Karaoke Forums

Close, but no. I said all singers have the capability of bringing in more customers. Doesn't mean that they always will.

Also, singers or not/ spenders or not, 6 average people alone in a venue- no matter what the overhead- will not generate enough income to make a karaoke host profitable for a venue.

Although clear that 6 was the norm in the area, no one said that wasn'r a problem.

However, if the rotation is 6 water drinkers but the bar has 70 drinking/paying customers, than 6 may be enough to support the the venue, but show no real need for the host.

After reading the original post, common sense and the info given show that the above is not the case, and the host is looking to bring in more people.

Also Eric, this thread has nothing to do with the other, so instead of a hijack, let's see what we can do to help. What do you say?

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

But Joe

I HAVE engaged Marble's post from the onset in an attempt to help her explore and resolve her "issue" successfuly. The significance of the size of Marble's "following" has already been explored by several of us who had read the entire thread. Based upon her feedback, which minimized the importance of the number of singers to her situation, we have no choice by to leave that factor behind!

Your post, nonetheless, returned to the "number of singers" and concluded that IN FACT, having 6 singers was at the crux of her problem. Since you posted your response believing it was germaine to the OP, how did I, by challenging your inaccurate evaluation, hijack the thread?

Read my previous post, and start over. The venue needs more PEOPLE, though not neccesarily more singers.

Since I'm not a "KJ" but I AM a Karaoke Host, I focus on the entire venue. That means entertainment for EVERYONE. Whether she says so or not, six PEOPLE ina venue is too little- not profitable, no matter how much they drink. SO, more PEOPLE,-singers or watchers- are needed. a little common sense, please.

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

Its all about BUTTS IN THE SEATS!!

So got to get more LISTENERS as well as your core 6. Got to BROADEN your appeal. Dance music/sets?? Contests?? Theme nights??(Blues Monday, Ladies night Wednesday, Sunday service night, Thursday 80's night, Tuesday 90's night, weekend karaoke/dance party nights)

Have you been doing anything to bring in PARTY business? Bachellorette, Ladies Night Out, Guys Night, Holiday parties. Company parties. Take some names and phone numbers, call them and book some parties!! Got to promote and SELL parties directly to the custies and book them with NO LESS than 10 guests. Work out some sort of incentive/benefits with the bar ownership to offer those who book parties!!

Got to get a BROADER customer base. 6 singers will not keep you in your gig. Even if each singer comes with one guest. Need a MINIMUM of 15-20 GUESTS-CONSISTENTLY(not neccessarily singers) to pay the freight. If not then bar will eventually shut your karaoke down.

Butts in the seats and dollars in the til.

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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

Swingcatkurt, what fantastic ideas.... Anything that doesn't include continuous karaoke won't work in my area (dance sets are despised in most venues except one, where all the dancers will dance to every karaoke song chosen, so there is no need to upset the singers for the dancers, because they co-exist happily). But the theme nights.....oooohhhhh, liking that and i think that will suit our clientelle more, I'd forgotten the joy of suicide sunday

In the past week, I've brought a telly for one venue, which had no way of allowing me to plug into their system... So now we have two screens n for the singer and one for the audience, which has made my one "screamer" sound clearer, and as most will agree has brought about better audience participation.

I've started Kamakazi night at another venue, with a £15 voucher for the best song and discussed with the owner about advertising the night as "karaoke for prizes and money" to try and give me a bit more freedom with the whole competition idea..... several little rewards for all, rather one reward for the never to be seen again professsional.

I tried a monitor in another venue, but the customers can not get their head round that one ..... (I get the same look when i present them with a mic stand)... change upsets them and they all complained .... so we've turned one of the speakers in (which also helps solve the problem that the volume level has to be kept low).

I'm also getting ready to re-print my slips.... and I'm considering new things to write on them. "Sing on, bring one" is going, nobody abides by it, and I've now written all of our customers songs (27 customers that we see at least twice a month ) on cue cards for ease. So I have a blank line that needs to be filled.

A six singers standard really isn't as much of an issue as i thought... it gives us a head start on most companies... we covered for another karaoke in a local nightclub type venue (karaoke has been there for 7years and its about two times the size of our largest venue, 6 times the size of our smallest)... there were no singers for two hours!!!!!! none!! nothing, until the drunks rolled in and then it went mad for the final hour and a half.


I really like the idea of the theme nights, I just need to find out how to incorporate the non singers into it... My singers are up for anything, its the hardcore drinkers that tend to not want to join in. hmmmmmm.

The theme nights will require u to play filler music. IE--blues night--all blues filler songs(and not SLOW blues songs), 80's night-80's music, how bout a 60's night or RETRO 70's night and all the filler would be of that genre. Could even have a Classic 50's night with 50's doo-wop songs as the filler--maybe encourage people to come in dressed up in their best BOBBY-SOX and GREASER OUFITS!! Do the same for the other genres--60's hippies, 70's disco queens, 80's new wavers etc etc.

