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The big new song in my room  for the lady divas is "No One"- the hot single from Alicia Keys. Last Sat the two best female singers in the room (both dynamite, in their 20s, and could easily be fronting a band) came up. looked at me with wide grins, and plopped their first slips down together. Back to back "No One".

I just shook my head and said "OK just this once".

Of course this was a competition. But they are friends and it was a very friendly competition between two talented singers. It was probably the most entertaining part of the night to the room. Thunderous applause to both. This is a very difficult song.

So it can be done, But wow you have to be careful. Karaoke bars are full of singers with fragile egos.

If I see the same song in the same round, usually it's first come... and I'll go to  the second singer's table and tell them  that the song is taken for the round but they can sing it later in the night if they want to. And that's kind of how I do it. The next round is often an hour and a half out, so that's a little breathing space.

I do a few shows here and there for a bar, subbing in for the regular KJ and I also do private parties. There is one exception where I allow repeat songs, sometime several times in a row, kid's shows.

I did a show for 16 year olds, 8 year olds and 6 year olds. All the same, they all want to sing High School Musical. Some younger ones want Hannah Montana also. It's not about doing it better than other. Once one kid sings a song from it, others want to sing it too. Asks for it during the first kid is singing the SAME song, 3-4 kids in a row. As an adult, it's hell listening to the same song over and over but kids never get tired of it.

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Seize the day and SING!!!

3 year olds will sing the alphabet  song over and over and over and over and have so much fun.

Jim-n-TN

Kid shows are always going to be exceptions!  With both rotation & song repeats as many kids will come up in groups almost everytime.

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I'm not sure I would like to go to a venue that has an automatic system with no KJ. It sound so impersonal...the KJ is a major part of the show, not just the singers. A show that has no interaction between KJ and the crowd would suck, not to mention they are doing a KJ out of a job, not cool.

I did a karaoke show for a bunch of girl guides once...it was the most horrendous experience...they opened the doors of the hall and they all flooded in screaming...and they didnt stop screaming the whole time they were there. Rotates went out the window, most of em sung the spice girls and the rest just stood at the base of the stage and screamed.
I felt physically ill due to the noise...have refused to do kids stuff ever since

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

That sounds like a extreme circumstance.  I've done a few & besides the rotation out the window & repeats of songs, they are very fun.  All of the shows I have done were in family setting with parents or adult supervision which helps alleviate the screaming & all our rowdiness.

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50 odd pre-teens...it is no joke I went and shoved toilet paper in my ears then had to get the doc to get one piece out with tweezers the next day cos it went too deep...it was horrendous and made worse by being in an old wooden hall

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

yeah, I ran one kid show that was out of control. I used to do a Sunday afternoon family show, and it was a lot of fun, but I kept control of it.

The out of control one, no matter what I tried, even shutting the stuff off and telling people if they didn't maintain some semblance of order, I was going to tear down and leave. The parents made it worse by insisting "it's just karaoke". I ended up telling the organizer of the whole thing that IF they wanted to run the thing their way, then THEY coud buy $50K worth of songs, equipment, making their own books,  learning the audio and video technology... they thought I was a bitter old man.

Funny when you try to maintain control, you are accused of taking the fun out of it.

They also didn't want to wait their fair turns, so they spent the majority of the time crowded around my booth and scrreaming and yelling. Even had some colorful profanity... had to track that one's father down and tell him to take his brat and depart or I'd teach that punk a lesson about calling me names!

matt yep its call itchy palm syndrome, I frequently get it when amongst children. For me the noise was worse becos I suffer tinitus in my right ear and when the noise is that bad I am basically deaf due to the ringing and buzzing

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

A lot of the gigs I do -- since I do almost all family, volunteer stuff --  is kids. Maybe it is just our area, but I have found them to be polite and respectful. When I tell them they have to get in line, but that they will get their fair turn, they never seem to have a problem with it.

I even had one young boy bring up "Highway to Hell". I didn't know whether that would be reasonable for a group that featured 7-year-olds (my wife was all for letting him sing it). Before we had to make a decision, he came up and said "you know, I was thinking that with all these kids that might not be the best one. Can I do XXX instead?"

We do have a bunch of good kids at those state park gigs....

If they're spaced out, it's fine....by a couple hours...or if 1 singer changes the words to make it a parody.

What should never be an issue is if someone puts in for a song the KJ is planning to sing...I was told I had to choose a different song because someone had already put in for it...and it was one of the KJs!!

I know him well...

I go as Lonman Goooes!!  That's how it should be done!  And besides most the time the person singing a song that is heard be the other person who wants to sing it...usually comes up to me and gives me another song for them to sing!!!  Like clockwork!!!!

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What about someone that wasn't there when the first one was sung?    They didn't hear it and nobody heard them sing it yet.    Most singers i know have a limited song selection that they sing.  What if the already sung song is the only song they sing.  Do you tell them too bad?    Go to a different karaoke because i can't accommodate you tonight.   Customer service...  :no:

There's only a handful of songs I allow only once  a night. The really long time consuming ones. "Master Of Puppets" comes immediately to mind. I get a 10 minute break on that one. "Bohemian Rhapsody"... sung a lot by my group to my surprise. And even then I'll make exceptions if the lineup isn't long and they've been spaced a few hours apart. Everything else is fair game as lone as they are spaced a round apart.

Almost every time  singers voluntarily pull a selection if it's currently being sung. They come right up and swap their next slip out as soon as they hear the opening chords.

Never had that issue ever come up, most of our singers generally can sing more than 1 song.  But as long as the original singer is still in the bar, then there is no chance of a song being repeated so yes it would be too bad for that night & they could come in another night.  Only time i'd consider a repeat is if it's at least 2 hours apart from the first time it was sung & the original singer is gone - even then it's a rare occasion.  For the majority, they don't want to do a song that has already been sung and will also change their song 99 out 100 times.

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Singers and listeners come and go all night long.  So many times the original singer of said song could already be gone.  And the new singer may have just walked in with 3-4-5 people to listen and or sing.  You risk chasing them away.    Most singers have a song they like to warm up with.   Some have favorite songs they want to sing everytime they go out and they don't care if it was sung 10 minutes ago.   They are the ones with the cash in pocket.   I'm sure the bar owner would have something to say about chasing singers away because of a no repeat policy.  Money is money and if it's making them happy and spending, i wouldn't stop anyone.

What about the person who sang the song first? Sod 'em, eh?

Not necessarily, many of our singer stay for a good portion of the evening, sure we get the 1 or 2 singers that pop in, but that isn't regular & if they do leave, then the 2 hour rule applies & the new singer may be able to sing that song later.



Well I have never watched anyone walk out the door because they couldn't sing a certain song & the next time they come in, they generally put it up before anyone else.  Our bar owner AND manager have never had a problem with the way I run our show for the last 17 years.  They also are the ones that incorporated the no swearing rule & agree with not hearing the same songs all night.

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