US Karaoke Alliance President, Eric Godfrey, stated, “As legitimate KJ’s, we support Sound Choice’s endeavors. Due to piracy we can no longer get a fair price for our services as a substantial majority of karaoke jocks are using illegal content. Almost every disc that comes out is now being shared on the internet or sold on hard drives. As a result of this piracy, all legitimate karaoke disc manufacturers already have or are in danger of going out of business”.
Bobby Brooks, Vice-President of the USKA added, “While KJ’s buying music legally have spent tens of thousands of dollars, KJ’s using pirated content have no cost and therefore have offered services for much lower fees, driving down the actual fair market cost for KJ services”.
Sound Choice with several other record labels, including, Stellar (Pop Hits Monthly – Sing It Now), Pocket Songs, All-Star and Chartbuster; started the KIAA along with Karaoke resellers and several KJ’s from around the country. These other KIAA members are watching Phoenix as the test case for legal action. Asked what the future holds, Kurt Slep, CEO of Sound Choice, responded, “We hope to set a precedent in Phoenix. We have already finished investigations in several other markets and those actions will follow in time.”
There are some subjects it is unwise to disagree with popular opinion about. Politics, religion, and Michael Jackson are on that list of taboo subjects. However; I have something of a reputation for rushing in where some folks fear to tread. And, I feel a certain obligation to defend my friend, Michael.
In private conversations with music industry friends I have expressed my opinions concerning Michael's legal problems. Some people have said I am defending "unacceptable behavior." I disagree and point out he was never convicted. I maintain and defend my opinion.
My relationship with Michael began as business based. I promoted two of his albums. "Thriller" has been the largest selling album of all time for many years. I predict it will continue selling almost unbelievable numbers of copies for many years to come. I promoted both, "Thriller" and "Bad."
I began our relationship with large amounts of respect and admiration for his talent, showmanship, dedication to his fans, and his innate knowledge of the entertainment industry. His business savvy greatly exceeded his age. As time went on, I developed both a strong fondness for him and a lot of concern for his total inability to recognize envy, greed, and uncontrolled ambition in other people.
Michael grew up in a surreal fairy tale world. When he was only five years old, he was touring with The Jackson Five. He quickly became a child star. Everything he could dream of except a normal childhood was there for him. He was loved and pampered by everyone around him. He saw hundreds of millions of adoring fans populating his entire universe. He could do no wrong. No harm could befall him. Goodness and mercy surrounded him.
As he grew older, he applied his business skills and became one of the world's super wealthy. Older more experienced people advised him against paying $600 million for the publishing rights to the early Beetles music catalog. Nobody had ever paid nearly as much for publishing rights. He followed his gut and went against their advice. It has proven to be a very astute business move. His many decisions concerning the composition, production, presentation, and promotion of "Thriller" were equally astute.
His downfall and early death sprang from that same fairy tale life. He had more than enough money to buy anything he could imagine. There was nobody for him to envy. He had it all. He was by nature a truly considerate and compassionate person. He had achieved his amazing success without harming anyone. He had lived in a world that was sheltered and isolated from mean and angry people.
The negative emotions of fear, envy, greed, and uncontrolled ambitions were alien concepts to him. He had never been the carrier or victim of such thoughts and feelings. He understood the meaning of those concepts the same way most people understand war. They were bad things that happened far away to people he did not know. They existed in a world he had never been exposed to.
I tried to explain bad people to him. I told him there are two ways to have the tallest tree in town. Loving people do so, by planting, nurturing, and caring for their trees. Maladjusted, angry, envious, blindly ambitious, and bitter people do so by cutting down everyone else's tall trees. He just shot me that famous smile, rolled his eyes, and said, "You should have more faith in our fellow man."
Michael loved people. He especially loved children. He enjoyed being around children. It provided a vicarious way of experiencing the "normal" childhood he never experienced. Children shared an innocence his fairy tale life had left intact within him. Other adults had lost that innocence. The advice I offered proved my own fall from grace. I and those who offered similar warnings were cynical and unable to see all the love and beauty surrounding him and each of us.
Michael's first exposure to the evil side of people was the original accusation of child molestation. In his mind, it was a very rare aberration. It was not indicative of people in general. He adopted the Christly response of, "Forgive them, Father. They know not what they do." He responded to the parents' greed with loving kindness. He gave them a few million dollars. Perhaps; it would allow them to grow, be happy, and lay down their ways of sin. If nothing else; it would teach them how insignificant a few million dollars were.
I tried to warn him the out of court settlement marked him as an easy target for similar people. I said other greedy parents would be willing to use their children to extort greater amounts. He had not lost his faith in love and goodness. The fact two poor misguided parents had given in to greed did not mean others would behave in a similar fashion.
I pointed out the long established career paths of many politicians. The successful prosecution of celebrities has taken many unscrupulous blindly ambitious politicians into higher more powerful offices. Power hunger has driven bad people to do anything imaginable to acquire and abuse power over ever increasing numbers of regular people. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Prosecuting attorneys have near absolute power.
