Karaoke Forums

I previously mentioned that the new Thursday Gig is starting a "Karaoke Contest"
NEXT WEEK .....  The management is telling me that the contest will run like this ........
Week 1:  One (1) judge will pick 10 singers  to return for the next week. The criteria is 80% entertaiment value and 20% vocal ability.

Week 2:  The "judge" will put 2 singers in the bottom pool and one will be eliminated by the decision of bar MANAGMENT.  ( Idol-like)

I think the contest continues like this for a few weeks until there is ONE winner ?
Same singers singing everyweek competeting for spot to continue.   The MANAGEMENT is also suggesting "theme" type nights so the singers will have to sing certain songs .....sounds like it could be INTERESTING ,,,but I know it is going to be a nightmare for ME  :(  :(

Oh I don't envy you having to do this. Contests are such a thorn in my side when I'm forced to do them.

If you can, set aside only a certain time each night to do this - for example, if you're running a four-hour show, put this part at the end of the night so at least some regular singers will get to come in and sing. If the purpose for this contest is to fill the place up, that usually doesn't work. The participants will have to bring in their own crowds each and every week....

Establishing this show right off the bat as a 'contest' show will make it difficult for you to build a regular singer base - As long as management understands that these types of promotions result in an artificial swell of attendance, and once it's done, these people don't usually return.  

Sometimes management should just allow the KJ to establish promotion ideas! Best of luck with this. After watching Am Idol last night and watching who got to stay and who got eliminated, I have a sour taste in my mouth....

K

Totally agree , I "THINK" they are trying to compete with the bar down the road who also has Karaoke on Thursday and is offering a contest ?    I'm not to fond of contests either but I believe its more of a FUN thing they want to do then a real CONTEST ....  see how it goes

Yeah, all the folks on here warned me, and I finished my 10 week contest at the end of March.

When the winners were chosen, I had grandma's come up and scream at me that I was an idiot, didn't have a clue what I was doing, because their grandson or grand daughter hadn't won. One guy told me that he was going to kick the crap out of me when I left the bar, because his girlfriend didn't win.

Funny, for the previous 9 weeks all I got were compliments.

Never again...I learned.

BTW, I did not judge, and the winners were the best singers and perfomers in my opinion.

I've never had the honor to do a actual contest yet, but I dread the day.  A few owners have asked for them, but it was all just talk so far.  I don't envy you at all.  Noone wins......You lose, no matter what...
MrD

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[highlight=midnightblue]MrD - KJ/DJ Specialist
Visit MrD on facebook - mrdsentertainment
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[font=verdana] We were doing contest at my son’s Friday night gig. I would get three, impartial (I hoped) judges to judge the singers. They were judged on a scale of 1 – 10 in about 6 categories. ie: stage presence, staying on key, etc.  I limited the contest to 20 contestants, each paying an entry fee of $10.  The winner received 50%, 2nd -30% and 3rd – 20% of the pot.  We had a rule that you could only enter once in any 3 month period if you took first place. That way more people had a chance.  My biggest problem was coming up with 3 judges.  Sometimes people would say they would do it, but when the time came, they would back out and I would have to pull one of the regulars from the crowd to judge.  It was our intent to have a contest each month, then in December have a sing off between all the contest winners.  In addition to the prize money, we also gave out medals to the 1st place winners.  My son has kind of dropped the ball on this one, and we didn’t have a March contest, don’t look like we are going to have one in April either.  I will admit it took up a lot of the singing time, but talked to many of the customers and they all said they liked having them.  One good thing about the contest was that it always packed the house. [/font]

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Dusty Rose
Blue Rose Classic Karaoke
More Sound! More Selections! More Fun!
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Oh I don't envy you having to do this. Contests are such a thorn in my side when I'm forced to do them.

I refuse to do contests.    I'll talk them in to giving something away so everyone in attendance has a chance to win, not just singers.    

If they really insist on having a karaoke contest and i can't presuade them not to, they will be looking for a new KJ.  :yes:

It's not worth it to me.  :no:  And it won't do the bar or the karaoke night any lasting good.   Except pi$$ off the regulars.

Good luck.

Update - It seems the larger bar across the street has been running a contest and outside on their lighted marquee reads:
THURSDAY NIGHT KARAOKE CONTEST $1,000 DOLLARS.

