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I do a DJ / Kj thing at this Bar. Some nights I pull 30 plus songs. Other nights none at all! Thats ok because everyone is into the music and are up dancing! Now 3 people show up and want to do sing. Thats fine BUT I get there cards and thay each have 5 to 10 songs on it and want to sing them all. How many songs do you let one person sing?Thank in advance for your replys!!!!

As many as there are rotations.

This is how karaoke works in our area. If it is a karaoke show, people expecting to sing will show up. Some of them are only interested in singing, not in drinking or anything else. So they may not seem like they are worth much. But wait.

If they get to sing a lot, eventually the word gets out and more singers show up. But if they cool their heels listening to DJ music, they figure they could listen to music at home and leave.

So who needs those karaoke singers? Well, as it turns out the bar does. If people come into a bar and see no one there, they figure the place is dead and go elsewhere. If there are some people there -- the karaoke singers that a show brings out -- then they think "something is happening here" and stay.

So in our area at least, karaoke shows that don't let the singers sing just die off. No karaoke singer wants to listen to music. They want to watch other karaoke singers and sing themselves.

The shows who just let them keep singing eventually grow larger. As the place gets to be "happening" because people are there, non singers show up. The show succeeds.

In short, non-singers follow the singers. If you could get people to come in for just DJ music, who would need karaoke?

It may be that in some areas (college towns, bar districts, hot spots) you can get along by shuffling your singers to a lower priority. But not where I live.

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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.

If there's only three, I'd go two at a time until more show up, then drop it down, only after the last one did their two.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

How many do I let them sing? As many as they want to sing as long as it follow the rotation rules. Might do double shots, but generally not. In our club karaoke is the primary entertainment be it 3 people singing or 30 people singing. Once someone wants to sing, then that is priority.

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well i do the dj / kj thing as well.... my advice is reading your crowd. reality is majority wins. yes put them up but the people who been drinking and dancing are due in the rotations as well. so a set of dance and a set of 3 singers if thats all u got and back and .forth. reality is u still would have to constantly read the crowd no matter if ur kj, dj or both. so read read and go with ur gut. good luck!

ps let the crowd put in slips for dance songs and treat them as singers as well. that works too. reality is doing the dj / kj together u will have some who dont like it whether they are singers or dancers and they will go to a club that caters to that only. but i have and know their are many who like the dual variety ....


Cheers!

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:angel:

How long do u let them sing??? As long as they want!! All night long. Nothing's changed if you only have 3. Could only have 2 or 1 but maybe next time they bring ten with them cause u treated them so well!!

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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

I agree completely with Kurt. If I show up with 2 buddies and the KJ thinks that by playing DJ music, he will get us to stay longer, he is sadly mistaken. We will leave and never come back. However, if the KJ lets the three of us sing all night long, I would tell every other singer that I know that I have found a great new karaoke venue that caters to the singers no matter what.

Good question. I have had nights like yours and if I only get 3 singers then it depends on how long a night I have left. If the singers carry to the end of the night I let them sing straight through. If it is at the beginning of the night and it looks like they are all I am going to have I will play a dj set between every two rotations. Otherwise it is straight karaoke.

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The Line Array Experiment is over. Nothing to see here. Move along.

If there are regs there that are used to bands or DJ and are requesting dance music then the singers are sandwiched in between. We prob have 75 or more there for the music. twofers are an option.

If the singers are not drunk well mannered (not making demands) and are turning the crowd on then stress karaoke and showcase them. I actually like these situations because you can get well acquainted and and make friends with them. Buy them a drink.

More often than not if they are local they will phone friends to come over. At any rate they get a feel for your format and contrary to the popular beliefs here new singers prefer a DJ/KJ format. It is a format that they can sing more because it doesnt have huge rotations with drunks.

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I'd do two fers, then a filler song at the end of the rotation, sing one myself and let the singers back up!

Just my way, but if the same person sings two songs in a row, I don't care how many singers there are.....I'm outta there.....

Johnny, why? In a rotation that small, you will get to sing two also. No harm, no foul.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

There once was times when there were only a few singers. The host would put on a Pioneer laser disc and bring a wireless over to the bar. She would sing the first one then pass the mic and we took turns singing whatever came up next sitting at the bar.

Some of my favorite memories are from those times. For those that dont know those had video under the words. One night Dan was 3 sheets to the wind watching MTV on a bar TV. At a quit interval he asked "How come they aint got the words on that TV?" We all totally lost it..

There are many ways to run a show and it depends on the situation.

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Know your audience and respond accordingly. Each region, and each venue has a different appeal to it. There are no hard and fast rules.

Luckily I don't have that type of situation, because I wouldn't know what to do with myself. I think I would just keep them singing in their small rotation and add myself to it, to mix things up a bit.

I wouldn't have them sing double songs, however, because you then commit yourself to 25-35 minutes of the same 3 people. I know they are the only ones singing anyway, but what would happen if you get a crowd of people in just as the first person starts their 2nd song? The other two would still expect to sing 4 songs between the 2 of them. Your new crowd will wonder why people got to sing 2 songs a piece, to their 1. Just a thought. Hopefully it makes sence??

If you go for two-fer, you say to people, first two rounds are two-fer...then they expect that they will do two rounds of two-fer. If you reach the end of the two rounds and there still aren't singers, say, "BONUS! Another two-fer round." Don't suggest to them that they will be permitted to single multiple songs all night. I have allowed two-fers once in a while but suggest that once people start coming in they'll have to revert back to one song at a time. Nobody has ever complained.

I'm old, Tim....I need a rest, and sometimes oxygen between songs....and beer...

seriously, in Vegas I saw people sing three songs per singer....most of them sang their three and left, buying one drink, and sometimes no drink. I don't even want to hear me sing two in a row....gotta leave them hungry for more.....

In So Florida it is not unusual to find shows where 2-fers is the norm. And even at those that do 1 per rotation, when it's slow 2-fers often kick in.

As to how many times a small group will rotate without interruption? That's depends on the venue. I prefer to give preference to the singers, but I like working. And if I can maximize the Z-tape by entertaining the non-singing audience by means other than karaoke - I WILL.

If I go out singing, and there are only 3 singers, I feel like I hit the jackpot. I mean, I did go out to sing, right. Therefore if the KJ starts playing filler music, instead of keeping the rotation rolling, I am likely to leave.

If it is crowded, as a KJ, I know and have no problem waiting for my turn. I just want to sing as much as everyone else. No more, no less. If there are not many singers, I expect to sing alot.

Felix the KJ

I walked out of a show recently - 3 of us including host ... I sang, friend sang, filler music. I sang, friend sang, bartender sang, filler music. I sang, friend sang., etc., etc. I don't go to listen to music, I go to sing. Seriously, I had to wonder because my friend and I are decent singers - not sure why he made us wait. Green I guess. Or maybe orders from the bar. In any case, I didn't stay.

And when we left, he had NO SINGERS ... didn't make sense at all to me.