Karaoke Forums

Occasionally I've had singers at my show ask where all the "new stuff" is. Now I like to sing as much as anyone - so I go to a lot of karaoke shows around town. And I rarely if ever hear anyone sing any recent Top 40 music.

From what I've observed, people most love to SING songs that they've heard a hundred times - they are confident that they know the words and feel good about singing them in front of a crowd. (What else can explain the popularity today of 1981's "Don't Stop Believin'"?)

On the other hand, people like to DANCE to the latest chart-toppers. Whenever I'm hired to spin DJ dance mix, that's what gets the most requests.

So last week I threw a C-note at my favorite karaoke pusher to hit me with a fix of about 150 new 2008-2009 Top 40 tunes. A couple were sung, but as usual it was the same classics from the 60s-90s that were the overwhelming majority of song choices.

What about your shows? Do your patrons clamor to sing the latest chart-toppers? Is it a significant portion of the song selections for the night?

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All depends on which venue i am at. One place they rarely sing new stuff, usually older country. But my tuesday show sing either a lot of showtunes, alternative music, or newer songs. If you didn't guess its a lesbian club, and they love karaoke!!

It's rare that the brand new 'todays' hits get sung, usually a MINIMUM of 6 months before they really even start getting touched, but sometimes it takes longer if at all. I get the new Pop & Country releases from Chartbuster each month - but it's mainly to keep things fresh & show that we do update our lists, but the 'new' songs that get sung, are the songs requested from our singers that we never had before or are just coming available to karaoke. 95% of all the 'new' songs I picked up my last buy were all requests (from actual singers that support the show) from the 60's-early 2000 rock/pop & country from the 90's and some of today (within the last year anyway).
The 'todays hottest hits' have never been 'where it's at' when it comes to karaoke in my experience.

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I have seen it go both ways, depending on the venue.

It is disappointing to me, though, that I don't typically have a call for new stuff at my shows when it is new.

However, I recently had the experience where on the very day that the new Taylor Swift "Fearless" disc arrived, that very evening a customer requested two of the songs from it even though it was no where to be found in my catalog!

I don't buy a lot of new stuff, but what I do buy gets sung pretty often. "Party in the USA" by Miley Cyrus was a no brainer and has been sung every night since I bought it. A year from now will that be so? Who knows, but it's hip now... and a must have.

"Need You Now" by Lady Antebellum has been requested A LOT, so when it comes out next week I plan on getting it from Chartbuster or SBI. The venues I work at tend to have a younger crowd so current music is a must. The younger set also likes old music too. Bohemian Rhapsody gets sung frequently as well as a lot of other traditional karaoke songs.

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Good music, good friends, howling good times!

Rarely does anything new get sung but for some resason people will still comment favorably when they see it in the book. It makes us look like we are keeping up, I guess. People say they haven't seen new songs at the shows that have a bizillion more songs than we do.

We have had a request for Cowboy Casanova. "I Run To You" by Lady Antebellum has been done. Next "newest" would be "Black Horse and a Cherry Tree," which isn't so new. I buy a lot of new stuff for myself just to keep it interesting.

What gets me are the people who want to sing every Merle Haggard song, especially "Fightin' Side of Me" and they don't know he put out a song called "America First." You would think they would follow their hero all the way down the line but they are stuck in the 70s.

I try to learn 5 or 6 new Country songs every month...not so much with the Pop or Urban songs.

In our area 2 fairly new songs that have been sung are Kings of Leon " Sex on Fire " and " Use Somebody ". Other than that mostly 80's and 90's stuff. I actually like " Use Somebody " quite a bit. Rudy.

Unless something is super hot like "before He cheats" was, I don't get requests for new new stuff.

I'd say every yr there is about 3 to 4 really hot songs. Sometimes less than that. Like Lon said it takes a few months before people start requesting them on a regular basis. I have maybe one or two regulars who stay on the top of new stuff. People like that usually buy the disc before I have it.