It seems it works cause they seemed to be packed last night while my venue was DEAD.   There were some reasons as I was told ALL the regulars were at some GOING AWAY PARTY for one of the group.   I was told that the PARTY was to be at the BAR but was changed to another location last minute  :(  :( .
Owners daughter ( friends of the group) was not to happy  :(  :(

Anyway we had a GREAT time with what and who was there !

Jam

i can't urge you strongly enough about convincing the owners to hold off on the contest until you have developed an established group of regulars.  ideally, hold the contest off indefinitely.

why?

i've read many posts on this forum about contests and have since spoken with local kj's and singers who have been involved with contests (2 singers of whom were winners, one several times over and over again)

what have i learned - Contests are show killers!
 
the fellow who won over and over never frequents karaoke, he's a professional backup singer who only went out to karaoke to compete whenever he needed a quick $1000 (of course no one knows he is/was a pro and the rules don't specifiy you can't be a pro)  What people did know who had seen him before is that they only saw him singing at contests.

WHEN ANYBODY BUT A "REGULAR" SINGER (at a venue) WINS A COMPETITION THE "REGULARS" ARE FURIOUS.  Of course, this reaction is not anticipated up front, so everyone is excited before and during the contest.  

Last comment:
The fellow most responsible for getting me started in the biz was all excited about a contest he was going to hold at one of his shows.  It was a biggie and would be well publicized (including an email blast of over 1000)

At about the same time I had learned enuf on this forum to have decided I WILL NEVER DO A CONTEST.  Because of this forum had taught me, i urged my friend, a man with over 10 years experience in the biz, not to do the contest.

He, of course, went forward with the contest.  He kept me posted, The crowds were huge, the singers amazing; they came from 4 -5 counties in the area.   Three weeks after the contest the venue cancelled karaoke.   There were too many regulars who were displeased with the results and stopped coming.  Those who came solely for the contest never returned when the contest was over.  The contest did not build enthusiasm for folks to return to the venue, to the contrary those that were regulars lost their interest in coming back!  I would imagine from a "bad taste" left by the experience?

So, it would good to hear how many of us have held contests?
How many winners have been "house regulars"?
How many felt the contest, in the long run, was a good thing, generally speaking?

PS;  I would hope that your owners would agree that it makes no sense to run a competing contest with the venue across the street, or even back-to-back contests.  So, hopefully your owner will accept there is a need to wait. If they agree, try convincing them to wait a least a month (which makes sense anyway).  Then use that month to evaluate the actual impact on the competitor's business from holding the contest

You could try offering the idea of another promo, one that the patrons of the other bar would prefer over a karaoke contest.  If you are going to compete with another venue then offering the same thing is not a compelling reason for the patrons to switch their habits to your place.  Offer something NEW and DIFFERENT from the other venue, not ME TOO!

Ladies Night!  Ladies get 2 for 1 drinks, etc...  Ladies get to sing two songs for one round...  Drawings all night for SPA gift certificates!!!  An appearance by some hunky local celebrity...  Free makeovers!!!  Free chocolate!!!

Think of some way to get the women there and the guys will follow, just as always...

--Tad

Next time a bar owner wants me to do a contest, this is going to be my ONLY  suggestion.

Give everyone that buys a drink a ticket.    More drinks, more tickets (Chances to win.)   Then every so often pull a ticket and give them something.     Everyone in the bar will get a ticket IF they buy a drink.   Then they all have a equal or almost equal chance to win.   No favoritism   No judges.  No pi$$ed of singers.  No KJ headache.   Bar contest, the bartender can give out the tickets.  I'll pull them and announce the winners.   They sell more drinks, singers still sing as they normally would.  Nobody gets mad at ME or anyone else.   HOW can they?

As much as it pains me, I agree with SW on this one....

I only ran one contest, and it was an unmitigated disaster- from the top down. The top, being the owner, felt that the people that came out didn't spend enough, so he didn't think he should have to pay the full nightly prize money. The singers thought they were all the best. I worked out what I thought was a very insightful scoring system with a maximum of 15 points for vocals, 10 points for stage prescence, and 5 points for audience reaction. The judges were 2 non karaoke singers from out of town- one with a music degree.

The fellow who won, sang Scenes from an Italian Restaurant- PERFECTLY.
The complainer in second, sang Killer Queen- ALMOST perfectly, but with a squeak or 2. He argued that because his song was more difficult he should have scored better than the perfectly sung easy song.

