Karaoke Forums

I would play a rotation, then do a popular song, keep an eye on the dance floor for your mix in music to see if it is filling up the dance floor. I always do a dance set at 12:00 midnight because I work at a country karaoke bar and people need to get up to dance just to work some of the liqour off. Do a line dancing set for about 3 to 4 songs. If the karaoke lists starts getting longer then cut out the popular songs in between the rotation. Never eliminate the dance set, people like to dance as well, it makes it more fun. I have people throwing requests at me for dance music as well as karaoke music. You are there to please the crowd and keep the clientele up. The bar will appreciate you more. The karaoke singers might not, but they like to dance too .

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Kimbers - "Sing it like you mean it"

This is my opinion:

It is easy to find a place where you can listen to music and dance all night, but it is very hard to find a good karaoke bar (Especially for an older crowd) where you can enjoy yourself and sing your heart out and have a lot of fun, especially if the host is good (can't tell you enough how much I hate a host that can't work a system!)

Just remember - your karaoke crowd will most likely go if you start playing too much regular music (especially if they know you are advertising karaoke). Also remember, that your karaoke crowd will probably bring their friends to sing karaoke (ie, birthday parties).

Also remember that they will be the first to complain that they don't like the dance music (well, I would complain if it were me and I really liked your show). (one of my good friends lost one of her shows, and the customers at the bar started a peition to get the other girl fired, and get her back in!)

There will always be competition between other bars, but guaranteed, if they got rid of you, I am sure they will be calling you back, especially if you are a good host. Good Luck!

To me my job is to keep the patrons of the bar happy. Any good DJ whether it be karaoke or just music, watches the crowd to make sure that everybody is having a good time. If you have only 5 singers on your rotation, every 5th song play a popular song. Or just watch the people when you play mix in music, if they are getting into the song, let it play out. Always encourage people to sign up, but the last thing you want to do is beg people to sign up. I always have too many singers, but on those off nights that I am filling in for someone else, usually Wednesday night, the crowd is light and you have to play mix in music. I have people beg me for a dance set, I always tell them at 12:00 is when I do the dance set and if I am overbooked with singers, I keep it to 3 songs and then resume the karaoke, this gives me a second to breath before having to start all over again.

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Kimbers - "Sing it like you mean it"

Kimbers,

I totally respect you and how you run your show.

However, if I was at your show, and you had five singers (including me), and you started playing regular music, I would get up right there and then and leave, and make sure I talk to the manager first. I believe that if you have even one singer, then karaoke should start. That person is there to sing, not listen to music. (just my opinion, and they way I would run a show).

I get so mad when the KJ has a few singers (and they are the only ones in the bar anyway), and do not start a show. I am there to sing, not wait.

Again, things up here in Canada may be different, but when I go to a show and find there are only five singers, I jump for joy and am happer than heck. Why, because I HATE going to the karaoke bars that have 30 singers in the rotation. Why?

Well, my main purpose of karaoke (for me) is basically practice. I don't have anywhere I can go to sing on a big system, or a good system that has a nice sound, other than karaoke as I live in an apartment (When I get a house, guaranteed I will have my own system to sing with). However, until that day, I want to get all I can out of the big karaoke system.

Now, if you were advertising that it was a karaoke/dance show, then okay. But, if it was just a full karaoke show, I would leave and never come back.

Again, that is the way you run your show, and I respect you for that. But as a Karaoke Singer, that is the way I feel.

I'm a firm believer that a karaoke show is just that. KARAOKE. I can count on one hand the number of times that I've had someone ask for a "regular" cut. My philosophy is that if there is a particular song that someone wants to hear, It is my job to either sing it myself, or find someone who can do it better than me (around here, that's usually not too hard - I'm blessed to have the most talented following anyone could ask for). My boss will do DJ gigs, but I turn them down regularly. I'm not in my element and don't have the finesse to pull of DJing to my satisfaction. However, I can understand how the $$$$$ is the compelling factor.

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"C'mon people! We can get drunker than this!"

I can't really identify with your problem. Before we started karaoke at the club we had maybe 10 people come in on a Saturday nite. Now its upwards of 60, and we do it from 9pm-4am. We tell the regulars during the week if you don't like it, please don't come (its funny, the ones that hate it most are the drunks that end up singing at the bar during the week).

