Karaoke Forums

How can you cut that off at the knickers when the next singer is ready? Or do they wait to be ready 'til it's done?

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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.

It is. But what I think people fail to understand is that getting a bunch of non-regulars buzzing is only half the battle. You have to keep your core constituency, your regular singers, coming back. The partiers will move on to the next party next week. And then if your regulars are gone and the place is dead when they come back at a later date? Off to the next place.

I've seen it many times -- bar crowds are fickle. Karaoke regulars are not. They are the foundation upon which the bar crowd perches.

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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.

Excellent question Mickey. I admittedly have trouble sometimes cutting off my filler music selection when bringing up the "energy level" after a couple of ballad helll songs.

The filler music may be extended, especially if the crowd is singing along or decides to bobb their heads to it. It is difficult to cut off the refrain of a great song like "Great Balls Of Fire" or a tv theme like "The Jeffersons" or "Fresh Prince Of Bel Aire". WHEN they DO get cut off early, the crowd gives a big SIGH, most notably when we start another song that isn't the most upbeat or uptempo.

In a way it can be viewed as wasting time by the die-hard karaoke singers, but i'm hoping the entire crowd gets re-energized and decides to stay instead of leaving because a few slow songs were putting them to sleep. I've had crowds that left the bar because everyones' songs were adding depression to the already depressant called alcohol.

You GOTTA counter act that effect IF you work in a venue that has a singer ratio of 1-10 or you'll end up losing the majority of the customers, and then you'll only have a few singers left, then they may leave because the now have no audience to sing to...

I agre with you Mickey. You DO need to take care of your regulars and keep them returning, but THANKFULLY I have regulars that are not only understanding of the filler music, but like to dance to the occasional dance break if something calls for it, or is requested multiple times.

Depending on the crowd I may let it play for a while....and the singers who frequent this particular show are all of that ilk as well - If I get someone hollering, "Hey, will you leave that on?" I will. Nobody runs away because they had to wait an extra minute or two to sing - those oldies are all under 3 minutes. I seldom play out an entire song in any case, as the next singer music rolls on and I slide one fader down and slide the other up. I have kind of a different room than most, I think, although I will occasionally have a whiner who thinks they've been skipped or something.

I can't disagree with that. I also often have a 1-10 singer ratio. What I try to do instead is manage the requests of my regulars. "Hey Sean, we don't need another long slow one. Could you do Creep or Rockstar instead?"

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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.

If it happens once or twice an hour, no one could disagree. It's when it's the norm that there is a problem.

And boy, have I ever seen that problem at shows. After 4-1/2 years of constantly attending karaoke shows, I consider the fewer-and-fewer regulars and the dawdling host to be the death throes of a karaoke gig. I have see five specific cases of long-term gigs -- one or two were three-plus years -- dying in that mode. In two cases, the host looked like they didn't know what hit them when it happened, and were mad when I talked to them later about "what happened to Thursday night?" They hadn't a clue that people were fuming because their time was being wasted.

One lady is disk-based, and she complained that she was losing out to the "computer shows". I talked to her about how one of the reasons was that people got to sing more when there wasn't two-three minutes to cue up the typical song. I came right out one night and suggested she might pick it up a bit because a couple of people were getting antsy. She looked at me like I was crazy. Two weeks later, bye-bye another gig. As far as I know she is no longer working, and is complaining about "those computer hosts". Her selection was fine, and a lot of people liked her. They just didn't like 10 songs per hour.

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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.

Filler Music : Small snip it of a song played between Karaoke performances

or to give the KJ a break to go potty

I'm with you on that - the extended times between singers. Has nothing to do with computers - when I was disc based I still had less than 10 seconds between singers, like now using computer. It's just a matter of organizing. When I was disc based, I pulled the CDG for every singer - required a large table but I always had the next song cued - no matter what. With Hoster it's a click away. Taking too much time between singers is deadly. Just a ridiculous abuse of power.

That's great. Canada right? Simply goes to show how different things work in different areas. No right or wrong to it... its just the way it works. Were we to switch areas, both of us would probably be in for a shock.

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Good music, good friends, howling good times!

And what I think a lot of karaoke hosts fail to understand is you can't make it on karaoke singers alone. The non singers buy drinks too, and it's easier for the karaoke folks to convince their friends to come to the show if they are going to enjoy the show too.

Singers LOVE my show, and I have plenty of regulars. I also have non singer regulars who follow me around as well... which is really interesting. They enjoy the karaoke show so much they don't need to sing. How cool is that? I try very hard to put on the karaoke show I want to go to... So you see, I'm not trying to "please everybody", only myself. Fortunately, that appears to be a show people want to go to.

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Good music, good friends, howling good times!

Probably not for us to you, however, around here 99% of the shows are purist and frown on filler and hoggy hosts.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

As my friend Hector says -- if you like what you're getting, keep doing what you're doing!

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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.

Thanks Mick, I can't tell how many times over the last several years I've had folks grab me, and put an arm around me and say, "This is the best karaoke I've ever seen. Don't change a thing." I get a lump in my throat when people have had such a memorable experience because of something I've done.

When I read what others post here sometimes I question that because apparently I'm breaking all the "rules"... but I try to stay true to what the "Koyote" is, and its a FUN "party" show. Good music, good friends, howling good times... that's a Koyote show. That's what's in my heart. If that's not you're cup of tea, than you won't enjoy it.

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Good music, good friends, howling good times!

Really? Hmm. And I was under the impression that Canadians liked to party, drink beer, and rock out! Guess I couldn't make it there.

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Good music, good friends, howling good times!

You couldn't handle our beer after all that sody pop you drink.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

Lol, you're right I don't drink beer and I can't handle it. But I can drink A LOT of Southern comfort!

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Good music, good friends, howling good times!

Don't forget to give proper credit to your crowd. I have great shows sometimes too, but I try to remember -- I'm only as good as my singers and crowd.

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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.

Exactly!!

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Good music, good friends, howling good times!

@karaoke koyote: I admire your being "different". Different in a sense that your gigs are not generic and I like that. Better to be distinguished than be known like a typical everyday kj/dj.