Karaoke Forums

If I had another KJ tell me they were taking one of my regular gigs, without any heads up from the tenders or owner, I'd laugh him off. Any spineless owner without business ethics isn't worth working for. If KJ New needed the gig that bad, maybe KJ New has issues of his own and karaoke at that establishment is just doomed to fail. Now, I've known some pretty lame KJs who shouldn't even be hosting, but all people deserve the common decency of being dealt with straight up.

I can't believe so many of you think that there is an ethical question involved here. It's just business guys. Maybe it's time for new blood at the venue, maybe KJ old sucks (in a non-literal fashion), maybe KJ new wears her skirts shorter, the owner should do whatever he can to line his own pockets. The bar business is not easy.

If I was KJ old I would want to know ASAP.

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Okay, who took my pants?

I'm sure the bar owner is looking out for himself. Why fire a KJ without lining another one up first. He doesn't want to go without entertaiment until he does.

I consider this ethical and business for the New KJ. Why have hard feelings with someone who has been kind enough to bring you 2 fill in gigs. When I'm offered gigs I can't take I have a couple go to guys. If they tried to take over one of my regular gigs I'd never do business with them again. Not to mention I'd be sure to get the word out what type of person this KJ is.

In my area karaoke people are loyal and KJs scratch each others back. It wouldn't take long for the word to get out so & so is a smuck. Bar owners probably wouldn't care, but he'd get no more refferels and people would be reluctant to go to his show. I've only seen it happen once, but it did put the guy out of business.

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[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

EXACT situation happened to me at a Mexican restuarant in Oregon City I used to fill in at frequently(the one that CHARMIN BLUESTAINED SHOES came and saw me KJ at).

Old had the gig---I filled in for him 1 or twice a month while he did weddings. Owner approached me one night when I was filling in and communicated he was not getting along with Old and would I LIKE TO TAKE THE GIG FROM HIM FROM OLD?.

As I was operating in the capacity of a contracted person to OLD I told Owner I would have to check with Old first before I made any kind of decision.

Owner was an oily kinda sneaky guy anyway and I really had NO INTEREST in working for him directley(he didnt pay me--Old paid me well each night I covered---and consequently led to numerous other well-paid fill-ins)

So I dodged the entire ugly potential situation and walked away from that place with a clear concious.

But then thats just how I DO BUSINESS, with some ethics and no underhandedness(is that a word)?? And maintained my LOYALTY to the person who had first hired me and was taking care of me well.

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"You know that I sing the Blues and I do not suffer fools. When I'm on that silver mic, it's gonna cut ya, just like a knife"-The SWINGCAT

In later adventures with OLD i continued to cover for him at his other gigs. Invariably the owners would get tired of him(kinda over-powerin personality) and they would then ask me to take the gig from him. I would decline since I didnt want to be underhanded, also not haveing a complete DJ rig of my own would have had to work out a rental agreement of some kind, and didnt want to be tied down on weekends commited to full weekend KJ'ing.

So why would these DIFFERNT Owners keep asking me to take these gigs????

Cause IM JUST THAT DAMMMM GOOD!!!!!! THAT'S WHY!!

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"You know that I sing the Blues and I do not suffer fools. When I'm on that silver mic, it's gonna cut ya, just like a knife"-The SWINGCAT

there's some truth there, Kurt.

A bad KJ will just ruin a show. Someone with even MEDIOCRE talent can make ALL the difference in the world. (I'm just kiddin', dude!)

But a different KJ can and WILL make a difference. I'm not into hip hop or even serious R&B, but Tig was a great DJ, and knew sound like no other. I always deferred to him in that regard... but I could run a great show of my own. Not better... just my own style. Some venues LOVED it, others... not so much. I didn't take it personally when we had a Friday and Saturday gig, and the owners prefered Tig's show over mine... for as long as it lasted, I let him have it once he told me about it. Truth be told, I didn't like the place that much, and I guess it showed!

Each situation is different ut it depends upon the relationship between the KJ'S. Having been in similar situations I will discuss price and the reason he wants a replacement. When it develops to the point where he wants a trial night I ask him what does.old KJ say? I inform him I am helping him and not going to steal his gig. It is not my responsibility to fire Old KJ it is the owners bag.

If he is undercutting or not communicating with old then I am reluctant to work for him to start with. I lost a very dear friend because he thought I took a gig from him. I was doing alternate sat's and people starting calling up Is Ollie doing it tonight? If not they would go elsewhere. I wound up full time. I actually tried to advise him but he wouldnt listen. The ones that really need to know the truth and what is really happening are the regular singers. I have found over the years that they and bar regulars know more than you think. In fact they might be better informed than you are. That is another reason to converse with them and YES play dance music and include them in the show.. The politics in bars are small potatoes when compared to some of the professions Ive had Try dealing with a TV station news team and their egos. They are competing for hundred thousand dollar contracts.

There is a lot more than good sound and most of the things argued about here over and over. A host must wear many hats and keep them clean and none are more important than another.Years ago I was doing outside TV repair and at a RCA seminar the teacher asked "What is more important? PR or tech knowledge?" The response was overwhelmingly tech knowledge. He calmly said NO It is 51% public relations and 49% tech..With that attitude I found out how to deal with customers better and found out he was right..In this trade the percentage is more on the PR side because you are dealing with drunks and egos of singers. It might be 75% PR.
GAWD I hope somebody got something out of this rambling...

Ethics most certainly DO have a play in this. As you just stated, "If I was KJ old I would want to know ASAP", since the Bar Owner didn't have the decency to say anything (from what DD has told us), the only way that "KJ Old" is going to find out anything, is when he comes to the place the next week to set up, and then "KJ New says, "What are you doing here?" Hell of a way to find out you've been fired.... not to mention the scene that will MOST DEFINITELY occur at that point.

About 6 years ago, I was going from Bar to Bar, asking if they would be interested in having Karaoke. I would leave my card in the hopes of getting a phone call. There was one place that I went to every 3 or 4 months, where I would leave my card. Well, one day, I went to this particular place, and the Bartender said that they were interested. We discussed my price, and she asked me if I could do a bi-weekly show on Thursdays (starting the following week), and I said, "Sure."

That night, I sent an an e-mail to everyone on my list, announcing the upcoming show. One person e-mailed me back, and informed me that another KJ had just done a show there the week before. I happened to know this particular KJ (I had been to a few of his shows, and also knew him to be a SLIMEBALL as far as stealing and undercutting other KJs... another story, not for now). Anyhow, I called him up the next day, and asked him about this particular Bar. I told him that I had heard he had just done a show there, and asked him if he had negotiated anything with the place to do future shows. He said that it was just a one-time deal, and he had no intentions of going back there. At that point, I pushed my luck a little bit more, and asked him if he was sure of that, and he said, "Yes." I then told him that the reason I called, was because I was just offered a regular gig there. He wished me good luck. I took the gig with a clear conscience.

There's more to this particular story (which I wrote about several years ago in this Forum), but it's not pertinent to this particular topic that DD opened.