Karaoke Forums

If you want to attract and KEEP young visitors then you have to provide a hi-energy, party enviornment that they will like. If its non-stop tears in your beer slow country western ballads or non-stop slow standards it wont do it. So it will have to be upbeat, danceable(and Im sorry but Top-40, hip-hop, urban and up to date music) that YOUNGER people(and again Im sorry) not older people listen to.

Also take a look at the bar and wait staff----if they are older, most likely the crowd is older. If they are young cuties then probably the crowd looks much the same. Bar/wait staff tends to set the atmosphere of the place.

Most likely you will have to incorporate some dance activity--wheather it be from the karaoke songs themselves or filler dance tunes.

Again the key is HI-ENERGY and PARTY ATMOSPHERE.

A slow-moving, relaxed, quieter LOUNGE type atmosphere wont do it.

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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

"It looks like they turned the Longhorn into a space ship....."
Dinosaur, Hank Jr.

Well, I'm not old hand at this but some of the thoughts that jumped in my mind were brought up by some of the hosts. My first thought was, KJ sings rockstar. Or something the younger crowd can relate to. Be hip to things (hip?) that they are interested in. (Maybe celebrity hip hop gossip and current events?)
Develop a atmosphere that thrives on people being friendly with everyone. Not sure what the secret to that is? Singalongs?

Several have mentioned top notch sound. What youn'en doesn't want base that will move the hairs on their arms?

Funny thing is that I did practice Humpty Dance.

We have a mixed crowd at our venues from 19-65+. We get a good mix of music from older to newer and you never know who will sing the new and old stuff. We have older rappers, younger country and classics, males doing female songs and vice versa. The people get along with each other and become aquaitences and friends.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

Fits my experience with Canadian karaoke, though mine is all Alberta, BC, Yukon, and Northwest Territories. Of course some of those places they just love to get singers at all! If I ever get to Halifax again, I will tell you how I became an honorary member of the RCL.

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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.

I can't stress how important sound is. My triple 18" subs (and I would bring all four in if there was room) and shout out levels are vital. I run things as loud as a very popular DJ room in the area. You really have to speak up to carry on a conversation during karaoke. I cut it back just enough so the staff can make out the orders without having someone actually shout right in their ear.

Karaoke veterans will sometimes stumble onto the place, and often the first thing they do is march up to me and order me to turn it down. I respond by telling them to look around... this is the most popular karaoke room in the area because of the sound and there's no way!

Bill H said:

Interesting that it works so well for you. You must have a room that is just chock full of nothing but youngsters....

That wouldn't go over very well here.... we have one room where the sound is just a teensy bit louder than I'd like it but for the most part, we have a policy that if you have to shout to talk to someone that is 18 inches away, it is too loud.

We make sure that there is plenty of sound for the singer, but if it drops off by the time it reaches the back of the room, that's just fine. It gives the people who don't want to drown in sound the chance to talk and be heard.

We find that it works perfect for us: the singer has the sound they want, there's plenty for about a 20 ft. arc in front of the singer and it trails off from there to keep the overall volume at an acceptable level.

We don't want the servers to have to yell to the bartender and vice-versa.

C. staley Yeah I hear what you're saying. But I never set out to do general-purpose karaoke. It was originally supposed to be a place where myself and a group of five could sing things that weren't offered in the area at the levels we wanted.

But it quickly turned into a room for all the disenfranchised in the area. This group, with their tattoos, baggy pants, and skulls were made uncomfortable and felt unwelcome in all the other bars around here except the DJ room mentioned above. Especially in the two karaoke rooms.

Most of the original group is now in their early 30s. They still come in often but none of them are the every-night regulars anymore. When we talk they can't believe what they started and sometimes tell me that they feel the room has passed them by!

Bill H said:

yeah, I hear 'ya....

Cracks me up.... especially the goths.... they want "to be different" so they wear the makeup, clothes etc. And then what do they do? They hang out with a bunch of people that look just like themselves; clothes, makeup.... now they're just one of the flock.... So much for "being different."


Same with the baggy pants.... Whether they like it or not, I'll remind them that UNDERwear is supposed to be worn UNDER their clothes, not along side. They want to be different, and when they get the attention they want from being different, it's not the "open arms acceptance" they wanted. Then they complain....

With all due respect sir, they aren't trying to be different from themselves. They are trying to be different from you.

And as a group they treat me far better than their elders do. Older singers often treat me like a bartender or server... ordering me around... telling me they want things just like this or that...

