Karaoke Forums

I'm going to be investing in a professional karaoke rig for bar shows, but I'm not sure how I should go about purchasing songs for my show. I'm thinking I'm going to go with digital as opposed to CD swapping.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to go about doing this? While I have a good deal of show experience and a foot in the door (as well as a business license), I don't know much about starting a collection.

I saw the SC was having a deal on their Gem Series for professionals (I have a business license for my to be show), but I haven't had a chance to read their license agreement yet to see what it entails. I know SC is also a headache, so a bit weary about it.

You may want to read through the legal section here before you make the choice as to whether or not to acquire the Gem Series. I would also suggest having an attorney review any agreement before you sign it.

Birdofsong

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Birdofsong

The Gem is probably the best deal out there IMO, despite what others say.
Chartbuster have the same type of sets but they aren't so hot on rock/pop - at least their older stuff. The newer stuff music wise is pretty good however their new lyric swipe system is terrible to the point you almost have to know the somg by heart to be able to sing it properly.

Try to find a deal on ebay from a company getting out of business. Music is the biggest ongoing expense (at least if you want to stay current & get songs you don't have that people ask for). I wouldn't try to buy lots of 'core' sets from different manufacturers - you will just end up getting the same songs from different manus. If you don't go with the GEM, look at the cdg sets Foundations & Bricks. Then supplement the newer music with the Pop hits Monthly & Chartbusters and rip them to your computer yourself - doing it this way is more time consuming, but it will actually help you to get to know your library a little bit plus you can rip at higher quality than the manus offer & with the price of hard drives as low as they are, no reason not to rip to a high quality for the best sound.

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

Thank for the advice

Unlike many here, I would NOT recommend expensive "sets" from Chartbuster ( Essentials) or Sound Choice ( Gems OR Bricks).

The discs in these sets contain only 3 or 4 popular songs each on average, the rest....not so much. They ARE high quality manufacturers, but the value of cost per track vs. disc is too high for a beginner, because you are not yet sure what the most popular titles in YOUR venues will be.

This means you should attempt to pay less for a larger and more eclectic- yet generally popular title selection, so you can discover what will be popular FOR YOU.

For instance, Chartbuster is considered pretty much the best COUNTRY genre producer- but that's where their fame ends. Do you know for certain that you will have zillions of country singers? If not- as good as they are- they won't be worth much to you.

Of the mfrs. above, you might limit your purchases to their less expensive multiplex discs ( Artist for CB, Star and Power Picks from SC). While these have less tracks per disc, the percentage of "keepers" is much higher than their standard discs.

I would NOT recommend spending thousands of dollars on tracks that you may never use.

Sweet Georgia Brown is a lesser quality set for sure, but offers over 1000 tracks of all types for under $100

The SuperCore/Karaoke Kurrents sets will offer GOOD quality tracks, almost all "keepers" per disc, at under $350 for the 38 basic SuperCore discs and around 16 Karaoke Kurrents for over 1,000 songs - though admittedly this mfr. has a habit of duping songs on different discs.

Though Music Maestro- known for their quality in the oldie/doowop genre -is out of business, there are many inexpensive small sets still available.

Pocket Songs does a great job with show stuff, as well as many individual artist discs.

The above named Karaoke Kurrents as well as Quik Hitz will keep you up to date with the newest tracks at good quality.

What I'm trying to say is that one shouldn't over-invest in ANY new business ( it's what kills most of them) and the very competitive Karaoke Hosting business in particular.

Get a good library ( Huge does NOT equal good) to start, and build as you learn what you need.

Also, I would not recommend going to PC at this time of litigation and general annoyance by the mfrs, but would stay disc based until the dust settles. Part of running a successful business is limiting liabilities of all sorts.

Just me thinking out loud.....

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

Here Here Joe!!

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"You know that I sing the Blues and I do not suffer fools. When I'm on that silver mic, it's gonna cut ya, just like a knife"-The SWINGCAT

I would! The dust is not going to settle for years if at all. Karaoke is not a high priority for our law makers. My advise is, go digital now.

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Electro-Voice Evolve 50... Taking Sound To The Next Level.

Subject getting a little touchy.

If you go digital (I would do it all over again for ease and speed of running a show) just make sure you have a disc for each and every song you have AND/or a receipt for every download you get (and make sure the download site is legal before downloading).

I would personally never ever give someone the advise of buying sweet georgia brown. Some of their stuff is ok but overall,,,,,, do you want 85% lean ground beef or ribeye? That's basically the decision you have to make. Equation is quality and price. 80% quality and 20% price? Or 20% quality and 80% price. I bought the foundations and bricks and the essentials. Great core sets that if you are diligent, you can save hundreds of $$$ buying on ebay and the price per disc once broken down will be decent. Your duplicates will be minimized this way vs buying single discs.
Kurrent Karaoke----I have some, I would recommend these although I know others won't.

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KingBing Entertainment C'mon Up! I have a song for you!!! [font=MS Sans Serif][/font]

I would have to say the GEM series and the last 3 years special deal from Stellar for current stuff (depending on your target crowd you can take of leave the urbans)would be in my humble opinion the best quality and "bang for your buck"...If we were to put another system into use that is where we would start

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"Integrity is choosing your thoughts, words and actions based on your principles and values rather than for your personal gain."
Unknown
"if a man has integrity, nothing else matters, If a man has no integrity, nothing else matters."
Lee McGuffey

1) Oh, I agree with you on general quality- but the point of a start-up buying them is two-fold:

It's what I call a "learner's set" - an extremely cheap way ( about a dime a track) to find out what the locals actually LIKE. Then, armed with that knowledge, one can invest WISELY in building their library with better quality tracks.

