Karaoke Forums

I just lost a show last night because of the turnout for the last while has been absolutely horrid. In fact, the bar itself has been slow all week for over a year. Economy? or something else? I did what I knew to do to get people in, but I can only do so much.

Two part question for everyone who hosts: What do you do to get people to know you are there at a venue? What does the venue do to advertise for you?

Wow, I guess nobody is advertising... Odd,, no responses.

We aren't awake yet, Mr. Scott. If people don't see it when they are just getting home, then you have to wait until they get up mid-day......

What I have seen work for other venues are drink specials--as in free drinks and prizes for the first few weeks. But we have casinos out here who can afford to do that. But it REALLY brings in people. When our venue owner was more pro-active, he would personally greet anyone new and buy them a drink and it really helped to overcome the apprehension of the place due to the decor--but he has mostly been absentee, lately.

We don't have an entertainment paper out here but we once tried an ad/coupon in a mailer that went to every home and got 2 coupons back. Not a success.

I put flyers up on the grocery store/mini-mart and liquour store boards--even in other towns, especailly if I know that town doesn't have karaoke on our night. Some people will travel for their fix. I have done fancy photo ones for inside the venue itself but found that they tend to camoflage in on bulletin boards--a plain bright background with big black print seems to stand out more.

We do special events like 60s Night or Tropical Night with Dollar Store door prizes. We also try to cultivate people having their Birthdays at the show. Putting up a few decorations, a card to pass around and a free drink isn't a big expense (bar supplies the drink, we supply the Happy Birthday you get to keep it glass).

We have a website and facebook and are on some of the on line karaoke bulletin boards and have sometimes been found by people looking for something but it doesn't seem to be a big factor. It would work better in a bigger population area but we are like you with long drives between towns. Most people prefer to stay local.

People bringing in friends and other locals seems to work better so we try to emphasize being "different" with humor and dancing and "full service karaoke." The bartendress tries to bond with everyone and make it very personal--"Come back and see me next week." Getting people to be friends with each other and not want to miss their social experience seems to be a biggie. Word of mouth, in other words.

We have to keep at it. We can have a big group for weeks and then lose some to too long a rotation. Or we will have a steady group of regulars and then some of them break up, get into feuds, get sick, die (it happens), lose their job and it seems to happen all at the same time. So we can't stop trying to bring in new people. Free or cheap are big these days so the problem is getting the bar to do something, too. But from what I have seen, the ones that do that are the winners.

I send out invites on FaceBook for every show. (FREE)

I put up posters in each venue. They are about $1 each for full color 11x17.

I use the newspaper's local events calendar to post the announcements for shows every week (FREE).

I stay in contact with the local radio stations and tv studios so that they give me a call every couple of months to do an on air interview, entertainment interest piece. (FREE)

Along those lines, when my venues do advertise on the radio, I stipulate that I am the one to do the voice-over work for any ads mentioning my karaoke show.

Most of my venues do advertise in the paper and on the radio. Some have even had posters made up themselves. Many have taken the opportunity to sell karaoke to private parties which is a win-win for me and the venue.

I have also used the karaokeloop app and am currently a subscriber to songbookslive.com which is another form of promotion.

I also take photographs at my shows. Thousands and thousands. I used to post them on FaceBook, but the sheer volume and the fact that FB's uploader would fail frequently made me switch to posting them on my own website... yes that is another way that I advertise; my own website. Annual cost for the domain (if paid yearly instead of in advance) about $40.

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Never the same show twice!

Thanks for the reply.. I thought I would have been one of the last ones awake, since I am in the west... anyway,,

My thoughts have always been it is the bar/venues job to get people in the bar, and it is my job to keep them there as late as possible, and to get them to spend at the bar. But, I also have done what I know should be a draw too. I also have a Facebook page with hundreds of friends, and also have a page just for karaoke, and the two are linked together, so when I post on the karaoke page, it also posts on my personal page along with all my friends. But, it seems nobody is paying much attention to Facebook these days.

Drink specials in Utah are illegal, so giving free drinks or coupons for drinks is not allowed. Advertising drinks prices outside is also illegal, except for regular beer (only) prices. And even that must be limited. Advertising seems to be where my bars fall short, and I wonder if others are having the same issue and how they deal with it.

The bar I just lost, I have had for over 6 years, and I truly love the place and the owner and staff, but they just weren't getting people to come in anymore. It hurts a lot just to think I won't be there anymore. I really take my job to heart, and take it personally when it fails.

I never want to go thru something like this again, and I am either going to walk away, or I am going to learn how to draw new people in. One or the other.

Advertising is key! The bar needs to advertise both in house & out and you should be advertising to your singers via email, Facebook/Twitter, there are many 'where to sing' sites on the internet that you can add your shows to, takes some time, but worth it.
Some bars will NOT advertise & don't want kj's to advertise simply because they do not want their place on radar of the publishing houses ie ASCAP/BMI/SESAC since they don't want to pay. In this case, building any crowd is going to be impossible & the club ultimately blames the entertainment!
But the economy & NOW fuel prices are going to be the killer of many bars in the nation. People now have to choose whether to fill their tank for work or go get a couple drinks. I know i'm now paying almost $30 more a week in gas - double that filling my wifes car too, that's $60 bucks cutting right into our entertainment funds! We don't go out as often because of it!

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

It also depends on where you are, and how the economy is in that area. The bar that my buddy has his show at is hit or miss, but it's not just our place. There are nights when we are slow, but so is everyone else, around. There are other nights when there is a popular band in town and everyone goes there instead of karaoke. If your place was dead all the time, it's nothing you are doing wrong. It's the bar. Do they offer drink specials, any buybacks, do they do anything to bring in customers?? In a bad economy they have to entice people to come in with cheaper drinks. They will still make money on drink specials. $2.00 Jager-bombs, for example. YUM!! Speaking of Jager-bombs tell them to use Rock Star instead on Red Bull. Rock Star tastes much better.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

"The bar should be doing the advertising," while true in spirit, isn't true in practice so I don't leave it up to them, anymore. The bar that is willing to do it will have better results but sometimes they don't bother or know how.

Once I left it up to the bar as the town was far away and not spending the gas to put up flyers was incentive to make me slack off on that. They had said to give them a month to advertise before we started so I left it to them. The "Entertainment manager" at the time was none too happy his boss had booked in Hokeyokey so he only promoted the live bands and there wasn't even a flyer for us up inside when we got there. We had about 4 people and only because once the bartender saw we had a real sound system and songs from this century he started texting people. He has since become one of our supporters--at other bars--we were never asked back there. But that was a lesson learned. Never trust the bar to do it all. It may be their "job" but it is your show.

Next time you do a radio/tv show, would you post a notice of the time and station here so we can listen in?

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KNOW THYSELF

Our local radio station was actually broadcasting a karaoke show from a local bar for a while but I think the owner of the bar was friends with someone. But that is a good reminder of a resource.