I also have no problem with how they treat me. How they treat themselves is another story -- I do wish they wouldn't permanently disfigure their bodies. They will eventually come to regret that. But it is their choice.

I told my daughter that if she got tattoos or piercing, she was at that point on her own financially. No more support for college. I can't stop her, but I don't have to pay for what she does.

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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 daughter... the one in my pic... has a couple of small tattoos, one on her shoulder and one on her ankle. I've told her that if she gets any large ones like many of the women in my room have she will regret it later in life when they sag, and I think she agrees. So far anyway.

I've got my fingers crossed. One of my boys has several large ones. But the other two have none at all.

Tats are not an issue with me at all, nor are piercings - I just wish that these kids had the ability to look into the future and see how what they're doing to themselves now will affect them and peoples' perception of them. One of the nicest kids we know is 6'5, has a rockabilly kind of Elvis haircut, has multiple piercings, tats everywhere, and has never done a drug in his life. However, the average 'older' person is completely taken aback by this kid and don't trust him from the minute they see him. Odd, but first impressions are first impressions and you only get a chance to do that once.

I have two tattoos as does my husband - mine are not for public consumption but they're not small, either, and both were chosen very, very carefully with the idea that they would be with me for the rest of my life. They were both custom designed by an artist friend and are really quite beautiful. I don't regret having had them, but if I want to hide them it is easy enough to do.

Funny that none of the places around here really work at attracting these disenfranchised, baggy pants, bling bling boys...more likely to see them gathering in parking lots ...

I just caught this, and to paint a more realistic picture or my home room, that's not at all the case. Although the dominant age group is in their 20s, I have a sizable number of singers who aren't, but just like the atmosphere of the show. Including some country guys, although I think they're in there mostly for the women.

Much of Saturday's song list, in particular the first half of the night, would look very familiar to just about any KJ running a balanced show.

Maybe we should revive the "What Was Sung In Your Room Last Night" thread. There's a lot of new KJs in the forum since then.

Yes, I would like that. I think I will do it and make it a poll with no expiration date, so it sticks around forever.

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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.

Bill H said:
I understand that... but when they all get into a room together, there's no one to be different from....

As far as tattoos are concerned, I really don't care much if a person wants to cover themselves in tattoos.... as long as they're no longer a minor. Parents that let minor children get plastered with them should (IMHO) be beaten...

Once they reach a legal age, let do whatever they want... it's up to them. But like mcky57j said (and I have to agree with his logic) "I don't have to pay for it."

If a person is alienated on the basis of their tattoos, I don't feel sorry for them. They can either temporarily cover them and if they can't or wont, it was their decision to get them in the first place and they can't expect the rest of the world to agree with (or even like) their "body art."

Lots of people like them and I think that's great... who am I to tell them that they've made a bad decision? It's their decision to make.... but at the same time they must understand that I don't necessarily have to agree or approve of their decision.

I get some bikers at the bar that I have been with for over a year and one surprised me by singing hello by lionel richie and blessed by elton john.

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

Because of this thread, I went out to my daughter's workplace and sang tonight. First time I had been there during the school year, before this I only went during the slow time in the summer.

There was no one over 30 years old in the place except for me. Most were 21-23 year old college kids, including the (newly crowned champion) Miami University women's swim team. I sang three times, and I had a blast. By the third time I sang, they were chanting my name as I went to the stage and I had the champion swim team behind me as backup dancers.

The songs? You couldn't tell the difference from any place. Build Me Up Buttercup, Sweet Caroline, Mississippi Girl, I Will Survive, My Girl, Ice Ice Baby. Add in a some of 3 Doors Down, Whitney Houston, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. I did In Color, Heartlight, and Ramblin' Man.

The kids were so nice to me it was unbelievable. As I left the stage, everyone was giving me skin and saying how much they liked my singing. I simply couldn't have been treated better.

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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.

I have sang in college bars UNC in Greeley and CSU in Fort Collins. Some were SRO and I was mauled. I sang Dayo one night and it took 15 minutes to get back to my drink...In this area they sing as much country as modern rock' They drift towards contemporary stuff but the backbone of their music is what their parents and grandparents were listening to. I have had no less than three young gals rush up hug me and say you remind me of my grandpa. These are songs like Hank Williams Cheatin Heart. They eat it up.

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mckyj57 said:

yep. I know what you're saying..... I hate when they "humor the old guy" too....