Karaoke Forums

Hi. I have a HD787 with 1TB Hard drive with approx 10,000 songs. I have spanish and english in my selection. I have a good PA System and Wireless Microphonse...a nice system. My question is, what is the proper amount to charge per hour hosting Karaoke. I am in El Paso, Texas currently. I have been charging $75 dollars for the First 3 Hours, and $30 Dollars For each additional Hour. I have been told this might be too good of a deal? Please give me some advise on what is Normal. Thanks.

My Email is Freddie_g2001 at Ya H O O. C O M Thanks for any help or adivse.

Whatever the market will bear is what you should ask for, $75 is not a good price IMO. I wont move my system for anything less than $150 for clubs & minimum 2x that for private parties. Holidays (not on my regular club night) usually commands 3-5x my regular rate depending on the event & what is required.

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I won't get out of bed for less than $200.00.....
But again, your market may be different. We are not saturated here.

I'm a little confused. The thread title asks how much per hour. Are you charging $75 PER HOUR for the first three hours, or $75 TOTAL? $75 TOTAL is indeed very low. A lot of variables come in to play, but generally I won't go less than $150 per show (4 to 4 1/2 hours). That's for a regular bar gig. Parties are significantly higher.

Didn't catch that. Mine was based on 4 hours as well.

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I charge a flat rate for a 4-hour show -- for example, smaller joints with very few seats and no crowd turnover $150, larger ones with ample seating $200, etc. We are saturated here with krappyoke - if you wait around long enough, all the crap settles to the bottom and new gigs open up - is it that way there?

You'd really have to find out from someone in Texas - I know in the Pacific Northwest it's different than most places in the country - Diafel is pretty close to me, similar kind of market ... but she's in a much smaller town without the saturation.

Whatever you do, don't give it a way. It's very difficult to prove to an owner that even though his z at the end of the night is more, that you're worth any more.

I don't see anything wrong with approaching some bars in your area and telling the owner that "I'm not approaching your bar, but I'm trying to get a feel for what the market is in our town for karaoke. Would you mind telling me how much you pay for your karaoke show?" Don't leave a business card or try to take the gig, just make it strictly a market survey and nobody should have any hard feelings towards you.

Once you get a feel for what other people are charging go see their shows and ask yourself honestly how comparable your show is to theirs and you should get a good idea of what you're worth in your market.

Enough to make it worth YOUR time.

And not too much to prevent you from getting the job.

If you enjoy doing it, and the market is tight, that may be too much. If you do not enjoy doing it and the market will pay more it is not enough.

Considerations.

What do you get out of it besides $$

What is the bar or private party willing to pay?

Is your rate going to help/hurt your chance to get future gigs/jobs.

What would your time be worth to you if you were doing something else.

How much investment in time and money do you want to make back (in terms of establishing your rig and prep).

Call around and get competive rates from other KJ's -you need to ask for the market price ...to start. You don't want to short yourself or price yourself out of gigs

I always started high with my price than negotiated. It seems most venue owners want to come back with a lower amount no matter what I said then we'd meet in the middle some where. They always feel like they've gotten a deal that way.

My prices always depended on several things:

Distance from my home

Multiple nights in one venue - (This is a great way to turn one gig into two)

Can I leave my equipment stored or setup up at the venue (of course only if it would be safe) especially if it's a Friday/Saturday gig. Even if you can leave some things there and setup it is a huge advantage.

Amount of hours - I may discount my rate after 3 hours. I only bring this up after I find out they only want 3 hours. I never offer a discount unless I feel like it is the only way they'll do more. This all depends on other circumstances though. The gigs I have now are all in the same venue, close to home, I leave my equipment setup, my drinks are free (bottled water and coffee- I don't drink), so I charge $200 for 5 hours than $50 for any additional hours.

Some KJs I know negotiate free drinks or food with their gig. I don't drink alcohol so it isn't that important to me.

What you charge is mainly determined by what the market will allow and your reputation. If you have a good reputation sometimes you can get a little more because they know you'll bring people in and keep them coming back.

