Karaoke Forums

$50.00 - $75.00 a night karaoke companies. Does this happen in your area or just limited to the Portland Oregon area.

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CHECK YOUR ATTITUDE AT THE DOOR, STICK AROUND YOU JUST MIGHT HAVE SOME FUN

None here. Cheapest I've seen is $150, which is about where I started at. My cheapest show is now $225.

There could be a few but most are getting at least $100-150. And they wonder why they can't get more. One actually asked me how come i get more money and they can't. Can you see and hear any difference in what i'm running and what you're running. Could that give you a clue about anything? Much dumber than i thought.

I have heard of a few working for much less. That is not the normal pay scale. One guy is doing it for free because "It's Fun." And he wants to give the bar owners a break. Give me a break and die.

If you were the bar owner you'd appreciate it.

Maybe it's just a hobby and NOT a career for him.

Doesn't make him wrong. volunteer work is not wrong.

helping someone out is not wrong. golddigging may be wrong.

NOT seeing the world outside yourself is wrong. Life 101.

Chalk one up for Angel. I dont want somebody providing venue owners in my area free karaoke because they feel like it. You wanna help out.... go save the whales!
Its hard enough to make a decent wage without having to worry about some tool going around doing free karaoke.

But to wish them TO DIE is wrong.

If your good friend owned a bar or restaurant and needed your help but couldn't pay, would you stand by and watch it go bankrupt? this MAY not be the scenario.

not everyone that performs karaoke is out for the money are they? I teach swimming and surfing lessons for free to nice people i meet. I guess it makes me the enemy to all the surfers that get paid to teach the same thing, according to this logic.

I also volunteer to clean up trash around the beach. Maybe the maintenence workers hate me too..?

I AM NOT suggesting all kjs work for free but I CAN understand if someone wanted to do a hobbie and didn't want or need compensation, that's all. and SURE i'd be pizzed if someone came to my venues and offered a better more professional show for free and i lost my job. unlikely though.

BUT i'm not paranoid about it, i believe in helping others out in certain circumstances and am not worried about many kj hobbiest that work for free. this guy might be one in a million shows. why worry?? ALL i'm saying is that i would help a friend or neighbor out, that's all.

The bottom line is this. The ones doing shows for lessthan $125 can not afford to update their music, system or promote like they should. Failing bars are hiring them and creating a doomsday karaoke is dead scenario.

The bar owners that relalize this still cant afford decent karaoke because they have been bled by ASCAP/BMI and regulated almost to distinction. We are in the middle of a depression. Competition is great and those that are committed for the long haul and keep goals in mind will succeed. Others will stay in the quagmire and continue to give karaoke a bad rap. This mania about pirates and big hard drives only adds to the problem. That is a marketing and legislative problem and the fault has been shifted to us. We need to work on the causes not the symptoms or results from others bad decisions.

People can not afford large vacations, expensive concert tickets or lavish things. WE provide an honest affordable good entertainment. Why arnt we flourishing? We should be... WHY??? Lets quit concentrating on the negatives, examine what we have and what we can do and get this industry back on a positive light and lets provide a need that is desparately needed right now. Harping about the bad guys or bashing angel does nothing for this forum nor does it do anything for our cause.

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Volunteering your time to save the whales is charity

Volunteering your time to help a for-profit venture is socialism AND at very least stupid

Once again, angel has managed to highjack a thread and derail it.
We should try not to follow her sidetracking, if possible.
Remember if we don't feed the trolls....
The original question was:

The horrors of living in a free country....

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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 agree JR - nothing wrong with helping a place avoid the big bankruptcy precipice, and I highly doubt that the entire Portland-based karaoke biz is working on helping those in need. I guess if people who have a very limited investment (100,000 songs for $500) they don't have to recoup an ongoing investment like many of us have. When they need more songs, they find the file sharing site, hop on, pick up new music, and voila, next show please... Not sure what the solution is, and I would find it very disconcerting to work in that area.

Yes, we have lots of cheap shows in the Kansas City market.

I think there's a distinction to be drawn though between a Newbie to the business and a Bottom Feeder. A Newbie has to get their foot in the door somewhere, somehow, and if the competition is really tough, there's only one way they have a chance to compete and that's price. However, the Newbie sets out to learn, grow, improve and increase the value of their show till they eventually make the $200 a night.

A bottom feeder just does a crappy job, doesn't care that it's crap and never aspires to become any better, but just to see how many venues will give them $50 and a free bar tab.

We have both of those kind of shows working in this market, but the best companies still get their price because they still do a better job of getting people into the bar than other entertainment alternatives.

Cheapest take around here is $100 (that I know of) and that's for house hosts working with house equipment. Funny thing to me is when another owners asks about doing shows at their place and offer the low pay.

I expect $75.00 just for setup and tear down.

In my area (New York City), it varies too. The going rate in my area is somewhere in the $150-200 range per show. Since I started KJ-ing (as little as that may be), I make $50/hr at public venues. My shows are usually 4 hour shows (and I won't negotiate a gig for less than 3 hours). There are some (that have been doing this for over 15 years) that command a little more. And then, of course, there are some that are barely making $100 (plus free drinks) for a 4 hour show.

Not all of these people are pirates. Some of them are newbies that just can't compete unless they offer a low-ball price. I knew one person like that, who also had no personality. He would get a gig for 2 or 3 weeks, and then be fired/replaced. Then he would go out and find another gig... and so on and so on and so on. He basically devalued everything for the rest of us KJs that traveled in the same circles.

I think there would be a tendency with free karaoke, or VLPK (Very Low Priced Karaoke) to not really care to much about how the show is run. Ultimately, such a "service" may actually do your bar a dis-service in the end....the laborer is worth his wage, as the saying goes.

Please explain how me telling my experience with cheap KJs has hijacked this topic about cheap KJs? Troll.

Not all cheap KJs are pirates.

1. Many are.
2. Others are just cheap and everything they own is cheap sounding.
3. They have no people skills.
4. They have no technical skills.
5. They can't hear everything needed to mix.
6. They can't mix.
7. They don't care about quality.
8. Many don't even care about karaoke, they just think this is a way to make some easy money.
9. Some are just starting out.
10. Being consistantly cheap usually means there is something wrong with what they are doing. This usually hurts the bars income. It also drives down the price we can command.
11. Free KJs hurt us.
12. Cheap KJs hurt us.

Anyone that offers anything for free when there are people trying to make a living doing whatever that is hurts the earning potential of everyone.

Let's all go to Hawaii and do karaoke for $75 a night. Hey you get to live in paradise and party all the time. Sounds like a bargin to me. And it won't hurt anyone, will it?

All is fair in love and karaoke.

Around here $100 is about avg. anymore. You are considered extremely lucky to get much more.

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While this is probably true of KJ's doing it because they need the money, you have to face the fact that there are a minority who simply do it because they like it.

I only know how to do it to a high standard.

There again I am not on the circuit looking for work.
I am happy with my one gig a week.
I am worth more than I get but it's not about the money.
The landlord is struggling and I know he can't really afford to pay more.

"Around here $100 is about avg. anymore."

Not that much better than Portland.

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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

Gawd I spend that much on a good night Thats only 25 beers.

$20 in gas
$30 for 2 meals
That leaves $50 for about 12 beers.

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