FOR KARAOKE HOSTS ONLY

Loaded hard drive pricing

Recently we were asked for help by a karaoke host who has around 9,000 songs and is unhappy with the annual AMCOS (format shifting) blanket licence fee he has to pay. This guy has and always has had a fully legal collection of songs on his hard drive (ripped by him from discs we had sold him). 

We suggested we sell him a hard drive with the entire Chartbuster collection of 13,170 songs for $3,000. He added to the hard drive the entire set of 550 Capital Karaoke songs, which, as he had already purchased the discs from us we let him have for a nominal $100.

He wanted to update his collection as well, so we suggested the Big Hits range of approx 800 songs for $999. To do this legally we told him we would have to give him the 66 discs which make up the Big Hits range. Plus he wanted songs from 2016 to date, so we sold him the ACT range from ACT 1 to 14, to do this legally we had to give him the discs for ACT 1 to 4 as Zoom own the copyright to the songs on these discs.

We suggested should there be any other songs he wishes to put on his hard drive he chooses from the Zoom catalogue, as provided all the songs he wants comes from a disc, Zoom give their approval.

We also suggested adding songs for the Kiwis from the Sundown collection on the same arrangement as Zoom.

He went away with around 15,000 good quality, fully legal karaoke songs for $4,500, all sold in mp3g format on a hard drive with no format shifting: hence no more blanket licence fees. The royalties to AMCOS (the songwriters) are happily paid by us as part of our quarterly report. Everyone gets their fair dues, no laws are broken and everyone’s happy. 

So, if you are already hosting in a public venue or are considering turning pro please contact us and we will help you set up your digital, or disc, collection.

I know the waters have been quite murky regarding hard drives with many illegal hard drives being sold on Ebay etc and the seller assuring you that it’s all fully legal. There was even a shonky counterfeiter from Canberra selling hard drives with a pukka AMCOS blanket licence (but no permission from the manufacturers and no discs to cover the songs)!. Plus the dodgy hard drives doing the rounds in Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Basically, if you’ve been sold a hard drive with a collection of songs but no discs to cover the songs included it’s almost a certainty you’ve been sold an illegal collection. Also if you’ve paid less than 50 cents per song on that hard drive it’s most likely a pirated collection. So what do you do?, I’d suggest you go back to the seller and demand a refund. After you’ve got the refund contact the police, illegal counterfeiting is a cancer destroying our industry…witness the demise of almost all the major labels: Sound Choice / Music Maestro / Music Factory / Pocket Songs etc etc.

Now, I’ve always been a pragmatic guy and I’d far rather we help a karaoke host with an illegal collection to do the right thing and become legal than take any other course of action. So this offer goes out to all the hosts who might not be squeaky clean, and to the operators with more than one rig but only one set of discs, whom I give my word will be treated in total confidence. 

The offer is:

1 Terrabyte hard drive = $99

1 complete Chartbuster collection = $3,000

1 complete Capital Karaoke collection = $550

1 complete ACT collection = $260

1 complete collection of 66 Big hits (with discs) = $999

Zoom and Sundown songs as an add on to the offer.

Total: $4906. Discount pro rata will be given for any discs you already own.

OK guys that’s all…good luck with pursuing your dreams…and let’s make karaoke hosting a real profession where the platform is equal and the honest can survive and prosper.

DARRYL HAYDEN - OWNER CAPITAL KARAOKE