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dealing with bar owners who do not want to invest in maintaining their equipment
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Author:  vtrod [ Fri Nov 27, 2009 11:09 pm ]
Post subject:  dealing with bar owners who do not want to invest in maintaining their equipment
Hi All

I work at a bar that has their own PA and discs.

I start out the show just solo with my own gear, and run the karaoke on theirs after I am done.

Lately the bar has been seeing a decline in visitors- from a karaoke perspective I have a feeling these are some of the reasons:

1. They only have 1 working microphone for karaoke. the 3 others are just not working. I often have to give my shure cordless sm58 HESITANTLY out to drunken monkeys, which I have decided I will stop doing today.
2. The discs haven't been updated in forever (what kind of bar doesn't have MUSTANG SALLY?) :D
3. Books are all greasy and pages missing. Not enough books for all the tables.

This is a regular gig for me, but does not pay me enough for me to start investing in additional gear to support the show.

How do I tell them nicely, without offending anyone that they need to start spending money to keep making money? some new microphone cables at a bare mninimum. Some additional mics would be nice. And Batteries for the cordless!

Any ideas?

Thanks

Vic in Sydney
Author:  BigJer [ Fri Nov 27, 2009 11:55 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: dealing with bar owners who do not want to invest in maintaining their equipment
vtrod @ Sat Nov 28, 2009 1:09 am wrote:
Hi All

...How do I tell them nicely, without offending anyone that they need to start spending money to keep making money? some new microphone cables at a bare mninimum. Some additional mics would be nice. And Batteries for the cordless!

Any ideas?

Thanks

Vic in Sydney


Invite the bar owner to go and scout the competition with you. Go to a few quality shows that you KNOW regularly draw a good crowd and point out the things that are being offered at these shows that the bar needs to address.
Author:  JoeChartreuse [ Sat Nov 28, 2009 12:02 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: dealing with bar owners who do not want to invest in maintaining their equipment
Funny thing. This happened to me once many years ago. When I bought it up to the owner, he said that since karaoke numbers were down, he didn't feel it made sense to invest in new karaoke equipment ..... :withstupid:

That was the very last time I worked with venue equipment.... If a venue insists that I use their equipment, I go elswhere...

If you have the equipment, use it... And pick up a couple of drunk mics.
Author:  Lonman [ Sat Nov 28, 2009 1:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: dealing with bar owners who do not want to invest in maintaining their equipment
Yeah that makes alot of sense - Karaoke is down so no more investing although it's because of the failing equipment & no new updates that people aren't coming in to sing that are driving those karaoke numbers down (although host & service of the place could be a factor as well).
Only time I used the house equipment is when the place had band equipment set-up - best sounding show I ever ran. Allen & Heath 48 channel touring console, all dbx, Symetrix & other top of the line processors, 15K watts of Crown/Crest amps, quad McCauley 18" subs on each side coupled with 2 JBL SR4732X per side.
Author:  vtrod [ Sat Nov 28, 2009 3:02 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: dealing with bar owners who do not want to invest in maintaining their equipment
Glad I am not the only one who has had this problem.

Last night, their one and only DVD player died at the start of the show. Luckily I have worked out how to plug my stuff into the house video monitors in preperation for just this.

I announced that only one microphone was available for Karaoke yesterday, as I did not want to risk yet another of my cordless SMs being dropped.

Anyway I did let them know that when I was back from holidays in the New Year I would like to see some new mics and cables at a minimum. Told them they could pick up some cheapies for about 40$ each or even less. Fingers crossed, they will listen this time after seeing how the night went yesterday.

Will update when I am back...

P.S. Table service here is quite bad, however most of the patrons are really here for the karaoke. I like to think Iam doing a good job, especially since of the last 4 venues I have played I have been asked to stay on permanently at 3. :)
Author:  Babs [ Sat Nov 28, 2009 3:10 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: dealing with bar owners who do not want to invest in maintaining their equipment
Oooh tough situation ! I love the idea of bringing to his attention what other bars are doing and that you are losing customers to those venues.

If you do approach him on this I'd map out exactly what he needs to update and how much it will cost. If your main concern is the music selection I'd focus on that. Showing him the big picture than trying to get him to at the very least update his library. Maybe explain if he just contributed $25 a week you could have him up to date in no time. $25 a week for a couple months would give you a little head start. Good luck ! It sounds like an up hill battle.
Author:  SwingcatKurt [ Sat Nov 28, 2009 9:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: dealing with bar owners who do not want to invest in maintaining their equipment
Start looking for another place. He's aleady told u DIRECTLY that he's not going to upgrade the equipment or any of the other NASTY stuff he has there(his bar/wait staff included). Most likely NOTHING you tell him will cause a change of his behavior.
Author:  karaman [ Sun Nov 29, 2009 8:58 am ]
Post subject:  Re: dealing with bar owners who do not want to invest in maintaining their equipment
Hi yall, I have been kjing for about 8 years now and started at our own bar. Originally I had no equipment and thought well instead of keep hiring some outfit to do the venue for us I'll just get my own equipment. And holly cow and oops what was I thinking! I bought some cheap stuff and one of those preloaded cavs players and off I went! Well customers started going to other bars for their karaoke appetite. I hired the other guy back and made a deal with him to help me upgrade my system and music and I would pay him extra for doing so (which was cool because he was my drinkin partner and he did my shows for a bartab). Well I now have the best karaoke in town and we rock on the weekends! We even crank it up after monday night football and if we feel there's a crowd for it even during happy hour or for someone's b-day party! Whenever we feel there's a need! In business investment is not only necessary but an absolute must if you plan on making money and keep your customers happy and bringing in new ones! To the bar owner who thinks he doesn't think it would make a difference have him call me. Or I don't know if I can do this but email me at jimbo@goodtimecharlees.com. Rock On Folks! What a great site!http://www.goodtimecharlees.com
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