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I've never had a venue owner ask me how many songs I have or what kind of equipment I have. They always seem to be more worried about how much I charge and do I have a following than anything else. Most, not all, are more worried about not spending a lot on entertainment and have no clue that the quality of the show is what will bring people in and make them money.

Pirates usually can offer a lower price because they don't have the over head we do. They are putting out subpar karaoke because they are usually like the venue owners. Cutting cost by lack of quality thinking this will make them more money.

If you make your customers your number one priority and not how can I save a dollar here and there the crowds will come.

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[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

I find it very interesting, and indicative of ignorance to some degree, that the FIRST thing they ask is what I charge -- not how many people I think I can bring in for them, or how many people are aware of us and our ability to put on a top quality show.

Apparently this is indicative of experience they may have had in the past with cheap, low-grade, subpar karaoke - they HAVE to worry about what they pay because the hosting company isn't bringing in enough people to cover what they're paying out.

"So what do you charge?"
"Hey, I charge $25 and I won't increase your crowd."
"Oh, okay, you're hired, $25 is a good price."

Same here, Karen. I will have to say I've never had a hard time keeping a show. My Thurs-Sun. show is in a bar I've been working in for 5 years. My Wed. night show came from a bar where a lot of the regulars and one of the bartender recommended me. So, they never asked about my crowds, and I guess the owner knew my show was good. He said he fired his last KJ for not running fair rotation, and I assured him I was a stifler about it. He, of course, didn't want to pay me what I wanted.

I try to work with the bars also. Both bars I work in I built the business up there. When I started, I started at what I considered a low rate to prove to the owner that karaoke would help his or her business. They agreed to go up on my rate as business increased. The only thing is, they never come to me and say thank you for sticking it out, here's the pay increase I promised. I have to go to them and say, "It's time..." They don't understand about our overhead either. One bar owner said to me that he paid his "acoustic acts" $75 per night, and that was what he was calling me. He said he only paid bands more than that. I told him I was not an acoustic act. It didn't matter to me what they charge, I know what I have to charge to stay afloat or I would be working for free. We compromised on the pay. He agreed, because I had come on high recommendation. What is killing me is that $150 seems like a lot of money to bar owners here. But I have read on the forum from some of the vets that bar owners used to pay 2-250 a show. When I started 5 years ago, I had no idea how things should be. I started at a rate that was crazy low!! I realized quickly I could not maintain things on that rate, and they went up soon, but I had to prove my abilities first.

Matt with the economy the way it is many are frustrated more than normal. I came on too strong as usual and need to back off for awhile. I am currently training and grooming a new host which I will eventually give full reins to. We are actually thinking of family type venues and parties. He is setting up a consult with the MEADOWS and I will see how that works out. My main concern is it wont be a place that regs drive all the way up to for one evening.

So I desparately need to get into a high positive frame of mind again and go sell some ideas. My host is providing the energy and enthusiasm that wanes with old age.

It goes without saying that I apologise for blowing again. At least here we wont wind up in the pokey for the night. Regards Ollie Cabaret Karaoke

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well, I added fuel to the fire. As everyone here can attest, I think we all get a bit frustrated, especially with how this piracy thing is happening, and there's nothing we can do to prevent it. Add to the fact that we computer folks ourselves were lumped in with the thieves just added insult to injury!

You're alright in my book, dude. I promise with my next vacation I'll try to swing by. Won't happen this year, but maybe next... or some weekend I can just hop in the ol' Saturn and gooooo!

What I think is funny and interestiung is to see kj's with big fat books at their shows, and then later on the same books aren't as fat as they were. Hence what I had mentioned a while back. Maybe now they are using dummy/fake books.

I think that some people are just finding it too expensive to keep printing up new books all of the time so they are just making up a book with.....let's say all of their 5 or 6 main karaoke brands i.e. Sound Choice, Pop Hits Monthly, Chartbuster, Top Hits Monthly, DK and Sunfly. These 6 brands will cover most songs that the average singer will sing and the KJ can also have a note on the front page of their songboook stating that there are many other songs, new and old, that are not listed in the books so if you have a request, just ask the Host.

Only problem with this BFFL is that a busy host doesn't have time to continually answer those kinds of requests. It's just laziness, really - if a host wants to find a way to create a nice book, they can - just takes some time. I'm at the point where the front of my book is so full of add-ons that people are getting lazy about actually looking - even though the pages are well laid out and the font is large enough to read. It just gets overwhelming, and yes, I need to re-do them. It is a VERY big job and I do understand your sentiment about the expense but for me it is more a time issue. (I do not have songs that are NOT listed, however - that is annoying. If you've got the music, document it.)

I know a guy who bought a loaded hard drive to do his shows and the first time he printed out his songs books it was just ridiculous. The next time he did his books, the only songs listed were songs by Sound Choice and that was it. The Book was still pretty thick but if you wanted to sing anything else, you had to ask him for it. Since Sound Choice doesn't make very new discs these days, the guy doesn't have to worry about updating his song books either. Everyone that goes to his shows knows that he has many more songs than he has in the book and if it's not on Sound Choice, they just ask him if he has the song. They don't seem to have a problem with it. He has close to 20,000 Sound Choice songs in his book so if you can't find something to sing, you're not trying hard enough.

Across the street is a convenience store that I have been going in for over 8 years. Of course everybody that works there is friends. I just stopped and got some gas and was telling Marrissa I will be doing karaoke again.

The store was half full and I related the fact (not whispering) that the big hard drives hit town with all the karaoke music on them. I said I only have 14000 but I PAID FOR THEM!!! The public is not as dumb as you think they know who to trust and who to patronise. I realize it is different in small town rural America. But now I look into into man,s eyes shake his hand and tell him I Paid For Them!!! Its the same with my system it was put together with sweat and many hours of good honest service. I am proud of my selections and system. This is what I will be selling..

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