Karaoke Forums

I just did what I was told to do by the manager. Loosen it up. Enlarge the tent. And I think it's cost me NYE in there that I had a verbal on.

But that's OK. Really.

To elaborate a bit, absolutely my singers don't have to be drunks! One of my best female singers doesn't drink at all, but her husband more than makes up for that. And there are other examples scattered throughout the bar... partners, roommates, spouses, buddies. If a light drinking singer is helping the till by bringing drinkers in who wouldn't be there otherwise, that counts.

In fact that's better. If only...

We have plenty of young people who sing B**tch, rap songs, etc. We aren't as urban as your area, I am guessing. We don't have people complaining about music type, but if they did they would be ignored. Anything goes there after 10pm.

The problem was sound and personality. There was little of either, and the room is small. The karaoke got by on what it was for a long time, but it burned itself out.

Then they tried bringing it in house with NEO+G and a DJ mixer. Things still were terrible.

Then we brought in CompuHost, some decent library material, and started upgrading sound. Not long after we added CompuHost the youngies started coming back in. And everyone is smiles again. It is making money and sounding great -- better tapes than when we had a paid KJ.

You have to have *something* to attract a core. It can be lots of things. But if you have great sound you will have at least your singers to start with and sometimes quite a few. Then when people come in, they don't see four people sitting at the bar -- they see people singing and having fun. We aren't out to make that much money, but we like to be able to support our projects and pay the bills while still providing service to our members. One of the benefits you get at our place -- you get great karaoke. Along with a funeral, blood transfusions, reception room, and everything else that comes with being a member.

And in my opinion, good sound helps things. If you have lousy sound, you get lousy singers. And lousy singers stop singing karaoke at the drop of a hat. They switch to "Texas Holdem" or Guitar Hero.

(What happened to that, BTW? We had people here predicting GH and RB would nuke karaoke....right.)

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

My only point is if you are having this problem what is the solution? I'm not sure there is much we can do, but bring it to the attention of the owner when we have a loner drinking water from the bathroom, bring in more patrons that spend money, and encourage the spenders to come back.

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[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

Most bars have a sign posted, "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone." I don't know that it's ever been invoked with people who drink nothing - usually it's for people who drink TOO much! But consider what a scene it would make in most bars to throw someone out because they're not buying any (or enough) drinks. Except for the "loner" scenario described, you never know how many drinking friends this person has. Pi$$ someone off like that (not to mention the humiliation and embarassment) and they might well make it their business to tell all their friends, co-workers and post in every online forum how they were kicked out of a bar for not spending "enough" money.

What does it really hurt to have *a couple of* water drinkers in your crowd? Our bar actually puts out plastic cups and one of those huge Igloo water coolers filled with ice water so that the bartenders don't have to be bothered with people taking up space in line for water.

Joe, you're right on the money here - no pun intended. If you have 5 water drinkers in a crowd of 20 ... that's 25%. If you have 5 water drinkers in a crowd of 100 ... that's 5%. If the law of averages is that you'll have 5% drinking only water, increasing the SIZE of the crowd is the way to fix it!

Certainly bars and restaurants invest a certain amount of money in "no cover" entertainment to attract paying customers. Whether that's a karaoke show, DJ or live band or even just paying the cable company and ASCAP/BMI fees for piped in background music. That's simply a cost of doing business. For the most part, you'll attract an overwhelming number of paying vs. non-paying customers. And as has been stated, if you're a karaoke enthusiast there just aren't that many (if any) places that offer it outside of bars. Even bowling alleys and restaurants usually have it set up in their BAR area.

We have a regular in our bar who I don't think I've ever seen buy a drink. He frequents the free water cooler. What's more, he insists on handing me 5 slips at a time, wants them in a certain order, and will bark at me from the stage to turn his mike up or down or change the key to his song after its already started. Some here would want to 86 this guy immediately. My take again is, "Why bother?" What harm is he REALLY doing?

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[font=Lucida Console]DangerousKaraoke.com[/font]
[font=Lucida Console]"Sing for the day, sing for the moment, sing for the time of your life!"[/font]

Accept my assurances that no bar or eating establishment here in Florida condones people bringing in bottled water!

Most interesting is the following comments from old post made early last year. Please take note of Dave's experiences; he's a fellow Floridian. Also note that Dave did in fact do something about the freeloaders who irked him!

DBK1009
KARAOKE SINGER THREAD
Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 5:43 am

I think he was addressing me, not you. Jian, locking this would be a good idea, it's served its purpose and nothing more can be said that is new. I'm sorry I brought it up.

Wave a red flag in front of a bull.....it's certainly not your fault. It's as much mine as anyone else's because I am perverse enough to enjoy the discussion.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

As request by OP: LOCKED

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott