Karaoke Forums

Ah, but I don't advertise myself as "strictly" karaoke for that show.

And, why isn't singing twice in an hour enough for anybody, even if I did promote myself as being strictly karaoke.

I guess if I had one singer to start with that one singer should sing every four minutes RIGHT?

Why isn't $100.00 a gig enough for you? Why won't $5,000 buy a personal appearance by Taylor Swift? It's what the market bears, of course. If someone wastes my time by playing music, I go elsewhere, it's that simple.

I don't have anything against karaoke/DJ shows. I don't go to them, but I don't have anything against them.

In our area, those shows simply don't survive. The process of trying to appeal to everyone seems to please no one in the long run. Maybe we are different than most places. But that is the norm here.


Yup. And when singers found out they would get to sing, I am betting they would show up, too. And I bet if you did that a couple of times, and you had a big enough crowd to "keep them entertained", a few more singers would materialize out of that crowd.

Now if you have a crowd already, one you have to appeal to because they are already there, play karaoke/DJ and have fun, absolutely. If your crowd likes it and you do well with it, knock yourself out.

The worst I ever saw was a guy who took my song request at 10:50 pm. I asked him how many singers, and he said "a few". He proceed to play three or four DJ songs interspersed with a singer until I left at 12:45am. I stopped to pull my slip, and he looked at me incredulously like "what's your problem??"

If he had advertised himself as karaoke/DJ, I never would have walked in the door. And never have again, even when that bar advertises karaoke. Which it doesn't any more, to my knowledge.

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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 look at it this way, if a person is singing about twice an hour, that means you only have about 7 singers,,,and that means if you have a ratio of 1:4 singers (which is typical) then you only have 28 people who are at the show. That isn't enough people to support a venue and make it profitable.

Aside from that fact, as far as your question, i would think that if a person got to sing about once per hour that would mean they possibly got to sing 4 songs in a night. Not too bad of a night in my opinion. If someone is wanting and being vocal about wanting to sing more, then they are most likely either very drunk, divas or just very selfish, or a combination of either or all.

Here's my vote, once per hour is more than sufficient for me, anything more is gravy. Anything less is still quite alright with me.

I expect to sing just as often as everyone else. No more. No less. If the rotation is fair, I don't mind waiting over an hour or more.

I'm Karaoke and music why? On average I have 10 - 15 singers. There are 70 to 80 ppl in the bar. In order to keep the 60-70 peoople in the bar you need to play music.

My karaoke nights are the busiest in the area bar sales wise.

Regular karaoke singers hate my shows and I know that, i cater to people that want to go out drink and have a good time. They might get to sing a song or two in the process. My average age is 21 to 29. We do have a few older regulars.

And if you are karaoke/DJ, I won't go there and everyone is happy. You get people who want to hang out, which is not me. I am there to sing and watch other karaoke singers.

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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.

That's how I see it. The venue I was discussing in my original post has a karaoke night. I work a different night and provide karaoke, dj and dance music and other little diversions to keep the people entertained. Now, when I get a lot of singers, I focus more on the singers and less on everyone else. But there are times that between 9-10 there are people in attendance playing pool, darts, dancing and drinking while the number of singers is sparse!

There's nothing like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Have you ever tried letting them sing and starting right on time every time? You might end up like some gigs I know, where people show up early so they can sing. Word does get around.....

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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 prefer not to go to karaoke/DJ places. It's a different atmosphere than what I like. Plus I came to sing and don't want to wait through music. It's just a personal preference.

If I could sing once an hour I'd be really happy, but if I only get in 2 songs the whole night I'd be okay with it too.

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[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

As long as a venue that advertises karaoke/dj, then I am fine with having music mixed in, as that is what I would expect. It's the ones that advertise "karaoke night" and then have dj music mixed in is when I have the problem, if I wanted to go to a dance club or listen to music, then I would go to an active place that is dj (or one that states karaoke/dj), but I don't go to a place that advertises karaoke then plays dance music mixed in, that is not karaoke.
Our club is strictly karaoke, we start at 9 whether there be 1 singer or none at all, this is the only time I will sing and maybe work into the crowd to try to get them going - usually it doesn't take long though before I have singers, but if it's only one or two, then they got there on time, I start on time. People that aren't singing are there with singers normally or there just to watch the singers (sometimes we have enough good singers per night to where it's like an actual show), we are not a dance club, although the dance floor is usually full with dancers with the karaoke music. On rare occasion we will bust in with some type of line dance if I have enough requests for it, otherwise no.

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What makes you assume that I don't start on time.

And what makes you assume that there aren't nights when 8 singers are waiting and ready to go at 9pm?

And didn't i specifically say, Now, when I get a lot of singers, I focus more on the singers and less on everyone else.?

I guess (@$%&#!)uming is something you do well? Oh, sorry, I just made an (@$%&#!)of you and me because I don't really know ---- maybe you've been to one of my shows. I apologize; I shouldn't have assumed that you haven't!

That's my take. While it's fun to go to a place where you can sing twice or more per hour, chances are that venue is pretty empty. Who wants to sing to an audience of 5? If I wanted that I'd set up my rig at home!


And that was pretty much my original rant. Don't lure me or other karaoke singers into your bar by advertising "karaoke night" and then have your host play one or more full songs between singers. I realize that a bar may have many more non-singing patrons than singers, but even the non-singers know that it's Karaoke Night!. If they totally loathed that form of entertainment, they would go elsewhere...period.