The point being--be creative and make YOUR VENUE into the MOST UNIQUE and fun-filled place in your area that people will WANT to come flocking into. Karaoke songs remain the same---just will have BACKGROUND FILLER SONG THEMES. And if u can get people to dress up to it and start seeing NEW FACES then you know it will be working.

Oh and as to the PARTY program---Every person you meet in the bar--singers or jsut visitors---ask for their fone numbers and a MONTH for thier party--u can even put that on your song slips. Then when they ask why the phone number--explain your PARTY PROGRAM and add them to your month month list---and each month call that group of peoples numbers to arrange bookings. Over time the list will grow
with each party bringing new people to sign up. Each and every singer to be added to your phone list. put some fliers on the tables advertising it.

ITs how we've done it at the place I DJ at---and the boost in revenue to the bar has been SUBSTANTIAL. Each weekend night we add around 15-20 NEW persons to the lsit.

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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

Still playing with the theme night idea, we did it in for a while in a different venue before, so the material is all there, I'm slightly concerned that my venues are "too local"... Hard core drinkers alongside travelling karaoke fans, rather than party venues which attract a vibrant crowd, but I know there has to be a way round it.

I've developed a new problem as well today. . . although i'm increasing the number of singers at my shows, the quality of singers aren't brilliant. I love a bad singer.... To me thats what karaoke is about, but to a listener, it's not ideal. Rather than drown them out with the backing track or cover their vocals in reverb, does anyone know or a magical piece of equipment that can save us. My sound system currently is empasises what is on offer, good singers sound amazing, bad singers sound really bad, can anyone suggest a way to make it more forgiving? (please don't say get rid of the SM58's )

Tunn the microphone down....

Excellent thoughts, Swing! THAT'S what we're talking about.!


I was also reading about VCD and DVD karaoke on another thread. Maybe interspersing these in your collection, with their videos, might give the non-singers something else to enjoy. I've run into it once, and those people seemed to enjoy it a lot.

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

Again you must offer something none of your competitors are doing. Set yourself apart from the crowd.

It they are having jsut the same-O 6 person karoke U have--then whats the difference in the CUSTOMER EXPEREINCE??? You need to be something complelty different than the others. Think out of the box. Be Creative in ways the others havent even tried!! Maybe a country western ngiht. How bout a Carribean night or Zydeco/New Orleans/Mardi Gras night?? How bout a NEW WAVE NIGHT?

You have a HUGE ADVANTAGE by coming here to KS as the people here are willing to chime in and help you with ideas and thier experiences. LISTEN and RUN with SUGGESTIONS that make sense for your venue--theres a WORLD of experience and knowledge with the people here at KS!!

With what ever you try--get the bar staff involved, get the owner's support. Nothing will work unless the venue buys into it to. Perhaps query the owner and bar management for ideas they may have that make sense. But be prepared to look past THEIR negatitivity if they are not even willing to try.

And this all becomes academic anyway if they are not willing to try something new.

As everyone well knows, that to expect different and improved results from doing the same old things---thats the QUICKEST way to failure(and a sure sign of INSANITY)!!

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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

As to the QUALITY of singers---quit worrying about it!!

ITS KARAOKE---NOT THE FREAKIN OPERA!!!

You ARE GETTING NEW BUTTS IN THE SEATS!! THATS RESULTS!!

WELCOME THEM WITH OPEN ARMS AND ENCOURAGE THEM EVEN MORE TO BRING THIER FREINDS, COWORKERS, FAMILY MEMBERS, ETC.

SIGN THEM UP FOR PARTIES!!!. BOOK EM' DANNO!!

Maybe with an infusion of new voices taking over---the "CORE" 6 will leave and allow your "NEW" crowd to grow and multiply!!

MORE AVERAGE SINGERS MEANS MORE BUTTS IN SEATS MEANS MORE MONEY IN THE TILL MEANS YOU KEEP YOUR JOB!![/u][/i]

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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

Bad singers

First and foremost I never add to the fire of discussing a bad singer with patrons. If patrons or an owner are complaining about a singer I try and diffuse it right away. I find people will mimic a KJs outlook on a situation. If I act all irritated by a singer, so will the patrons. Instead I try to focus on their positives like they are such a nice person and they always clap for everyone. I also try and steer the singer from songs they shouldn't attempt and help them with songs that better suit them. People are much more excepting of a bad singer singing a fun song then a long ballad.

When mixing them I try and melt them into the music per say. If they are truly unbearable I put their voice in the middle of the music, so you can just hear them. If it is a loud upbeat song it is easier to do.

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