Karaoke Forums

Ok, my opinion here, trying to ignore all the BS that has already been put out for all of us to chew on. Myself? I look for the atmosphere at the venue, if the crowd is happy and having fun, then all the rest will take care of itself. I'm not it it for myself at all, I rarely sing at other shows, I would much rather be a social butterfly and visit around the room.

And yep! Wishing all of you a very happy Valentines Day. mwaaaaah!

Hey RIPMAN, Read the title of this thread: "What is the MOST important factor in choosing which SHOW you Frequent"

I gave my opinion. After giving my first choice of pet peeves, I was asked to give another reason for disliking a show so I gave a second response about what makes me choose one show over another.

Please keep on doing your shows exactly the same way you have been doing them. If your way works for you and your customers, don't change anything. Everything in life can be improved somewhat. Maybe your show is already perfect and needs no improvement. I hope that is the case but if I can't sing my favorite songs at YOUR show, there is no reason for me to spend money at YOUR show. It seems quite obvious that you would prefer that people like myself would avoid your show because we are just pains in the (@$%&#!) for you. Maybe part of your advertising should tell people with their owns CDGs to stay thehell away from your venues? That would save you a lot of headaches. I tried two new shows last week and both of them were 100% digital. I won't say that I'll NEVER go to them again but they will NEVER be on the top of my TO DO list. One guy says that he has every song that anyone would want to sing and the other KJ claims to have over 100,000 songs but not very many new ones. My guess would be that he bought a loaded hard drive a year or more ago and he doesn't know how to "get" new songs so you're limited to what he bought and that's it. The other guy says that he will get WHATEVER song you want by the following week. I have no issues with people downloading their songs but I want to sing it NOW, not next week.....and I have songs that you can't just buy or download and I'm not giving them away to people that I barely know so I'll find a place that will play my discs.

As I said above----If my system was set up in a manner I could play someone's cdg, I would probably do it. But I can't and I'm happy with my set up the way it is.

CAN'T ???? More like WON'T. Anything is possible, RIPMAN. You could solve the issue with either hardware or software, IF you WANTED to.

This is my venue'
Come in and start talking to my host, the mngr or owner about inadeqacuies about my show. I might play your cd or might not. but if you think you are going to influence my successful show in person or on this forum It wont happen..

This is a good clean bar with a friendly family type atmosphere and nothing will come out and start knawing on your leg. Well maybe Mary.

Ollie

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Join The Karaokle Singers Social Network. Upload Your Music!!

I'm usually an easy going guy but if you walked into my place, I'd ask you to leave before you got 3 steps in! I'll read whatever I want out of a post and you won't influence me so kiss off! I can see why others have jumped on your case now. Done talkin' to you.

I choose tv shows rich with humor and sense of reality. I hate pure drama and comedy. I wanted shows with mix factors of professionalism.







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singing shoes

ripman,

I'm afraid I wouldn't like your show either.

I travel to other people's shows in other states, and I bring my favorite songs with me.

I know for a FACT I have some songs that you may not have. (Two are two I've devocalized personally). Some are not in production anymore, and I'm hard pressed to find ANY venue that has my songs. Locally and across the country.

If you can't play a customer cdg, then to ME, and IN MY OWN OPINION, you're lacking in the customer service area.

As Kurt said, how hard is it to have a switch with another player?


As someone who was discs only and converted to computer, I NEVER wanted to limit my customers experience. Just saying "its good enough" is in my opinion... slacking!

KS if my PAs aren't quite up to your standards, would you not like it? If I were using mics that weren't the best would you leave? I had a budget to start my business, I had to pick and choose what I could do. I think I have the best sound and best selection of music I could get for the money I had planned. My customers will get the sound quality that they get without the sacrifice of a player for the rare customer that comes in with their own cdg ---which hasn't happened yet. I don't see that as poor customer service, if it is, then anyone that doesn't have the top of the line in every piece of equipment and every offering of every karaoke song ever made is lacking in CS. We all have to make choices of what our set up will have in it.

I tend to fit in with any place, so comfort and general atmosphere isn't my biggest prioity.... I bring my own. I will go to a digital show, but tend to prefer CDG based ones, It's a subconsious thing which I've recently become aware of but I tend to give CDG based users a bit more slack when they don't have something I want to sing, plus all the CDG users in my area have up-to-date books (give or take six months) so i can take my time choosing. . . If someone is digitial with Xthousand number of songs, I feel they should at least one song I want or failing that an option to browse a book that is not 4 years old and covered in beer.

NB if the digital user has a one for one copy then they'd fall into the catagory of a cdg user... but no such digital user exists in my area.

I LOVE books, I like to browse, I hate walking up to a host and asking if they have X song, because I could be there all night so to avoid that situation i end up singing guarenteed songs like Paradise (shiver).

But the biggest factors for me, are speed and rotation. . . I don't expect miracles, nor do I care how long the rotation is, but at least 10 singers an hour would be nice,
(I can't go to the DVD user in the area because of this).