It really is a negotiation game. I'd say if they are jumping at your price without trying to negotiate at all you are charging to little. If you are asking to much you'll see it in there face and response. You can always come down in price, but you can't go up. Never think that if you prove yourself you'll get more money. That seldom ever happens. I've gotten one raise in 6 yrs at the place I am now and that was only because another bar was trying to steal me away.

Even when I've heard other KJs negotiate a higher price after a certain amount of time it never happened. The price you start at is usual the price your stuck with.

Good luck !

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For a bar night you must consider the day of the week, the experience of the KJ, the equipment, the library, the capacity of the bar and what you're willing to work for.

A good rule of thumb is $150. You should be getting $200+ for a sat night even in a small bar. For a large capacity place I've heard as much as $400, buy only an experienced guy or gal could realistically hope to nab a gig like that.

For a private gig, $300+. Weddings and formal events can command up to twice that.

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If I can get multiple nights back to back where I do not have to move/tear down equipment, then I will offer a slight discount per night. If they are multiple nights say on a Tue & Fri, then no discount will apply.

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I've always found there are just too many variables to set a "Flat" rate. No two jobs are alike. If it's a place that i really want to get into, and think there might be a future as a regular kj at that club once i get my foot in the door, then the flat rate equation is off the books. Just depends, throws some prices around, and watch for reactions....

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I think Ollie was charging private parties by how many people would be attending.

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I was charging 75 dollars total for first three hours.....25 per hour....then 30 dollars each hour after that.?? Sounds like I could bring that up a little...?

freddieG_2001:

El Paso TX, has some pretty strange economics.... It's not at the top or bottom of the economic scale and tends to have slower movements either way.

You didn't say if you were on the East or West Side?

Are you currently pricing yourself to be comparable to other KJ's in the area?

There was a KJ about 8 years ago at the Sahara Hotel on the west side that was charging $500/month to do karaoke 4 nights a week....or roughly $32 per NIGHT... what a dope!

This is sound advice, I agree with this.

It's also dependent upon the area you live in, as other people have stated here.

Around here the rate is $100 to $150. A few established hosts get as much as $175. I've never heard of ANYONE in my area that gets more than that. The most common rate seems to be around $125-$150 for 3-4 hours. As others have said it depends on your area. Try quoting $125 for 3 hours and $150 for 4 hours and see what their reaction is.

At $150 per night, if you can get 5 nights per week, that's considered a full time income in my area and more than what many folks earn here. Not getting rich, just making a living, but I don't know of very many hosts around here that are doing it 5 nights per week.

This seems to be one of the few things that have come down in price. In 1989 we would get $400.00 for 4 hours for parties, weddings, etc. Of course that was during the laser disc era and Karaoke was new and rare. I get $200.00 for my regular gig (same price for 15 years) which is nice since they give me a locked closet for my gear and I never pay for drinks. I get 3 to 4 hundred for weddings and special events.

For Fri and Sat we offer 4 hour minimum @ $250 ($15 extra/ 30 min). We have had a few instances where the night started out slow and bar wanted us to stop early, only to get busy later on. I wont get into the reasons that this is bad for the bar and kj host. For this reason we clearly state minimum 4 hours on Weekends. For 6 or more bookings we discount to $200.

For week nights we offer 3 hour minimum @ $175 ($15 extra/30 min) for 6 or more bookings we discount to $150.

Holiday and private party are weekend rate. Weddings are double weekend rate.

This has worked pretty well and we have not had the need to negotiate. There are plenty of kjs in our area but many are no so good. Both weekend shows started out filling in as an alternate karaoke show. We are now exclusive at one and main kj host at the other. We have a very good sound system with back up equipment for everything just in case and work hard to be professional, fun and fair. We have put time, money and effort into our song books, business cards, song slips, promotional flyers for the bars etc. It seems to have paid off.

We learned in a hurry that taking gigs for dives with no food/drink specials is destined to fail. They usually expect you to do ALL the work and bring in the customers. We clearly state up front now that their job as owners is to bring the customers in and we will keep them all night and coming back. So far we have delivered.

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