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It seems to be true here also that it takes a couple of months or so before a newly released song starts getting requested.

I still try to order them as soon as they're released so me and my cohost can "introduce them" ( AKA HOG THEM! ) to the crowd and within a few weeks or months or so people start requesting them and we are prepared to assist them if necessary if they get stuck on how it's supposed to go.

It also keeps our show fresh and interesting. Even the non-singers want to know what the actual lyrics are and tend to read along.

Wow, I feel like the black sheep in this discussion, I get requests for new stuff all the time. I get a pretty good (almost 50-50) mix of people who want to sing the old classics and those that what to sing what's on the radio now. For instance I've had 15 requests in the last 4 weeks for Cowboy Casanova, I bought it the minute I saw it available and it's been broken in plenty since I added it to the library (it's not even in my books yet).

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

Letitrip i'd definately like to attend your show! Sounds Fresh, Upbeat, and you have singers trying NEW stuff instead of the same stuff week to week.

Here in hawaii, only a couple people, including myself, try out the latest releases. The wordwide visiting audience typically stick with rock from the 80's or r&b from the 90's-2000.

I get the NEW stuff to attract attention from everyone in the bar. Most are interested in seeing the words to the songs they hear every hour on the radio, but for some reason WAIT for months to try and sing it themselves.

I also get requests all the time. Almost all country.

We are currently buying the Chartbuster monthlies, so the usual problem is I havent' ripped it yet. But occasionally they want stuff that isn't out yet -- they are spoiled.

I get very few rock requests, and with Zoom and Sunfly covering that so well I get those from tricerasoft.com when asked.

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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 a few very good singers who love to see new stuff in the book. There are two things that I do to facilitate people learning new songs -- one is I rip it to my filler music laptop and play it before the show and sometimes it will reappear between singers (if I leave the filler playlist on shuffle). The other thing I do is learn new stuff - I sing it until someone else picks it up (or I'll ask a good singer occasionally outside of the rotation to come up and sing new songs); then I never sing it again. People are often afraid to try new stuff until they hear it a few times.

I crave new songs every now and then as I do seem to tire of the same songs very quickly; some I take the time to learn and don't like the way I do them and will drop them. Some songs are favorites of people who don't actually sing but who love to sing along when I sing those - i.e., Black Horse and Cherry Tree by K.T. Tunstall. Just depends on the venue, the crowd of singers (serious versus get drunk and sing), etc.

We usually don't get requests for NEW songs and usually I'm the only one who does them when I order them. But wouldn't you know we are getting weekly requests for Cowboy Casanova and Need You Now and the disc I ordered weeks ago just won't arrive.

I got on the pre-order for cowboy casanova with karaoke dot com and it arrived last Monday. Where did you order from? Of course nobody has sung it yet, wouldn't you know it. I guess I'll have to ... ugg....

It only takes one or two singers to sing new songs to get other excited to ask you where the new song list are.

Karen, i know your question was directed at LL, but i ordered Cowboy Cassanova (carrie underwood) and Party In The USA (miley cyrus) yesterday as a download from SBI- sbi versions, and had 2 singers try them out lastnight. They sounded pretty good, and there had been a few requests for them the past week or so.

I also got a couple more requests from songs/artists that performed on the American Music Awards last night as well and will be ordering more songs today.

Just to add...

I don't do gigs for a living. I pick my venues as I'm more leaned towards catering more on the pop rock alternative and newer r&b. My venues are more of the 20s to 30s crowed and a few 40s and over. Don't get me wrong I do still get a decent amount of mainstay country request

I have tried any downloading yet - my karaoke computer is not accessible (packed away in equipment van) but I will bring it in and try some downloads when I do some other reloading chores that are lurking. I just happened to be ordering some other music from that "place" and saw that Cowboy Casanova was available for preorder so I did. I don't know as I'll get any requests for stuff off the awards last night -- I envy you, having new stuff going all the time.