Karaoke Forums

I congratulate you. If I get to your show, you would be the first CAVS host I have seen who listed manufacturer.


I used to care a lot more, now I am experienced enough to mostly handle any version.  I am more interested in knowing what key it will be in, as key changes are problematic with some hosts.

Which, by the way, is another problem I have with CAVS machines. You can't set the key at the time you input the song and have it stick -- you have to manually set it every time at song start. (Or so it seems to me.)

I think this issue probably relates heavily to the type of venue. I just like a clean look to a book - and 99% of people don't care which version.  Those that do usually bring their own discs anyway. (I have a lot of people who persist in bringing their own discs, which is fine with me - hoster allows that easily.)  It is obvious when people view my current book (which I did with Music Book Deluxe, which is a great program, and my book is very, very nice, easy to read, etc.) that my selection is VERY adequate...but I still get that eternal question, "What's the difference in these versions?"  - Figured if those serious enough to care about manu ask, I'll tell them, but that will be about 1% of the crowd. There rest, who I'll call 'recreational' singers, couldn't really care less - I have manu codes in the front half of my book and people will choose the FIRST instance of a song, regardless of the manu code.  I'll just bypass their choice (if it is, for example, SGB) and put the best version in...have done it for years.

As far as people being impressed by the investment, most people have no clue. When I tell them that the biggest investment in the biz is the constant replenishing of the song supply, they are amazed at what it costs...when you throw around figures like $25,000 song inventory they're really amazed. When you have disc cases overflowing wiht CDGs it is easy for them to see, but with a computerized system, it isn't as obvious. But in reality, all they care about is that their song is there when they want it, and that I make them sound really great.

I probably SPOIL my singers ... oh heck, I DO spoil them. They leave a lot of it up to me. Maybe I'm just tired of answering that question. It amazes me that there are still SO many people who've never karaoke'd before and who are unfamiliar with the nuances of the biz.  Gotta love them - job security!

I hope the woman with the new system is able to work around her issues - I'd imagine she's invested a pretty penny and I know based on her comments the other night, she may be facing constant irritation from it.

K

If you buy carfeully you can keep them to a minimal amount.  I have 11K non dup'd & 13K counting dups.

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I agree with this & it is true that the majority of the people if they multiple listing are going to ask what the difference is & ultimately end up telling the kj to pick the version the kj feels is the best anyway!  So you may as well just pick & list that version.

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[quote="Lonman @ Sat Mar 01, 2008 11:20 am"

If you buy carfeully you can keep them to a minimal amount.  I have 11K non dup'd & 13K counting dups.[/quote]

Lonnie, but i would think that 99.5% of seasoned kjs here didn't have a forum like this to know which manus to avoid or to buy many years ago.

When i started, MM for the most part sounded good, so i bought ALL i could. Come to find out about SC the next year, i thought they were overpriced so i bought CBs. This eventually led to getting deals on and trying all the rest, but eventually settling on THM and PHM respectively.

When i finally got the foundations and bricks, my wife literally laughed at all the money i spent on the seldom used ones.

This on top of purchasing moonbounces, jousting boxing rings, cotton candy and sno-cone machines, a bigger van, tents, and 5 promo-only discs a month to dj with.

To appeal to both experienced and non-experienced singers i think it's better to list them anyways. If the later asks,(which they usually don't, they'll just write the 1st one down) then i just say "pick the first one", as i deemed that version better.... the seasoned singers, although not the majority, appreciate the fact they can decide on the spot whether to use their discs or pick from the book- but mORE importantly don't have to GET UP, with book in hand, and ask me which is better or who the manufacturer is.