Also, it comes in handy when home singers who have bought this cheap set- and there are plenty- want to sing the version that they are used to.

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

i'm not a big fan of them overall either, but the home singer is why i keep them in the book even with better versions.

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Paradigm Karaoke, The New Standard.......Shift Happens

Sound Choice's GEM series and Chartbuster's 6000 song SD packs are the best bang for your buck despite what other's might tell you. I dumped Sweet Georgia Brown series as soon as I got the chance to see them aside the GEM series. There is only one Sweet Georgia Brown disc in my collection now and that is for one song - Journey's "Remember Me" and that is only because they are the only company to release it. I'll dump that once a better version comes out which I doubt will ever happen due to lack of popularity.

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

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I don't see that philosophy working around here. If I'm a car salesman starting out, I'm not going to buy old beater cadillacs to see if the market is good for cadillacs , I'm going to buy quality vehicles upfront. That's just an investment that I get stuck with.

I have SGB in my system, but I don't advertise them, my book has no duplicates in it so the only way SGB shows up is if I don't have it by any other manu.

I've yet to have a singer ask me for a SGB rendition of a song, I'm sure it happens but not where I'm at and not enough to warrant buying SGB.

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KingBing Entertainment C'mon Up! I have a song for you!!! [font=MS Sans Serif][/font]

The way I see it...
This is a business. And like any buisness, there are business expenses. Your song library is one of them. Start out on the right foot. Don't buy crap. Start off right by buying SC and Chartbuster. There is a difference and your customers will know it. Contrary to thinking that home users buy SGB, think again. Many of my customers will specifically state that they will only sing SC versions, period! Yes, there are people that do care and take their singing seriously and want to sound good.

So...your music is your most important investment. Put out the money or get in the business when you can afford to do it right.

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Electro-Voice Evolve 50... Taking Sound To The Next Level.

I suppose.... but like any other component part of your business, it's also possible to overspend needlessly too. You need to analyze which singer market you're going to cater to.... mostly young 20 something's or an older group? The Gem series might have a lot of songs, but there are a lot of songs you will probably never use (really dusty oldies from the 50's and 60's) and many you will want but are missing - like anything newer than 2008.


Terrific. But those are the kinds of people I don't want at my show(s) (if I still have any -ask Athena).

Why would I not want them there? Because they are there to "perform for the crowd" when they type I want are the ones that are there to sing a few songs and have fun.... and buy drinks..... and make money for the club.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate a good singer anytime I can get them, but not at the expense of the club or other singers.... I'm really in the "make money business" not the "entertainment business." I use karaoke entertainment as the "tool" to achieve my goals.. make money for the club and myself... Just as McDonald's isn't in the "food business" it's in the "entertainment business" and consequently, they have toys for the kids, playhouses, a clown and what was their slogan? "YOU deserve a break today...."

I "orchestrate" the party, I do NOT become "part of" the party..



I can most assuredly tell you that Sound Choice and Chartbuster are truly optional if you have half a personality. Besides, if you use them on a computer, expect to be sued.

Many of my customers will specifically state that they will only sing SC versions, period! Yes, there are people that do care and take their singing seriously and want to sound good.

Terrific. But those are the kinds of people I don't want at my show(s) (if I still have any -ask Athena).

Why would I not want them there? Because they are there to "perform for the crowd" when they type I want are the ones that are there to sing a few songs and have fun.... and buy drinks..... and make money for the club.
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Pretty big assumption. I'm sure that is true for some folks, not true for me!

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KingBing Entertainment C'mon Up! I have a song for you!!! [font=MS Sans Serif][/font]

Well, everyone is welcome to sing at my shows. Everyone! All of my customers are treated fairly and everyone has a good time. And yes, I do make money for the establishment. Many people do this job but are not true entertainers or KJ's. Nor do they make very good entertainers because It's all about them and not about the people who love and support karaoke. Wow!

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Electro-Voice Evolve 50... Taking Sound To The Next Level.

Hi, Ashlen i am no longer doing karaoke shows i have over 10.000 songs in my Libaire all of the CDG are Original and not copies and are in mint condition if you are intreasted let me no ronjr

For the right price, I would be interested. Entertaining getting a 2nd rig.

Would also depend on the song titles and manus.

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KingBing Entertainment C'mon Up! I have a song for you!!! [font=MS Sans Serif][/font]

There's a difference between being able to affording good music, and blowing your investment for no reason. While SC and CB make a nice product, for every hundred tracks you buy, you get about 15 keepers. This means 85% of your investment is worthless.

Would it not be better to KNOW what you need before you invest a lot of money? For those who don't know the answer, in terms of running a successful business, it's YES.

The majority of ALL new businesses fail. The pros say it's because the owners over-invested at the outset, leaving low funding for future upgrades and improvement.

Think about it.

If you still want better quality and an eclectic title selection, see if you can find DK Karaoke discs 1-99. It'll cost you, but the use to track quantity is WAAAAY higher than SC or CB.

Throw in SuperCore 1-38, Karaoke Kurrents 0201-0206, 0301 and 0302, 0501-0506.

Then add, for the older crowd, Music Maestro Doo-Wop Club 1-6.

Helluva good start.

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."