You can't be all things to all people. Unless I have NO singers, I'm not playing full songs as filler music when I'm hired for a bar's karaoke night.

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[font=Lucida Console]DangerousKaraoke.com[/font]
[font=Lucida Console]"Sing for the day, sing for the moment, sing for the time of your life!"[/font]

Dan, you and I agree totally on this subject. Now, thats a first,,hehe,, kidding! I have one owner who trys to please everyone by having me play songs between singers, saying there are more non-singers there than karaoke people. But i never actually play a full song, only enough to fill the space and time it takes one singer to leave the stage and another to get up there and start singing. Nothing more, nothing less. However, I WILL play a full dance set at the end of the night while i am tearing down equipment, with some booty shakin' tunes. Now that keeps them there until the end because they now come to expect it and like it a lot. Works for me

First of all, Karaoke singers are not stupid. They want to sing as much as possible and if they realize you have a small rotation and you're artificially making them wait so you can play dance music, I don't blame them for being annoyed. If you had a rotation of 20 singers they probably wouldn't have minded waiting an hour or so to sing, because it was busy. I'm not unlike those singers when I go to a show. I've been to Karaoke shows where I've sang 6-8 songs in a night, I'd be annoyed if the rotation allowed for that but I only got to sing 3-4 in the night because the KJ wanted to be Mr. DJ tonight too.

Folks be careful with the assumptions you make though. The live music scene in general (and Karaoke as a part of that) varies quite a lot regionally. Folks in different areas have different expectations from bands, DJ's and KJ's. It can even vary from town to town. Locally, I've been to (and have hosted) Karaoke shows where there was a rotation of only 5 or 6 singers but the bar was packed and the people there were having a great time because they came to watch the show. Just because you have a small rotation DOES NOT mean Karaoke isn't bringing people in and isn't doing enough to support itself at that venue. Honestly, some shows like that have been the most fun.

Theres a difference in music appreciation depending on where you are. In the Milwaukee, WI area, Karaoke and Bands often times become relegated to nothing more than the jukebox for the night. But every so often you'll find that venue where people actually come for the music (like they do at clubs out on the west coast) and that's when things really take off. But in this area those places are much harder to find. Now if I go only as far as Madison, WI (a college town) suddenly that all changes and they have a great music scene. Problem is that's a 2.5 hour drive for me so getting gigs out that way is out of the question.

Speaking of gigs, just about time for me to head out to one now. Later y'all.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

Yep that's exactly how I feel as a singer.

Some of my fondest memories doing karaoke is when I first started out with just a few singers. We played karaoke games, sang on helium from balloons , etc... It was a more personal atmosphere without pressure to get as many people up as possible to sing. I did a lot of duets back then.

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[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

It is nice to have the opportunity to sing at least three times in a night, IMO.

Once I went to a place and I was the only singer. I sang song. I sang another song. I sang another song....I sang....five songs in a row...I put in yet another slip, and then the person doing the karaoke said, "We have a policy of not letting singers sing more than two songs in a row." It is like I had run 10 red lights and finally got pulled over. Actually, I was getting tired of hearing myself too. It was like having this giant birthday cake but no one to share it with. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Such was my brief stint with divadom.

And to think, I thought karaoke was music and that you could dance to it. We must be doing something wrong if we get a lot of dancers.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

Ditto. I have dancers all the time. I had one gig where they hit the floor on the first note every time and didn't stop dancing.

Heck, they were dancing all night last night. We just had the biggest karaoke night ever for our club. I ran a contest, which I was dreading. But it worked out fantastic. We were *the* thing happening in town on our little burg's monthly "Main Street After Hours" event. The tape was unprecedented for a karaoke night, the whole membership was smilin'. Toys for Tots is getting some extra good stuff this year, important in these economic times.

Not a single note of filler music, all night.

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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 hear this contention all the time -- "we have to take care of the non-singers". If you want to do that, why don't you 1) run a DJ show, or 2) play the jukebox? No, you don't do that because it doesn't work. (DJ works on the weekend of course, as it has its own market.)

Karaoke works because people will 1) come out on weeknights and 2) stay later than they otherwise would, and 3) pick your place on the weekend because there is a "buzz" there.

Non-singers aren't there to listen to recorded music, they can do that anywhere. They are there for the crowd.

Again, call it karaoke/DJ? I got no problems. You won't find me going there, of course, because that's not what I want. But if you advertise karaoke and make me cool my heels listening to recorded music, I don't come back. Probably ever, even if you did run full karaoke sometimes. I wonder if shows that do that bait/switch have trouble keeping regulars?

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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 really believe that you simply can't make a RULE about karaoke or dance music, per say. You've GOT to play to the venue you're in.

In most of the places I work, even if I had four singers I probable wouldn't call them up every 20 minutes. People are socializing as well as singing. Calling them up too frequently can be just as bad as not calling them up enough.

That said I generally play one or two dance songs at the end of the rotation till it fills out.

That said, I will also play a Cupid Shuffle as well as a Booti Call at some point during the night. During the top of the rotation there is usually a "special" which is a duet of some type... possibly a dance song or some type of comedy song with one of the crowd pleasing "talented regulars." I put on a "Karaoke Show" and it's very successful. YOUR results may very.

My goal is to make sure EVERYONE has fun. Singers and non-singers alike. While some may say that can't be done... and I will say that I do just that five nights a week.

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Good music, good friends, howling good times!