Karaoke Forums

It is my understanding that Mckyj57 "stops that" typically by omitting songs from his catalog.

I can't disagree with his analysis. Long songs can have a negative impact on a show, particularly when:
a. the singer is not very good
b. the song is not that entertaining, which might include but would not be limited to most show tunes or opera
c. the song is slow and/or becomes monotonous
d. two such energy suckers are sung back-to-back
e. the song is not enjoyable because it has been over-sung by karaoke singers
f. the rotation has lots of singers

Do you see it as an ongoing problem for karaoke shows or an intermittent occurrence?

If you believe that it is an ongoing problem or that a problem is occurring at the moment at you show, would you try to deter someone who requests only longer songs?

And in doing so, how would you react? As possibilities, I can see:
a. banning songs from the catalog/show
b. announcing a limit on the number of songs over 5 mins anyone can sing. (But how do you actually keep track of and control that limit?)
c. telling the singer, if your show runs on a lappy, that the requested file is corrupted?

Would PBTDBL be acceptable if the duet counted as two distinct turns, one for each singer?

An intermittent occurence for me although i would like to have a list of the 6+ minute songs because then i would omit most of them as well.

Other than the obvious PBTDL, Pianoman, American Pie, and some Led Zeppelin songs, i don't get requests for many long songs, so i don't know what artists or songs are famous for being long, other than metallica. But I WOULD'NT ever remove METALLICA!

Sorry if my answer does nothing for your topic Tovmod!

Well, it does and it doesn't. The subject is perplexing because I have been at shows where a singer has "abused" his turns.

I am not sure, though, that there is a "real" problem that requires a preemptive strike like editing a song catalog? If there is, like you suggested, I wouldn't know where to begin.

And, then again, you state that you wouldn't "ban" Metallica! I, on the other hand, would have no reason to exclude any track from a ban if I instituted one.

Out of curiousity John, how often do you get requests for what you label, "the obvious" songs? And when those songs are requested, do you play them. And if you do, are the results ALWAYS disastrous?

One of the most popular music genre in malaysia/Indonisia karaoke bars is dangdut, and most of the songs are 6 to 7 min plus. l personally hate those songs but it is a sure way to get the dance floor full.

dangdut: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dangdut

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

If it's in the book it gets fair game. If you put the song up after I call last call, then it may get a "if we can squeeze it in' response.

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

If you take it out of your book, then what if someone brings a personal CD of the song? (not a problem for me as I dont play CDs)

As for long songs I have not had much of a problem with them.

1. If the song is overplayed, then it is really mainly in the perception of someone who is there for all of the karaoke shows (IE the KJ). Just because it may have been played last week, or the week before, or 3 different shows in a row much of the crowd might be different. For someone who is NOT at a lot of the shows it may not appear overplayed.

2. THe song is not entertaining. VERY subjective I have seen some showtunes done that were entertaining. Obvioulsy if someone is singing them SOMEONE thinks they are entertaining. Maybe not you, but enforcing your music taste on the crowd is a slippery slope.

3. If you have a short enough rotation that a person is singing SEVERAL long shows in a night then it is not really too much of a problem. Because if it was a real problem there would be a long rotation and singing multiple songs would not occur.

4. slow or monotonus songs, again perception here. I may hate your favorite song (and I personally some of the longer Metalica songs monotonus), but that is personal choice.

5. The singer is no good. Here is a big problem, as if you know the singer is no good, then he has sung before at the show and may be a regular. Do you really want to offend a regular by saying that person 1 can sing those songs because they are a good singer but person 2 can't because they stink. It may be the absolute truth but saying it can be really bad business and may loose a regular and their friends.

If the singer is not a regular they might be the best singer ever. I have been shocked more than a few times by my pre-conceptions. We only have to think of Susan Boyle here, not my music style but good enough a singer to make her entertaining.

6. THe rotation has a lot of singers. Well in that case the person will only be singing once or twice in the night. If the song is really a flop, and as bad as the sterotype, people will wander off to buy drinks, or get a smoke or whatever. Most singers want to be appreciated, and if the song is not appreciated they will not sing it again (especally if they clear the room).

As a education tool, this is an excellent thing as the regulars at the show will realize what songs are really not appreciated by the crowd. They will then avoid such songs in the future (or at least some might). A really short song that much of the crowd dislikes may lack this and fail to drive home the point.


A couple low energy songs in a row can be unfortunate, but mixing them up between higher energy songs does not change the average. Any show has up and down cycles of energy.

