Karaoke Forums

A friend of a friend of mine bought a bar back in January, and asked me to do karaoke. I did so, giving him an intro rate of $100.00 for the first 4 weeks and $150.00 thereafter. I have a longstanding gig at a larger bar, so this was just a side thing.

This guy has NO business owning a bar. He was the bar manager of the bar that was previously in the same location, and he has no money of his own to speak of. I would assume that he has the place leveraged/financed to the gills, and he just thinks he can do a better job than the last owner.

Anyway, the crowds have not been horrible, but they have not been good. This is a small place, probably fits 40-50 people max, and I have been pulling in about 20-30 people a night on Thursday nights.

Anyway, the bartender has been trying to tell me I should work for less because the bar isn't making any money, and I believe it. This bar is 2 blocks from the Tampa Bay Rays baseball stadium and 3 blocks from the main downtown entertainment district, and he is still having trouble bringing people in. I think the main problem is that the bar is on the first floor of a hotel. Good signage, and good street corner location, but it is what it is, a small bar with limited seating attached to a hotel. Even though it is not the "hotel lounge" anyone passing by would take it for the "hotel lounge."

Being such, there are also a few basic noise restrictions that limits me and this guy's weekend DJs from really using much bass. There is literally hotel rooms that share walls with this place. I even think the volume restrictions might be a little looser than they should be. Anyway, the point is, low volumes, no bass = LOW ENERGY SHOWS.

So, long story long, I fired myself last night. I just told the guy that I know he can't afford to pay me what I need, and even though we had a verbal agreement and he may be keeping me on out of pride, I was basically swallowing up his profits every night I was there, and from having been in the business a while, I didn't see his business improving much. It came down to an ethics decision, becuase even though I wanted the extra cash, I was going to contribute to putting this guy out of business, even if he couldn't see it himself.

Anyway, got me to thinking, there IS a place for the $75-100 karaoke host. Not every bar owner can afford a good KJ, but may still benefit from karaoke. Places like this would be PERFECT for a young KJ in their 20s to get their feet wet before trying to move on to larger gigs.

Anyone had similar experiences?

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C Mc
KJ, FL

Since you have a semi personal relationship with the owner , regular business decisions go out the window.

The sad truth is that if $100 a night is going to drive this guy out of business ..he's in trouble!!

There is always a place for LOW ball KJ's. The problem is when that LOWBALL price starts to spread around in an area and becomes the NORM

The more that I'm getting out, the more that I see karaoke as seen as a joke by the owners. Karaoke is seen by many as a cheap alternative to a live band. Sound and KJ quailty doesn't seem to matter in many cases...

That had to be tough to do being you know him. It was really nice of you to give him a lower price for as long as you did. I'm sure he appreciates that.

A lot of people think owning a bar is a money maker from the git go and that it will be a lot of fun. They have no idea how much work it is and hard it is to stay profitable. I wish him luck.

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Yeah, the thing that I have to laugh at, even though it certainly isn't funny to the owners, is that in this economy of bars and restaurants going under left and right it is almost INEVITABLE that someone will think that they can do better and not even question why the place went under or is for sale in the first place.

Case in point, we had two BBQ restaurants go under last year on our main commercial highway, one of them a regional franchise restaurant. Guess what happened to both of them? Someone is leasing them and putting in another BBQ restaurant.

Same thing with this guy. The previous Irish pub went under. The current owner was even the bar manager of the previous bar and should have the knowledge of exactly WHY it went under. So what does he do? Leases the bar (at a 15% higher monthly rate, I'm told) and makes it........wait for it.....and IRISH PUB. WTF are these people thinking?

If the concept didn't work before, you need a new concept at the very least!

Same thing with karaoke. I think we have all met our share of owners that have no business on X night of the week, and think it is 100% your responsibility as the karaoke host to completely turn it around overnight. A crappy bar is a crappy bar most of the time, and nothing short of having Billy Joel playing piano every Monday night is going to save your crappy bar on it's crappy Monday night.

Karaoke isn't magic....it works best when the essentials of success are already in place for the bar itself. It can usually make a busy bar busier, but seldom turns a turd into a diamond.

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C Mc
KJ, FL

I would have a big problem with the low volumes. Sounds like you did pretty good considering.

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Kevin

This has to be the best thing I've ever read here ..Thanks Topher


Karaoke isn't magic....it works best when the essentials of success are already in place for the bar itself. It can usually make a busy bar busier, but seldom turns a turd into a diamond.

Ah, but the reason why a restaurant/bar fails isn't always because of the theme. It could be their food sucked. It could be that the employees were unfriendly/incompetent or management was inept. It could be that they didn't do the right kind (or any) advertising/marketing.

I totally agree that owners who think that karaoke is the cure-all for an ailing night at their venue are fooling themselves. It doesn't change the ambience of the place, their staff, the quality of their food/drink, etc.

About a month ago, I met with a bar in a downtown entertainment district who, I discovered via a Google search, had all kinds of drama in the past with various promoters and unsatisfied customers. They brought in a new manager who told me they wanted to turn things around and make it more of a place like "Cheers". They thought bringing in karaoke would help them make that transition.

Actually, redefining that venue would take much more than that because of its layout of the place (long and narrow) its ultra-lounge furnishings and ambience, the fact that they still wanted to hype mashup DJs on the weekends (image confusion), and their checkered past. Long story short, that manager was gone in a few weeks and the place still struggles with its reputation and lineup.

Last year I also had a gig at an Irish-type pub/restaurant attached to a downtown Seattle hotel. Unfortunately, we had the same problems with sound levels, not to mention it turned out the hotel management refused to promote the restaurant which was owned by another company, but shared an entrance. The bar manager wanted to hang on and even brought in another host after I left, but to no avail.

IMHO Karaoke alone is neither a quick fix nor salvation for venues. It has to be done right and at a place that already has a critical mass of customers on other nights of the week.

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I am kinda in the middle of the same thing except the guy who owns this bar has no business owning a bar of even running it. He has no customers and no personality.

Our arangement was a verbal discounted price to get him going but 2 months later he cant even get 10 people in the place. I am done and am going to fire myself this coming Thursday night.

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I think you did the right thing by letting him know that he really couldn't afford you and I hope his business doesn't get worse because you left.
I also think you need to keep in touch with your friend to see if he has hired another KJ and do him a favor and check him out to be sure he is legal.

You wouldn't want your friend to get in any trouble by hiring a pirate for a lower fee because you left.

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Yes there is a place for $100 KJs, but IMO only if the bar has all the equipment and music. I dont see how a legal KJ can pay for all the gear required on that amount, let alone pay for the labor involved.