If there were two shows in my area, with CDG's (or one for one), that were quick and fair. . . Personality of the host would win out.

No need to repeat... this is exactly it.

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Good music, good friends, howling good times!

I know what show I will avoid at all cost; I rather not sing than go to a karaoke place where they do drug.

Having said that, I would choose a place with a good sound. Over here a KJ cannot mess up the rotation and have a show at the same time.

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

I didn't address ANYTHING about your mics, your selection, your sound.

I think you missed my point.

What I DID address is your lacking of being able to give SPECIFIC customers a CHOICE. Just because you feel some songs or manufacturers are better doesn't mean that it truly is. My wife likes certain versions. So do I. Where I could probably sing anything you put in front of my face, she can't. she's tried that, and complains, "Why didn't they have MY favorite version?"

Singers know the timing, the graphics, the background voices... so some versions throw them off. THAT's why they come to sing karaoke, to sit down and have a great time. But if you can't provide the option to play their discs, then SOME singers won't like it.

I went to a venue a week ago. Great selection, but he admitted he didn't have a specific song by 38 Special that I LOVED... "Pick another, I've got four songs by them!" Geez, thanks, that's NOT what I was looking for.

I ended up picking another Artist entirely. But I WANTED to sing something else.

Now this scenario might not crop up that often.

I can tell you in Portland and in KC, this HAS came up.

No, you did not. I brought them up to explain why I don't have a player. In my business, it's 80/20. This player fell in the 20 field. It would probably fall in the 1 in the 99/1 field. Only 1 in 100 might ask for the player so I chose to spend my money to make my system sound better, and my selection larger to please the larger part of my audience.

I hate to come out of "retirement" so soon, and am doing so just temporarily, because I hate, even more than coming out of retirement, to see an unnecessary argument. And there are a few posters, particularly in this discussion, who look forward to them, you know!

Now, there are digital shows, including my partners, where they do not want to bother with discs. My partner's set-up doesn't even afford him the space to safely hold onto a customer's disc.

Me.... I bring a big table and have plenty of room. While I've always been digital, it was my "model" that I brought a deck and my discs along with me, PRIMARILY FOR BACKUP, in case my computer crashed. Based upon that alone, I have always been able to play customer's discs

ALSO, I have always had software that plays CDG's.... AND... I had taken an external CDRom drive along, not only as a backup, but as a second drive if the singer was doing two-fers and had two different discs. (which I could also accommodate by switching between the computer and deck). The deck could also play my mp3 bumper music if I needed to momentarily shut down the computer in order to rectify a problem (while I also carried an MP3 player to handle that as well. However, I no longer carry everything with me ---- it's just go to be way too much to carry and to setup and breakdown.

As to the computer software I use to play discs, I believe I am using PowerCDG software. Also, there is now a Winamp plugin that can be purchased for playing CDG's (which wasn't available when I started).

First of all, and as a given, every digital show should be able to play karaoke DVD's. Next, any host who wants to can also play CDG's on the computer without a major financial investment. Regardless of the software chosen, it can be purchased for less than $50.

If you'd rather not switch back and forth between software programs on the computer, (which you have to careful doing) a decent deck can be purchased for less than $150.

I among those who believe that a customer should not be SURPRISED to learn that their evening has been ruined due to my inability to play their music.... I would prefer, however, that they have original discs (a whole 'nother thread). If for no other reason than if the disc fails it will reflect upon me, not the disc, as the audience is trying to figure out why the song is not playing properly.

And I do understand that there are those who will not be able to enjoy themselves at any venue, no matter how appealing and clean it may be, without the opportunity to sing "their music". I accept and have no problem with that.

One last point, why does my partner get away without accommodating those with their own discs? He has had just one such request in the last year. And from what I noted, in our LOCAL world, it is the "older" patrons who primarily are the ones who have their own discs. My partner's attracts a "twenty something" crowd. On the other hand, I can take you to shows with older patrons where six or more have their own discs. And please don't tell me that younger patrons also have their own discs! I can also take you to one or two places where that is so, but that is the exception around here!

Well, you're speaking from your experience.

Many of my regs brought in their own discs. Not just the older crowd. I had a request for some Sublime... I didn't have all the songs, so a customer made her own custom disc thru SC.

She was 22.

Irregardless if it's the norm or not, karaoke IS MOSTLY sold n America through CDGs. Some DVDs as well.

To decide not to support that when the customer will be buying that on Ebay and other parts of the web to me is a bit nutso!

Again, my opinion. But in the KJs that have come to my show, they've brought their own discs. When I travel to other shows, if they can't play my discs, or won't, I leave.

It's crazy to think you'll have every song, nor would I want a KJ to make that kind of investment. Cueball loves singing Broadway stuff, I like many forms of music...

One of the worst experiences of my Karaoke singing was not bringing my discs, and trying to sing some fool's StarDisc version of Nickelback!

I'll bet that one of them was "Wrong Way" which I never would have suspected would be ever sung in a karaoke room. But it is all the time in mine. Back when I was disc based I had to pay big bucks for a discontinued CDG with that one on it.

