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I have two responses for the bar owner when this happens (and it happens often enough that I have to choose one):

"Do you ask your employees if you can pay them less when it's a slow night?"

or

"Do you pay me more when you have a good night?"

I'm no fan of the percentage based pay, so I charge a flat rate and that's what i get. Period.

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hi-voxentertainment

take off the baseball game, add 2 other people giving headaches, and this was my night. awesome night at my venue, dont know how my partners went but im guessing same

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the voices arent real, but they have some good ideas

I'm DJing at my Friday night spot (straight DJ, no karaoke) as we speak, and it is deeeeeeeeeead. 12 people including me and the bartender. Bleh. Stark contrast to last night. Hoping it picks up after fireworks around the city are over.

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hi-voxentertainment

1:45AM and the most people that have been in here (including myself and the bartender) is 16 people. Wow. Getting ready to shut it down. At least I'm getting paid for this.....

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hi-voxentertainment

My host texted me at 11:15 on Thursday & said he had already did a slip cut off for the night at 11. This is normally done at 12-12:15. 42 singers he counted. I haven't talked to him about last night so i'm not sure yet.

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our night on friday was terrible. it was a new bar, and several of our friends did show up. the bar did advertise but people werent out. when we booked the show we thought the town was doing fireworks. they held off and did them saturday. had the fireworks been on friday it would have done well, all the bars were empty.

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the voices arent real, but they have some good ideas

Same for my bro, great night of karaoke Thursday, slow night of DJing Friday. Bar owner gave him a 40 dollar bonus for Thursday night. Crowd was pretty wild, but not troublesome, a few people that tried to get on stage uninvited took it well when they were told not to. Rudy.

For me Thurs was busy normal (at capacity) but not the insanity that I feared. The 4th was actually pretty good and better than average for this other quiet bar that I work some Fridays.

I'm expecting a very quiet one tonight (Sat).

Thursday was a comfortable, nice-sized crowd.
Friday, I didn't expect much because the city had scheduled a big fireworks show, but that was postponed because of a terrible thunderstorm. So my Friday crowd was smaller than usual, because of other events and bad weather.
Saturday was competing with the rescheduled fireworks show and a cheap .38 Special concert downtown, but it was a decent-sized group.

My sat was dead We had the Scorpions with the Witch Doctors concert plus a benefit concert for the tornado victims. Plus this isnt my reg bar. I did get a chance to talk to the owner for a long time. He has 2 restaurants plus this bar.

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[font=verdana] Johnny’s Friday night gig was pretty slow compared to his normal crowd. Now let me tell you all about last night, my gig at a bar out of town.

I was really questioning whether I was cut out for this or not, and was telling myself if Saturday night was a bomb, I should seriously consider doing something else. It started a little slow, I had to play some DJ songs and sang a couple myself, then it took off. It was a blast. I never had a lot of different singers but did have continuous singers up until closing time. It did confirm what I had been thinking, that if I could find the right crowd, a slightly older group, that I would do okay. The crowd had a really good time, and several of them made a point of telling me how great the show was. Needless to say I was on cloud nine all the way home.

Problem is getting the owner to use me instead of the gal that does it now, and to get him to commit to more than one night a month. I am wondering if I should offer a reduced rate for the first month, to see if we can build up a crowd of regulars. Right now I don’t have any other gigs lined up so it would be a way to have some money coming in. I would like some opinions on this.

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Dusty Rose
Blue Rose Classic Karaoke
More Sound! More Selections! More Fun!
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Seriously, I would NOT give him the option. Other than the obvious extra income you would generate, you may find it very difficult to convince him that you are worth what your original rate was. Owners are notorious for that - they figure the least you'll do it for, the better for them, and if you don't value your show enough to go with your original rate, he won't for sure.

Just my 0.02

k

One of the oldest tricks in the book and I dont do it unless I hate the KJ All the people that like you have them call the bar every week for a few weeks. Is Rose doing karaoke tonight?

I have offered reduced rates for 2 consectutive nights esp fri-sat. It is worth it because you do 2 with 1 setup and teardown. You do have to put the mics etc away and have it uncluttered (cables) so the the swamper can clean. One thing to remember when selling a bar. Let them know as you increase the business you will expect raises. I really dont like starting with an offer that I consider not enough. I flat tell them my setup fee is $150 min.

The bar I'm doing spot gigs in was really really slow last night. The owner is a greek (born in Athens) that has a lot of business savvy. I was paying DJ and just put the comp on auto So I sat down and chatted with him and his wife for about an hour. Boy Ill tell you what I like this guy a lot. He is another one I can just open up and say whats on my mind and he does the same. It is a relationship that is friendly yet honest and professional.

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Well, It was a good thing I did the "net-working" at that barbecue on Friday. A lot of the same people went to a different barbecue on Saturday, and right around 10PM, I had my "regs" plus a bunch of "newbies". Normally play till midnight...played until a little after 1AM. It was a VERY good night for the bar, and for me. So good that I didn't get home until after 4AM ( I bad hehe )!!!



Donny "B"

BTW: BlueRose, I wouldn't advise cutting your rate or giving ANY owner a "trial" rate. You may find that the "trial" will become permanent, as the owner will figure if you can do it for the "trial" rate...you can do it for that same rate all the time. Scope out what the competition is getting and stay within or a little above the "average" when "interviewing" for new gigs, but ALWAYS have a bottom line. That line should be what YOU feel comfortable with to begin with, without under-cutting your peers. If the owner doesn't agree to the terms initially, and continually wants to "haggle", that's usually a sign of problems to come...just walk.

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