Karaoke Forums

Dan, I should have qualified this a little more - this is probably a very venue dependent position, and one where you KNOW what people are thinking/doing, i.e., a very small town. For example, right now we're going to be getting into some really bad, cold weather with icy road conditions, and right before Christmas. We have NEVER missed a gig due to weather - doesn't matter how long it takes us to get there - at times we have left an hour and a half before a gig that would start in half an hour. So, if we're there and set up, and obviously there isn't a soul in sight, it doesn't benefit either us or the venue owner that we continue to sit on our thumbs and wish for someone to walk in.

I think you have to use your reasoning with this type of a situation. I have packed up early one time and that was in a bar where we are very good friends with the owners - we opted to pack upe early to save them a little dough and really enjoyed making an early night of it. In other situations there is no way I would offer to leave early.

In a drastic situation obviously you have to use common sense; however, when it is the whim of an owner who doesn't understand karaoke and how it works as a revenue builder for their business, and chooses to send a host home early because they FEEL like it, No, I WOULD NEVER leave early. If I did, I would expect full payment.

(Come to think of it, the one time I left early last winter, they insisted on paying me the full amount, even though we were just barely halfway through the show. Almost got in an argument over that ... I ended up taking more than half. I believe these owners are truly the exception to the rule of stingy, karaoke-hating bar owners.)