Karaoke Forums

I've been running a show at this one bar for almost two years now, and it's in desperate need of some help. I started the show with almost no crowd, and worked it until it was packed to the doors every night. It was going great - the bar was making tons of money, everyone was having a great time, and I even had other KJs in town telling me I had the best show around. Then, we had one unfortunate incident involving the police (nobody was arrested or fined, but the party got broken up), and it all fell apart. A lot of people left that night and just never came back. Now I'm left with a few dedicated regulars, but not much of anyone else. I'm sure that I could get this show going again if I could just have one big night, but nothing I've tried is working. Does anyone have any suggestions on ways to draw some new blood out to the show?

I would say it all depends on what the "Unfortunate Incident" was. If it was for serving underaged drinkers, THEY could have been alot of your crowd. If it was for drugs, maybe there were alot of people who did drugs there. If it was because of a fight, it could have been gang related, and people are scared to return. Too many variables without knowing what the "Unfortunate Incident" was.

Srnitynow

How long has it been since the incident? What else have you tried.

Srnitynow has a pertinent question also. More info please.

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[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

Need more data..

There must be more to the story -- If you want help please give more information.

It doesn't take much to ruin a venue's reputation as a "safe" place to go. It may take 6 to 7 months for business to recover from this, IF there's no more "unfortunate incidents."

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Dave's not here.

I lost a bar for an incident that didn't even happen on a night I was there. A Bouncer got stabbed to death by a customer on the night between my nights. The next week nobody came in and I mean nobody. I'm actually amazed I even worked the entire night. It only takes one major unfortunate incident to kill a show and a bar. The bar I worked at is no longer in business. Closed down a month after I was let go.

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The Line Array Experiment is over. Nothing to see here. Move along.

We also had a stabbing last year (but not fatal) on a non karaoke night at our venue. It didn't affect the regulars as they knew the fight had actually started at the bar next door and just ended in the parking lot outside ours. But the people of the town warn new people not to come in, regardless. It is actually the friendliest karaoke place around so those who do come in usually end up staying but I have also wondered what can be done about the bad rep.

We had a patron pass out and need an ambulance a few weeks ago. People started to filter out so the bar tendress bought them a round out of her own money and they stayed.

The next week this same bar tendress was fired for no good reason and our Thursday night show was boycotted--we had 1 singer. We will see if that continues tonight. I am thinking that some special holiday events are in order like the ones being mentioned in the thread about starting a new karaoke show. The best solution would be for the owner to apologize and hire her back but that won't likely happen.

Radio and tv ads can help.

Billboards, and print ads

Myspace and facebook advertising, Cell txt messages. KJ's, Bar owner, and all bar staff should be sending out these every night.

Flyer campains.

New drink special. Cheap drinks like a 50 cent draft night or $1 you call its will get people in the door.

Work with all your beer and liquor reps to get free stuff to give away.

Run a big contest. It's better to put up some of your pay than lose the job. Instead of losing my karaoke night I put away $100 of my $250 pay and ran a 12 week contest and gave away $1200 cash. I just made the owner up the contract for 6 months following the 12 weeks.

There are tons of things that can be done, the question is how much are you and the bar owner willing to do in order to save the show.

Sorry to scare up a week old thread but been very busy as of late..

I've lost 2 shows because of non karaoke night violence. One a bouncer was stabbed with a steak knife, went into a coma and died a month later. Another a person was shot in the parking lot. These were both club/bars where on weekends they'd get packed full of people but during the week they were just regular old places to hang out.

Like I said, lost both those shows. They never got better and the bars tried changing their name or eventually closed. Its really hard to shake a bad wrap. I was actually supposed to DJ the one place with the stabbing the night it happened, it was right when I showed up and was bringing my equipment in. The place was a crime scene the remainder of the night.

Wow spool that's unfortunate and scary ! Who'd think being a host could be so potentially dangerous. I can see how it would scare patrons. It scary just to read about it.

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

It definitely can be. Some people get drunk and angry sometimes. Neither of the events mentioned had anything to do with me, i just had the unfortunate opportunity of seeing the one guy after he was stabbed. Left a really bad feeling in my mind about the place from there out. I know logically that the place next door has the same level of safety etc.. but some things you never forget. I myself didnt want to work there any more, but it was unfortunately just a couple months before summer (its very seasonal around some parts of town and this was by ASU) and it would have been too difficult to replace the gig, so I stuck it out as long as it would go.

I've considered carrying pepper spray in my DJ kit, but honestly i've only had one person directly do anything to me and he was someone i knew and was very drunk. So I took a punch in the face and moved on.. didnt really hurt that bad anyway. You do need to watch your back and think before getting involved in anything. If a place has a bouncer, you're way better off. Its just kind of rough if you're the only one there along side a female bartender and something breaks out. I'm a definite believer that Full Moons, do weird things to people now.