I am still hearing this almost 3 1/2 years later....

On the other hand, one of my other shows gave out tickets with each drink purchase. At about 1AM, I drew for $50 cash. At about 12:45 I would announce that soon we were drawing, and people would flock to the bar like last call to get tickets. They must have made $100-150 in those 15-20 mins alone! Sometimes I would draw a second ticket for a free drink a consolation prize, and people LOVED it.

Something to suggest to bar owners...

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Let's Kick the Tires and Light the Fires!

What kind of prizes are there?  I think the best contest is where all participants at least get some kind of trinket--a baseball hat or T-Shirt.  That way, everyone's a winner.


Hey....isn't that a song?  Everyone's a winner?  "Everyone's a winner, baby, that's the truth (yes, the truth)" especially if everyone gets a trinket.  Now if you sing Everone's a Winner in the contest, and you dont' win anything, well I am afraid there is no larger sledge hammer that you can hit the judge with.  Talk to the bar manager about it.

I want to know what the bar owners do with all of the free promotional items they receive from the beer venders.  Do any of you ever see any of it?

There are many variations and many ways to run a contest.  Believe it or not some people actually LIKE the contests ...  If it's run right there will be sore losers and that's all there is to it ...That's LIFE.   I agree that all participants should receive something .  The drawing is more like a GAME not a contest.  

There is a place for a prof run contest with the basic requirments:
Impartial Judging System
REAL Prizes  
Open to Anyone

PERSONALLY -- I would like to avoid them ..but sometimes you can't as a KJ

The argument isn't about whether singers like contests.  Sure there are many singers that want to be in contests.  But they also want to win or expect to win.


The problem is what it actually does to the karaoke night.  And the bar crowd when it's over.      If you killed the crowd how much fun is it for you and the bar owner?   And the singers that won't be back?

My singers can enjoy contests all they want, but i will never be hosting them at my gigs.

Week 2:  The "judge" will put 2 singers in the bottom pool and one will be eliminated by the decision of bar MANAGMENT.  ( Idol-like)

Too much potential for the bar owner to "MAKE" a regular the winner.   Regardless of them being the best talent present.

Be prepared for what is coming your way.

Not to change the subject,...but are you still liquidating your stuff  Jam ?? Ive sent you a few pms no response.Thanks

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Kelley
Star Sounds Karaoke & Mobile Recording Studio


[shadow=black][scroll]You have to respect your audience. Without them, you're essentially standing alone, singing to yourself....KD Lang[/scroll][/shadow]

*****CONTEST STARTED LAST NIGHT******

I show up and didn't really know the rules until then  :shock: anyway SURPRISINGLY everyone had a good time---The bar had a big BRACKETED poster on the wall - As singers signed up for the contest WITH THE OWNERS DAUGHTER she put names in a hat and about 11:30 randomly filled in the brackets - I called people to come up and sing their CONTEST song and announced WHO they were UP AGAINST - as it was a double elimination bracket type pool..... Anyway - each customer was given a score sheet with the names of all contestants and when they sang they were to be given a score from 1-5 (5 being the best).   AT the same time ME -the KJ also picked a WINNER out of the 2 bracketed contestants . My pick totaled 50 points and at the end of the contestants the owners daughter (Manager)  tallied up my score plus ALL THE SCORES of the other customers and at 1:30 announced winners .  SOUNDS crazy but if went well as THESE SINGERS ARE FUN , YOUNG , AND MOST NOT TOOOOOOOOOO SERIOUS  ( BIG HELP )  next week they will continue now to sing against the person in the "bracket" and scoring will be done the same --only change is the THEME ---you MUST sing a song from the 80's  next week .  :drunk:  I'll have to see how it goes next week --WHICH IS ALSO BIKER NIGHT...now that should be interesting !!!!!

My experience with contests are pretty much the same as others on this forum. I will never do them again!

Everything seems like it's going well during the contest and the bar owner and patrons are happy, then once it's over their are people who are ready to slit your throat and just go away mad. Then for a month or so the bars business is not the same, sometimes some of the disgruntled customers find another bar or don't come back for months.

We have a KJ here that specailizes in contests and has one every week! What gets me is he still has people coming back week after week trying to win the prize Oh well it works for him so who am I to say anything. So if you are going to have contests have them all the time!  Otherwise expect to see some fallout.

Good luck with yours!

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FlipSide Karaoke
Scott