Of course; it did happen again. Another set of parents was willing to rob their child of innocence. Another power hungry prosecutor viciously used Michael in a bid for higher office. The international broadcast news media used his misfortune to raise audience ratings. They joined in the effort to smear what was left of his reputation. They became foul smelling vultures feasting on the bleeding flesh of a magnificent and graceful antelope.
Michael won the battle, but lost his faith in the fundamental goodness of humanity. He left the country of his birth. He changed his entire life. He ran to avoid the next accusation and trial. He knew it would come, if he remained here. This country he loved so much was no longer safe. He knew would be tormented by a long string of prosecuting attorneys. Each seeking to be the one who put that "menace to society" behind bars.
I fully expect the international media report his death was linked to drug abuse. It may have been. I know the true cause of his death. My friend died from a broken heart. He could not live in the vicious greedy world he was immersed in. The exposure to greed, envy, and run away ambition came too late in life. He never had a chance to develop the immunity most of us develop at a much younger age.
His death has deprived our world of a great talent, a truly kind and generous person, and the most innocent adult I have ever known. I hope the parents and prosecutors who did this to us find themselves in the worse part of Dante's Inferno.
As a closing comment I am compelled to say, "Ask not for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee."
Radio has changed the world many times and many ways. It was our first truly mass market form of communication. The revolution it created in the early 20th. century changed our entire society. It allowed Roosevelt to be elected President. He used it to keep the nation informed about his efforts to beat the Great Depression. In his most famous radio speech, he informed the nation of the attack on Pearl Harbour and America's entry to World War II. It allowed a young country boy named Hank Williams to build a nationwide fan base and to go into history as one of the greatest entertainers of all time. Without radio there would have been no Patsy Cline, Kitty Wells, Elvis Presley, or the Beetles.
Radio is about to do it again! Radio technolgy has maded another advancement. It has just leapfrogged from reaching an audience within several hundreds miles of its broadcast tower to a truly worldwide audience. At the same time its reach has expanded, entry costs have dropped like a rock. Just a few years ago, radio stations were selling for tens of millions of dollars. Now, a state of the art Internet radio station can be started for a few thousands of dollars. A reasonable monthly fee eliminates record keeping and royalty payment requirements. Any serious hobbist can start and operate a fully automated Internet radio streamer. All that is required is a powerful computer, advanced programs, a large music collection, and a few hours of free time each day.
Until now, Internet radio has had one major stumbling block. Listening required a bulky computer and a cable or DSL modem. Since most Americans listen to radio in their vehicles, Internet radio was limited to a small niche market of listeners. Those who listened to Internet radio usually did so, while working at their home or office computers. Sure, tens of thousands of people listened to some Internet radio streams. Compared to the hundreds of millions of people who tune into their favorite radio signal while driving, the number of listeners was insignificant. That has changed! The revolution in radio audience penetration has began!
The device seen at this link and others like it are changing the music industry and the world, as we know it. http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/13/blaupunkt-shows-off-miroamer-powered-internet-car-radios/
With this device in their dashboard, more than five billion people in more than 120 nations will be able to chose from tens of thousands of Internet radio streams. In less than three years, the number of Internet radio streamers is expected to exceed one million. And, their projected listening audience will exceed one billion people This simple device has just broke the stranglehold major record companies had on American radio.
They have kept a lock tight grip on what the music consumer was able to hear for several decades. They can't control a million independent radio streamers. The major record companies have earned billions of dollars by preventing your music from being heard. They have carefully chosen the few dozen stars the world gets to hear. They have prevented most songwriters from sharing their talents with the world at large. They have been able to choose the few winners and the many losers. Internet radio receivers in vehicles blow their monopoly on radio play apart. No small group of big record companies can control Internet radio. It is too widespread and difuse. It is too simple and affordable. It is too large and getting larger each day. Finally, true talent will be able to compete on a level playing field. Merit and the free worldwide market place is prevailing. Persistence, determination, and talent are no longer trumped in a rigged game!
These mobile Internet radio receivers are available for retrofitting, today. In the 2010 model year, they will be installed at the factory, by high end automakers. Cassette players and CD players became standard equipment on less expensive vehicles, Internet radio receivers will quickly follow that well established path.
I am proud I have been able to lead the way with my innovative song plugging Internet radio program. Leaders of Nashville's music industry have been listening to it, from their office computers. Music people are trend setters. We jump on the latest technology like a duck on a June bug. Several of my music friends are already in the market for mobile Internet radio receivers. This is similar to a snowball rolling downhill.
Americans like to accomplish more than one thing at a time. We enjoy getting additional benefits from our daily drives to and from the office. Mobile Internet radio receivers just expanded those possibilities.
With future blogs, I'll share ideas on getting your music heard on those mobile Internet radio receivers.
I welcome your thoughts, questions, and comments.
Charlie
Bravenet Blog 
Blog Community
Get a Free Blog
Manage your Blog
bravenet.com