Or it could have been "Date Rape" which the ladies almost exclusively sing. I don't think I've ever had a guy do that one.

I know I've said this before, but one of my biggest surprises hosting to millennials was how popular Sublime is. Night in and night out "Santeria" is the most sung song in my room.

As far as playing customers' CDGs goes, I've been doing a lot more of it lately, just using the Siglos player in my computer.

Recently someone posted a link to a guy who creates custom backing tracks for songs. I sent the guy an e-mail asking about prices and was given a quote , which If I remember correctly was about $100 per song. I thought that price was a bit steep so I didn't follow up with any more e-mails to the guy. The guy claimed to be very busy though, making tracks for other people who were more serious about their singing than I was. Somewhere one of these more serious singers will show up with their custom made karaoke CDG and they will be told that their disc will not be able to be played at a particular venue because the KJ is 100% digital. I just think that it is absurd to chase a customer like that to the show down the road. He is obviously a customer with some disposable income to spend and I would want him to spend it at my gig. By sending him away to the show down the road, I have lost him and every one of his friends to the show down the road. What about the musician who writes his own songs and converts them to CDG discs? Is he also not welcome at your show??? By refusing to play a customers disc, you may be alienating a big part of the local karaoke community without even knowing it. If your shows are already very successful, I guess you have the freedom to not care about getting more singers to your shows but if you are just starting out in this business, I would think that you would want to get as many singers as possible to your shows. Sticking to the policy of being 100% digital can only lose customers for you in the long run. For this situation, there are only two types of singers; singers who bring their own CDGs and singers who don't. While the singers who bring their own discs might be in the minority, they are still potential regulars. If you had all of these potential regulars complain to the bar owner about not being able to sing their favorite songs, it might adversely affect your employment situation. I had a bar owner recently ask me to recommend a karaoke host to replace his current host. I gave him my opinions on some of the karaoke companies in the area. I don't think he'll be hiring anyone in the near future who refuses to play a customer's CDG disc. The bar owner seems to like singing some of my home made songs and he wouldn't be able to sing them any longer if he hired a 100% digital host. Let's face it; a lot of these 100% digital hosts with 100,000 songs, don't have their "entire" collection on original discs. Many of these guys have purchased a pre loaded hard drive with these 100,000 songs and don't feel that they have to keep current with new releases because anyone should be able to find a song to sing out of 100,000 songs. I know of a couple of KJ's in that exact situation that are so computer unsavvy that they wouldn't know how to add a song to their hard drive even if they bought a new disc. Some of these KJ's have bought laptop systems from another local KJ and were shown how to use it "AS IS" and have no ability to adapt their set up or update it. These are the ones who get DEFENSIVE about it when you make a suggestion as to how they could improve their product. They insist that selling vanilla ice cream is the only way to go and carrying a second flavor is ridiculous. Why in the world would they want to attract more customers than they already have? I know that having TOO MANY singers can make a show's rotation seem onerous at times but I think that most bar owners would welcome more singers EVERY SINGLE TIME. A KJ that tells a customer to stay away because he brings his own discs is a little bit like the story of the sour grapes. The KJ knows that he can't please the customer so he just wants the customer to stay away...... and I thought the best way to build up a thriving business was to have as many satisfied customers as possible who return to purchase your product and have those same customers tell all of their friends about this particular business.

I guess the only exception would be that guy who can't even keep up with the demand for his product. His vanilla ice cream is so good that he can't seem to make enough of it no matter how early he gets up in the morning. He can do nothing different and let someone else start selling ice cream across the street or he can change and expand his operation so he can make both vanilla and chocolate ice cream. All it might take is hiring an employee and purchasing more space. By doing so he keeps all of the ice cream profits and the guy across the street doesn't cut into his business nearly as much.

Sound quality, sound quality and sound quality oh yes, if I can find a mic that's NOT an sm58 will help, I sound bad with this low sensitive mic

So as I way saying.... I offer both vanilla and chocolate ice cream in regard to playing customer discs; as do I offer both when it comes to bumper/filler/video tracks.

but... for their own good reasons, which I would never take to lecturing over, there are kj's like my partner who don't want to play discs. If I can't convince my partner of the importance I find in playing customers' discs, I'm not likely going to convince too many others.

Of course, there is a least one participant on this thread who, as he does so often with so many topics, has already wielded his 2x4 attempting to hit anyone over the head who doesn't agree with his point of view. Or, to put into different terms, has posted a never-ending tirade against KJ's who don't/won't accommodate him. And as I have noted before --- he does so as if we don't know the consequences of the business model we have chosen. And this non-KJ will avoid no obstacle, even scorn, to share his "know it all wisdom", "see it all experience", "post it all mindset" and "dictate to you authority". And, you non-believers better start paying attention or the karaoke police will soon be at your door(s) Amen.... amen

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This following post was offered, I believe, in response to an observation I made in my last post to this topic:



This, again, is what I posted: