Karaoke Forums

When I get all my set up together and feae comforatable with my abilitty to host a successful show - should I do a couple freebies? Or a half price?

And what is a good pay to ask for once i'm established I was thinking 260 for a 3 hour minimum and 60 each additional hour.
But I live in Fort Myers Florida where there is not a lot of karaoke at all.

I would NEVER do a free show unless it was for charity.
If you do, you are telling the venue owners that you're not worth much and they will be much less willing to pay you what you're REALLy worth later on.
It's always easier to start high and come down, but try and start low and get a raise later. It won't happen.
Your best bet to get a little experience would be to host a show or two at your home and invite your friends for a karaoke party.
That way, you aren't de-valuing your services and you get the experience in.

Why do you feel you have to do a show for free or half price to get started? There are other ways to get gigs without discounting yourself. Doing shows free or half price are a last resort in my opinion.

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

Sam - I agree doing a show for free is not wise for an experianced KJ , but on the other hand if you have never HOSTED a show if you can get a place to let you set up and PRACTICE one time I see nothing wrong with it. As far as HOW MUCH YOU SHOULD CHARGE ... that's a tough one. Once you let someone know you are NEW and not experianced your stock goes down

Once you are comfortable go to a new venue and believe in yourself. and stretch the truth as much as possible . When asked "How Long Have You Been Doing Karaoke" Just tell them you've been involved in Karaoke for years

"Involved in Karaoke for Years" Thats awesome
Yeah that's what I was thinking seeing if I could just set up and practice it would be beneficail to everyone.
I live in an apartment and my neighbors complain constantly that my music is to loud and that is only my little computer speakers - so a home party is Definately out of the question.

What about a party at someone else's house?
You provide the karaoke they provide the place.
I would really shy away from doing a show for free unless you're absolutely desperate, and even then, I would reconsider.
What I did was set all my stuff up and pretend that I had several singers. I queued them up and ran through it as if the people were really there. I tried to envision every possible request from the "people" and went with it.
Once I was familiar with my gear and running the program, I went out and did my first gig.
I did NOT tell anyone that I had never hosted before. That would be a HUGE mistake as suddenly they will see you as inexperienced and therefore not worth your pay.
The way I did it, no one knew the difference and they treated me as if had all the experience in the world.
Before long, I was an old "pro" at it.
I didn't have to give a gig for free and I still make a nice chunk of change at it.
If they asked specifically, I told them the truth.
That I started it as a hobby and have been doing it for years at home and finally decided to make my hobby earn its keep.

Diafel seems to be on a spelling and grammar crusade today but she seems to have missed a bunch of errors in this thread so I'll help her out a little bit.

(feae comforatable). did someone (come for a table)?

(experianced)....that should be experienced. Not a typo. You did it twice.

(to loud)....that should be too loud.

(Definately)....shouldn't be capitalized and doesn't have an "A" in it. It is spelled definitely.

(beneficail)....I'll chalk this one up as a typo.

(its keep)....should be it's keep. Let's not forget the apostrophe now, Diafel.

Someone must have turned up the heat on the stew pot.

When someone corrects one person's errors and ignores everyone else's errors;;;; it's called having an axe to grind, Diafel. Are you sure you want to play this game? I can find ten times the mistakes than you will find in my posts. Heck! I found numerous errors in this thread alone. You open up everyone for scrutiny when you choose to try to embarrass me for the occasional mistake that I may make. If I have to be perfect;;;;; then everyone should have to be perfect;;;;;;right? I would put my ratio of errors up against just about anyone else's here on this forum and I think that I'd come out ahead. People tried to do the same thing on the Singers Showcase by criticizing my singing because I had criticized someone else's singing. I'll put my singing up against most of the singers here as well. I'm not the best singer, by far, but I'm far from the worst. When someone says that my singing is terrible;;;;;it's obviously someone with an axe to grind. It only takes one listen to one of my songs for someone to realize that my singing is never terrible;;;;;but people say it, or type it, to defend one of their friends who in fact does sing badly. They lose all of their credibility when they type out an obvious lie. The bulk of the fluffers have no credibility to begin with so telling lies can't hurt it anyway.

Apparently you DON'T have a life Bruce.
How sad that you insist on hi-jacking thread after thread.
At this point I only have one thing left to say to you:
Troll!

There is nothing wrong with working for tips to get started. Just set a time limit for when you will be going to full price. If it is going to be a weekly gig, they should get a discount as well.

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Kevin

The word "hijacking" needs no hyphen, dear.

You attack me and accuse me of having some form of a learning disability and when I defend myself;;;;; you have the gall to call me names?????? I take it to mean that you will cease and desist your axe grinding now? I really have no desire to continually point out other people's lack of command of the English language or their lack of singing ability. I have no problem letting people live their lives of delusions. Reality crushes some people. I try to refrain from crushing people's dreams as much as possible but some people just bring out the worst in me.

Hello kettle....greetings from the pot. I'll be quite happy to NOT be hearing from you any longer since you have said that TROLL was the last thing you had to say to me. Very mature turn of phrase.

The rest of the class can now go back to their bad English skills.

Thaks Diafel I appreciate your help, and everyone else as well.
Even the boring english lesson.

You are more than welcome, Sam, and I do apologize for the trolling going on.
Seems Bruce has a paranoia issue going on.
Methinks he doth protest too much.

You accused me of not being able to read or spell properly, dear. The only way I could prove you wrong was to point out your and other people's errors that everyone else seemed to miss. You started the spelling an grammar contest today, dearie. Don't put the blame for this on me. You could have pointed out my error without the sarcasm and insults. I would have graciously thanked you for pointing me in the right direction. People are always telling me to "let it go" but people like you keep trying to pull me back into these petty arguments. I'll play along if that's what you want.

ME THINKS that ME THINKS is TWO words and not one.

One more thing to point out, diafel. You accuse me of having no life because I have the time to respond to your bitterness. I have less than 200 posts in this forum at this point in time. Some of your "friends" have post totals in the thousands. Does that mean that they don't have any lives? You have more posts than I do. Is that supposed to mean that you have too much free time on your hands as well?

Bruce, calm down. Save something for later.

Sam, I am on the east coast of Florida where we are saturated with KJ's. The going rate here is, basically, $50 an hour. Some people will do a four hour show for $150, depending on factors such as the starting time, ease of set-up, if they play more than one night a week at that venue.

There are many variables as to how a nightly rate is established. Cutting prices works with some owners. Some are smart enough to wonder why you're willing to work for less. And if there is truly a shortage of KJ's in Fort Meyers, why would you feel a need to cut prices?

I thought along the same lines as you now are when I first began. I resisted all the logic that suggested I offer myself at a cheap rate to get started; rather, I listened to the advice of those with more experience than myself.

If nothing else, Sam, let's say you get a four hour job for half-price, $75. What happens after the introductory period. Do you really think the owner is going to agree to pay you double? He will if you pack his place out. Do you have a following of 50 or more singers? Can you count on 20 of them appearing at your show every week?

If the answer to those last two questions is "no", then unless you have a written contract to the contrary, you'll be getting paid $75 for every show unless all the planets and stars align for your show and you are overwhelmed with karaoke devotees in the way of singers and audience!

Go to a retirement home, nursing home or the like and volunteer you services as a means by which to "cut your teeth"!

Best of luck, Sam

More importantly, can he count on ALL of them showing up at his FIRST show?

Your first question should be how do I get my first show?

You will get a lot more answers with that question.

Going to visit bar owners personally prepared with a good pitch is my suggestion. Pass out business cards to everyone you can think of. Follow up is important also. That's if you are looking for bar gigs. Private parties are a whole nother creature.

I'm sure others can give ideas of what to say in your pitch for a job?

Are you prepared with everything you need to make a pitch?

It isn't just all about prices. There also is the decision about what type of show you will run. (rotation, rules, breaks, no breaks, music sets or not etc...) Have you thought about what you expect from an owner? (laying down gidelines is important, you don't want an owner telling you how to run your show). Just food for thought.

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

All great suggestions, Babs.
I reiterate the part about being clear about you and your bar owner(if that's where you're gigging) expect from each other. VERY important.
When I run my shows, I won't let the bar owner tell me how to run my rotation and I won't tell him what order to serve his customers in.

I plan to start looking for gigs in January and I will definately have to work on my pitch. I plan to advertise heavily on myspace a website i'm building and flyers/ business cards.
But other than that I don't really have any great idea's I'm just gonna call bars and ask for there time or go in personally and talk to them.

I do know however that without this website I would be Lost!

You might want to look at Facebook as well. In my area, myspace is out and Facebook is all the rage.