I have the same policy. Which is why I have adjusted my book. I have only removed about 6 songs from my disk:

[tab]American Pie
[tab]Paradise By The Dashboard Lights
[tab]Rapper's Delight
[tab]Stairway to Heaven
[tab]War Pigs
[tab]Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

I have some length-limited versions:

[tab]Blaze of Glory
[tab]Can't You See

There are some other songs not in my Artist book, which is an intentional subset. I will fess up to them if someone notices the asterisk*. Examples:

[tab]Taxi
[tab]Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad

* more songs available from this artist

If it is crowded (for us 12 or more singers) I will ask a regular who has put in a third long song to do another one instead.

Those are my measures. They work pretty well with no friction. I get static about my duet policy or my no-repeats policy from time to time, but never a peep about this.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

I don't remove songs from my book except when playing events for children I do have a censored book that I inform the clients I have attempted to remove songs that would be considered inappropriate.

Anyway, I've had songs like PBTDL go over really well on some nights and completely flop other nights in the same venue sung by the same singers. For me the worst one is a guy that loves to sing Metallica's One. It's almost 8 minutes long, half of which is instrumental. The rest of it is his drunken droning, failing to apply any melody let alone the correct melody. But that's part of the karaoke scene as far as I'm concerned.

For me that's just one of those moments that tests how good a host you are. How do you respond to a situation like that to keep the folks into it? That to me is the difference between a good and bad host.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

No problem -- I will play the disk.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

HERE IS A HINT FOR ZOOM OR OTHER LABELS .........put out a disc of ALL THE LOOOOOONG SONGS .......... LIMIT THE LENGTH TO 4-1/2 MINUTES PER SONG.

HOW MAY KJ'S WOULDN'T BUY THAT DISC !!!!! PROBLEM SOLVED.

Here is what you do ..when someone requests a song like AMERICAN PIE you can stop the song in the middle and make annoucement that "BOB" will finish the song on his next turn

Love that one! I wish I had the cojones to do it....

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

I would pay good money to see that in action. The reaction of the singer would be PRICELESS.

OR YOU TELL THE SINGER WHO PUTS IN A LONG SONG THAT THEY WILL HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL THE NEXT ROTATION TO SING IT......because that particular song counts as two turns.

I think people would stop putting them in if they had to wait twice as long to sing them. Most people put them in just because they are long and they will get to be on stage longer. Losing a turn and having to wait until the next round would nip that habit in the bud.

To hear that would be funny enough, but to try and pull it off, "priceless".

I think for the most part it's pretty obvious that a singer is just attempting to hog the stage if they put long song after long song in. On a busy night I'll give them the first one, no questions asked. I'll ask them to pick a shorter song on round 2. The occaisional person who unintentionally picked 2 long ones is almost always completely understanding of the situation, and the ones that did it intentionally realize they got figured out.

mckyj57: It's a shame that people give you grief over the "no repeat" policy. This should be a universal rule. Nobody should feel "one-upped" by someone singing a song they already did, not to mention being somewhat disrespectful to the audience of having to listen to the same song twice. A DJ wouldn't think twice telling a requester he/she "already played it." It usually ends there, I don't understand why there's a different standard to the rule in karaoke.

Anyways, I understand your 6 songs in banishment, I just have a question why War Pigs would be there. At least on the Sound Choice version there's a 3 minute outro that can easily be faded/chopped, cutting the song down to a respectable 5 minutes. It's such an easy song to sing, too. In my experience it's been a crowd pleaser and is a real good song for a karaoke newbie.

letitrip: Regarding Metallica's "One," is fading the outro an option for the singer in question? This is another instance where the outro can be faded/chopped. The audience is happy as they "know how the ending goes" and the singer is happy as they got to sing the entire lyrical portion.

I might chose long instrumental ending song after long instrumental ending song because I just like the songs. Has nothing to do with hogging the spotlight. I really don't care. I for one will not edit my books for songs I don't like or think are too long, I think any hip hop song is too long, a good length would be 2 seconds. But then again I don't want to hear cuss word after cuss word just cause the song has it in it.

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

Wow you just cut out 5 of my regular singers - except that they do them well.

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

I don't have the Sound Choice version. I don't know much about the song, but I killed it after seeing the length and suffering through an excruciating rendition one time. It took every bit of the 7:53 or whatever it ended up being.

Now that I look at what I have again, it is only the "live" version I have banished. I have the Dangerous DG02 version at 4:54.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Those are the only songs they do? You can have 'em.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Piano Man followed by Stairway to Heaven followed by Bohemian Rhapsody....?? Now that is funny! Okay, maybe not so funny if you have to listen to all three.

If you have a list of rules in the front cover of your song book, why not add a rule that says, "Songs over 6 minutes in lenght will be played only at the KJ's discretion."