Karaoke Forums

that no matter what time you start a karaoke that there always seems to be at least one person who will come late in the 3rd hour of a 4 hour gig and still expect you to let them sing as much as everyone else has.

"what what do you mean your not taking any more singers, its only 12:30"

i don't understand what part of 'come early, sing more' people can't seem to grasp

Or the ones that come in at 1:30 (when you close at 2:00) and expect you to put them up immediately "because they're a new singer."

Fat chance....

I don't worry about this, we shut it down at 1 . No more shots served after 1 either so most people are already heading out at this point.
We have a nice sign I put out when there is no more time for new or old singers. Once that sign goes up, that means no more slips, I will let new people know that give me slips after that point that there are no guarantees and if it DOES happen to work out they can get in, they will be at the end of any rotation that is left. I will allow someone the chance to swap their last song if they already have one last song up.

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I click a button on my hosting computer and it locks out the kiosk with notice that there is no time left.... still doesn't stop those that think they are somehow entitled to sing just because they are there.

It's the KJs that let the late-comers sing that encourages the behavior. I know a singer that will bar hop all night and save a particular KJ for the last stop at fifteen minutes before close because she knows the KJ will bump everyone else to get her in.
What's worse is I've seen her walk in and sing before she ever made it to the bar to buy a drink and by the time she's done singing serving has stopped. The KJ doesn't seem to realize or even care that everyone who has been waiting and hoping to get one more song in notices these things.

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KNOW THYSELF

I absolutely HATE the Singer-Come-Latelies. I used to have quite a bit of a problem with that when some diva (male OR female!) would walk in and demand to sing at 12:45. I'm done at 1:00 and I RARELY go over time, but if I do, it's my choice to do so and if I do, it's usually to squeeze in the last singer or two of the rotation. These singers usually have been waiting quite some time for their turn and every now and again I will accommodate them, but I NEVER allow the late divas in and set aside the people who have been there all night supporting the show. I had an owner upset with me about it at one point because she was getting flack from these whiners. I told her flat out that these are people who have generally been spending their money all night at someone else's establishment (or were at work, but oh well, it's called LIFE) and will be lucky to be able to buy one drink at her place before the bar shuts down. In the meantime, I should set aside people who have been here all night supporting her bar to make the late comers happy? That, and the sense of entitlement that they have just puts me right off. I used to have an argument on my hands almost every night with these self important jack @$$es until I got the kiosk that c. staley mentioned. Now I very rarely have anyone approach me, and usually they just ask, "So you're not taking any more requests?"
I smile, say "Sorry, no I'm not." and that's usually the end of it. I think maybe only once or twice has anyone tried to push it further. Those people learn real fast that that only pi$$es me off and makes my stance even more firm. When I say, "No.", it really does mean "No". The way many of these people try to push it with me by begging, pleading, and even with insults (like THAT'S going to change my mind!) leads me to believe that their parents have rarely if ever, told them no and stuck by it. The tantrums I get to see when I say "no", because I mean it and stick to it! And believe me, there are getting to be more of these types than not. Quite a sad state of affairs, if you ask me.

I was swamped Saturday - all night. I slipped in my new singers all night, and then moved them to the bottom of the rotation. By midnight, I had enough singers to get me through, but didn't formally close the request lines until 12:45. Even after, I had at least 7 singers wanting to sing, and I told them I couldn't do it because 15 singers had been there all night patiently waiting (ha ha) their turn and it wouldn't be fair to them to give their spot to someone who got there after 1AM.

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I'm not a cheerleader, but I paid for my pom poms with my own money!

All KJs have or will experience this situation sooner or later and, many times, quite often.

Fortunately, my Karaoke Software gives a running time total of the songs in the Playlist. This allows me to judge when to stop taking Requests.

I, also, use C. Staley's software on Kiosks and can shut down the Kiosks remotely.

Between the Hosting and Kiosk software, I can judge when to stop taking Requests.

Any of my 4-hour shows that I choose to go over-time...without pay...is reserved to help get the Singers, who were in the last Rotation, a final song.

The whole idea of Kiosks is to keep the bastards away from me. I am too busy trying to set vocals, set the music, set the lights, add and adjust the Playlist, and looking for new Singers to insert than to have to answer 20 questions. 99% of the time, when they see the Kiosks shut down, no one tries to argue for a song or another song.

