is defined as for use on the particular Karaoke CDG and it has an expiration date. It is not in the scope of their license to tell you that you can make a copy of the disc in digital format. If they say you can do so, they open themselves up to more lawsuits. There is a great deal of disagreement among the remaining companies as to how this needs to be handled, but the bottom line is they all understand technology and acknowledge that digital copies are going to happen.. They have agreed that as long as you have 1 for 1 copies of the original for every show you do that they will not pursue any course of action. This is the same as with DJ’s using digital tracks and what the RIAA has stated.

After years of very intense discussion and quite a bit of animosity I was able to get Bill Becker, current General Manager of Sound Choice to release this press release: http://www.uskaraokealliance.com/images/SoundChoiceKaraokePressRelease9-08.pdf.  Bill and Sound Choice have been more than reasonable to deal with of late and they are trying to move forward proactively.

However, they can not state it is okay to go digital as it would put them in legal jeopardy, but they have stated that if you have one for one copies for every set of gear that they will not come after you.

So the answer is once again, that we all live in the gray area as digital DJ’s always have and that until it is addressed SPECIFICALLY, there is no hard and set rule. SoundChoice has discussed it with me and the USKA can act as an intermediary for a KJ member and negotiate a way to pay for license certificates for digital content that you do not have discs to support. We have spoken to Chartbuster and Stellar and they are both working on similar programs, but theirs’ are not in place yet.

If we can get even a small portion of the people to pay to make their illegal copies legal this will create a revenue stream for the disc manufacturers and help them to survive and hopefully as we police our own industry we can bust a few people and create awareness that gets the ball rolling.

See http://www.uskaraokealliance.com/Karaoke_Legal_Talk.htm for more info on all of this.

Why is Piracy a problem for Karaoke?

Hey everyone! Before getting started, I am new to this blog and new to blogging altogether so please bear with me.

I am Eric Godfrey,  President of the US Karaoke Alliance www.USKaraokeAlliance.com. I am owner of Starz Entertainment, (www.StarzEntertainment.net) and Starz Karaoke (www.StarzKaraoke.com). We do about 600 to 700 Karaoke shows per year in bars and clubs and about 50 more private shows.

We are going to be addressing all issues Karaoke on this blog and will deal with any aspects you want to deal with. So all that said let’s touch on this topic which is Why is Piracy a problem for Karaoke?

With the development of computer technology, copying of discs was available then later ripping of songs and playing of songs from hard drives. I am an advocate of this as a trained computer engineer. There are many benefits to hosting with digital Karaoke files and that will be another blog topic up later today.

Problem is this… in addition to copying of Karaoke discs, the technology has allowed easy copying of Karaoke files and those have been put up on peer sharing technologies like RealmWorld which advertised by KaraokeInfo and has allowed people to download massive collections which they have used Ebay, Craigslist and a host of other sites to sell content they downloaded illegally with no costs at all.

We run 3 bar systems and 1 private system and since 1998 we have spent over $140,000 on Karaoke music. I can not compete with someone who obtains all their music at no cost and is using untrained hosts on home quality Karaoke systems for the price of a bar tab. That is my side of the problem.

The music industry gives little or no respect to Karaoke and Karaoke technology has never been specifically addressed in any legislation. Therefore contracts and agreements have been loosely based on the US Copyright Law and many disagreements have resulted. The record companies have not gone after small disc companies who are totally infringing on copyrights and paying nothing in artists and publisher commissions… They have gone after the larger companies that are trying to do it right and make ends meet. So all of the major companies have been getting sued and buried in legal fees and settlement fees while the worst of the infringers march on.

End result of all of this… Major companies like NuTech, Music Maestro, DK, Priddis, Legends, and Pioneer are now gone… They are out of business. Top Hits Monthly went out of business with several other companies that were putting out discs, but never did it legally. Reasons vary, but end result, they are all gone! The only remaining companies that are doing it right and paying fees in accordance with the existing system are Pop Hits Monthly (Stellar), Chartbuster, Sound Choice, Disney, All-Star (makers of most of the brands you see at Wal-Marts and other chain retailers), and Sound Choice. All of these companies have watched fees go up, legal costs sky-rocket, and sales go down as more and more of their music is being shared and copied instead of purchased. All of them have extremely questionable futures and even these companies that were once extremely successful have cut back to the bone and are still watching revenues drop to nothing.

Why is all of this a problem? Do you love to sing songs, like I do? Do you enjoy having your favorite versions of songs? Do you share my desire to do things the right way and do it legally while making sure artists are compensated? If you said yes to any of these questions, you must realize if these companies go under, where are your new Karaoke songs going to come from? What quality will they be? The cost of putting out a legal Karaoke disc with 10 to 12 tracks is somewhere in the neighborhood of $8,000 to $12,000. 15 song discs can run up to about $20,000. This is including licensing fees, sync fees, administrative documentation fees, production costs, etc. It is NOT including overhead of the company, costs of the disc production and distribution. So, if they go out of business will anyone be putting out any legal music or is the entire industry doing to go underground and be the land of computer geek, hackers and file sharers using illegal content? Meanwhile, legitimate Karaoke hosting companies are going under because they can not support paying for music, properly trained hosts and professional equipment because of extremley low cost competition by the the myriad of people doing shows with no costs in exchange for beer money.

We all need to come together and work together or the Karaoke world we love is going to go away.

Folks, I apologize for the bleak first post, but I want everyone to understand the dire situation we are in… This is all written from my personal perspective and from my opinion…   Any companies mentioned are from my memory and any omissions are not intentional.

All that said; go to USKaraokeAlliance.com if you want to get involved in the effort to fix these problems before it is too late!  Look forward to hearing from all of you and chatting at Mobile Beat in Las Vegas!

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