Well when I started buying discs in 92 I didn't have a forum either.  When I would buy a disc, I was able to hear it before I bought (at this time it was a brick & mortar store) as the owner would open it & play it.  If I didn't like the sound, I would pass.  I was also careful not to buy discs that had over half on the disc to what I already had.  I know people that literally will just buy a set for the sake of having the set & automatically duplicate almost 50% or better of their library - this is wasted money IMO.  When I buy a disc, I do research on it, then compare to what I have in my own library, then IF it meets my criteria of less than half dups, I will consider it.  If it has even 1 song over the halfway mark (ONLY exception would be IF the remaining songs were highly requested), then I would not get the disc.  I never needed a forum for that, that was just common sense not to buy what I already had.  If it was a version that was really bad or better version came out later, I may consider replacing - again provided I had enough interest to do so.  The only time I actually spent money that duplicated some of my selections (upgrading to better versions) is when I find deals on discs that I pay less than $5 per for new or I buy out a competitors library  for pennies on the dollar or when people sell me a disc they no longer want.



Yeah I remember when MM & SC came out on the scene, I even bought some of the MM, only to find out I shouldn't have for anything pop/rock.  Their country was tolerable & still use those.  But the rock stuff was the biggest mistake I had ever done & quit buying them after that.  The SC stuff was much better & at least in our store, they were the same price.  PHM didn't come on the scene until 95 or 96.  Chartbuster was relatively new in that era as well, but even then I didn't care for their country (I do now).



Foundations would have been a huge waste for me as I already had over 85-90% on my core Pioneer library.  Only bought Bricks 4 & 5 & these actually get used quite a bit.

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I have a page in the front of the book that I may have a different version to please ask.  But like I stated my duplicate ratio is pretty low for the most part.  I'd rather just save the money on printing & put it toward more new discs.
I quit listing dups in the 90's & have never had any complaints that I don't have multiple versions of every song.

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It sounds like fortunately in '92 you had the time to shop around and actually hear the discs before buying. In my area there was only 1 asian-owned karaoke store and they wouldn't open a disc unless you bought it first.

My situation was to buy karaoke as an ad-on to an existing dj business. It was the new thing to do to keep up with the competition to try to corner the market on Mitsvahs. I just bought everything i could find to get started with. Since it was a new venture, i was careful not to waste money, but felt compelled to buy everything i could get my hands on.

Yeah our was a dedicated karaoke store, so they were very workable with the karaoke companies that were sprouting up.  I started min from scratch, it was not an add on.  I was actually running sound for bands & a recording engineer before I did karaoke.  I saw it starting to take off & new this was the new craze.  I wanted to give a live band experience for karaoke so used all my band PA as well.  This was a time when everyone here was still running mics through their player & a home stereo system.
There was a time when the monthlies first appeared I would buy just to have it first, but soon realized that I ended up with a bunch of dust collectors that never got played so started buying on a request basis only.

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Agree - if I was starting to buy now, I'd buy a lot differently. My library started as a personal library in the early '90s...now I am VERY picky about what I buy and will get even pickier as I purchase new stuff. Hard to avoid if you buy from multiple manufacturers. That's why buying them singly will probably become my preferred method. I wish Star Disc and PHM would get together and bring out completely different discs when they do! That combination creates quite a few dupes all on its own.

k

oh God, please tell me you don't buy Star Disc!!

To me, they're the worst! Yes they come out with tracks faster than anybody, but the QUALITY is so hoakie!! I went to sing a Nickelback song at a venue, and when it came up with SD on the screen, I told them to cancel it.  I'd tried it before and it SUCKED!

We have a couple companies around here that buy them first thing... and yeah, they satisfy some of the crowd... but I'd rather wait for the better versions by THM or PHM.

I too buy only singer's requests that I get from regulars (has to be someone I know will be back to sing them). In fact I just bought one song today.  I needed to get the version of Another Brick in the Wall that is the one with just the chorus.

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The Line Array Experiment is over. Nothing to see here. Move along.

Actually I just picked up a Star Disc with Sober on it by K. Clarkson. Even though it is slightly different than the original, I kind of like it.  Turpentine by Brandi Carlile is only available on PHM which, by the way, now sports a new back cover - Top Tunes. Interesting.

We don't use much country, mostly pop, harder rock, and metal, so choices are limited for us as far as brands, and nobody ever complains, lucky us.

k

Getting a little off topic.   Boomer, have you decided anything yet?