I chastise current Singers when they continually come up to me and inquire as to when they are up. I tell them that I have a "2-time walk up on the stage limit." Do it more than that and they get removed from the Rotation. I tell them that the stage is for the Singer, Me, and My Equipment. I tell them that they are up when they are called. I tell them that they don't see every one else coming up to inquire where their songs are at and that they will be waiting just as long as you will wait. Otherwise you have your choice of a number of other Shows to go to.

The staging area MUST be controlled or equipment gets damaged. The Singers are there to have fun...you are there performing a JOB; although you can have fun while performing the job or, at least, appear to be having fun.

I, especially, get irritated when a Bartender or Server comes up to inquire for one of the customers as to when their customers song is coming up. I tell the Bartender or Server that I don't tell them how to make drinks or provide service to their customers and they don't tell me how to run Karaoke. I tell them to tell the person that they will be up when I call them and do not come up and question me again.

Singers need to have faith that I am running a fair...or as Fair can be...Rotation. A perception of anything less is a Slap-In-My-Face and I take it very personal.

MY kinda host!

And I'll bet your shows are jam-packed too!

Yes Chip.

Most my shows are packed. Friday is most popular with 50-60 unique Singers over a 6-hour show period. Only Singers who were at the Venue at the starting time of 9 PM will get two songs.

But, they just keep coming...

Back in 1996, I actually was let go from a gig because of a "singer come lately". It was a dream gig:nice place, huge crowd and great staff! Well this late comer "Tony" was a very good singer who would always come in 15 mins before the end of the night. Naturally, he would put in a song request. Sometimes I could fit him in, but most times I could not. When I could not I would very nicely apologize and tell him that I simply cannot fit him in, because I still had people ahead of him that have no yet sung.........that's how long the rotation was at this place.

He never gave ME an argument, but he complained to management. Management always stood behind me and apologized profusely, and said that if their liquor license would allow that they would pay me to play until 2am, but such was not the case. "Tony" then went to the OWNER to complain. When the owner had told him the same thing that management and I said, "Tony"(who is African-American) told the owner that I was a racist who didn't like African-Americans, and that he had even heard me use the N-word! All of which is total B.S.!

Shortly after, I get a phone call from the owner telling me what "Tony" said. He said he didn't believe "Tony", but he couldn't afford any bad publicity. Because "Tony" had threatened to go to local medias, and tell them that this was a racist establishment that didn't welcome people of color! All of which is simply NOT true!

Consequently, I was let go. Soon the word got out that I was let go, and as to why. To my surprise the clientele really went to bat for me! They stopped coming to that establishment. Several of them called the owner personally and made him aware that they would no longer patronize his place of business due to they way I was treated throughout this nonsense!

Within a few weeks the owner called, and apologized for what transpired, and asked me to return. I told him that I would providing that I be allowed to run my show the way I see fit, and that he have a staff member at the entrance after midnight to greet latecomers, and to let them know that the KJ is no longer accepting song requests for the evening.

It worked.

My answer is always about the same: I've been here since 9- where were you? Really? Well, that was your choice...

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

I get paid by the bar to play from 9:00-1:30, but the bar is open until 3:00. I run a fair rotation, and have a pretty good idea of who is going to get in by 1:30, so I'm first and foremost honest about the rotation and the cutoff time.

If it's close, and it's a regular or potential regular, I may fit them in as one more last song past 1:30, but never if it means bumping someone who has been waiting.

Otherwise, I'm not being paid anymore past 1:30, so the late singers are welcome to sing, but it is pay to play at that point. If they question the policy, I ask them if they work overtime at their job for free, and they always say no and usually get the point (and sometimes keep complaining!).

There is one group of guys that ALWAYS come in late, but they also pay $5.00 a song to sing past 1:30, so I'm happy to stay an extra 20-30 minutes for $20-30. It helps that they are all great singers and pick crowd pleasers, mostly old school funk tunes.

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C Mc
KJ, FL

I've never seen one, but I like the sign idea. Drives me nuts seeing people put songs in with 20 mins to go.n And with a decent crowd in the place. I'm thinking what a moron.

Went to a place a couple weeks ago. It was just a 2hr gig for her but with like 45 mins left we got there. I looked thru her book and I put in a song (not a big place or rotation). She was like ok, but I'm not taking anymore songs. Which was fine but there was a way she went about it, idk attitude. I told her ok. If I don't get in, no biggie. I saw people put in songs after me too, without getting the attitude. Why because they were there 75 mins before me??? We got there asap from our previous engagement. Can't be called a late comer here for a 2 hr gig. But she work the sound ect well and we had fun.

What im saying is, in this case a sign would've been great. And would've even been better to me as a first impression. Instead of the verbage I got from her.