I got a kick out of one guy 2 weeks ago. He musta been on one of the league dart teams because I hadn't seen him before. Anyway, one of our girls is killing a ballad up there when this guy goes sauntering right onto the stage area. We didn't know what th'dang heck he was up to and we started to yell at him, which he couldn't hear, and he went right behind the girl and started to open up his dart case because there's a dart board there. What an idiot! Somebody threw a cigarette pack and boinked him on the head. The bartender yelled "NO DARTS ON KARAOKE NIGHT!". The clown gave a "how should I know" shrug and walked out.

isn't that always the case?

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"C'mon people! We can get drunker than this!"

I find the dart comment funny.. I play darts on a karaoke night and boy do I hear them complain.. but on the same token.. I sing afterwards on occasion, and get the compliments and requests from the other players play with and against to sing songs.. HOW IRONIC??? Shows ya where thier Brass is...

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Brian D.
(BHB)

To me, it doesn't matter if a regular song or two gets mixed in. Just as long as the music you play is not in the library. Like new songs.

It's also a good idea to carry a disc or two around when nobody shows for a karaoke night and you end up singing the first 3 hours.

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A good friend will come and bail you out of jail...but, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "Damn...that was fun!"

The thing is, the dartboard area IS our stage. There's no mistaking it, at least we thought. Its the first time it happened in two years but at the end of the night we found ourselves talking about moving a dartboard to the back of the bar on Saturdays just in case.

ok, I am not going to have people see my point, so I will just leave it alone. I am saying my show is a karaoke show, but I do a dance set at 12:00 (3 songs only). I do not play regular music unless we are slow and that is only one song after each rotation. Slow I mean by only 5 singers or less. Sorry that you all feel this way. I watch the audience and like to make sure everyone is having a good time, that is my job, not to cater to one or two customers but everyone.

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Kimbers - "Sing it like you mean it"

kimbers, after 8 whole posts, I doubt you've seen the wide range of experience in here... from those that do solid karaoke shows with zero dance sets, to those that do them after every friggin' song.

and there's no telling anybody who's wrong or right in any of those scenarios. obviously if you're getting paid, SOMEONE is happy with the way you run yours.

Hosts that bend too much towards the "dance set" IMHO set themselves up for the inevitable confrontation between the die hard karaokers, and the partiers. Again, IMHO, there is no winning any kind of battle like that. I sell myself as a Karaoke HOST, not as a DJ. If they want a dj, then that is a different rate... for that means I bring different equipment and music with me. I DO bring enough filler music to fill inbetween singers or the odd time when the bar dies down, and I just put on some compilation discs I've made and let them spin away!

Not saying this is the way to run karaoke... but this is MY way to run My show!

Matt

Matt, thanks for the words, I agree with you in fact I have had confrontations from the die hard karaoker's, not because I wanted to play dance music but the owner wanted me to because he wanted to see woman dance. Anyhow, if the bar is full every weekend, must be doing something right. I love karaoke and I love to dance, in fact I love music. Thanks for responding.

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Kimbers - "Sing it like you mean it"

Kimbers..
Mostly I do private functions.. that vary from just karaoke to just DJ music.. to anything in between, to full scale Live concerts with audio-visual presentations. There is not a night that has been the same yet in almost 13 years. Anything can and will happen and i think thre has only been 2 nights I haven't been paid other than charitible events and I refused the money because of an equipment failure or I started late.

If you get paid... You are professional.. there some people more professional than others out there unfortunately..

The idea is to find out what the club and the customers both want and what is going to help the club make a profit at the same time and keep you employed. A diffacult balance sometimes.

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Brian D.
(BHB)

As a KJ you're there to make money for the bar. You do that by getting people in, and keeping them there - no matter if it's karaoke only, or a mix of karaoke and something else (dance sets, etc).

I've been to a number of shows throughout the state (I'm in Alaska) and have seen KJ's play music between singers (just long enough for the next singer to get to the mic and ready - prevent the dead silence), I've seen those that do silence between singers, KJ/Live mic sets, and KJ/dance sets.

I prefer the karaoke only shows where I get to sing more. I like to sing and that's why I go. Most karaoke people go for the same reasons but not every bar can do a karaoke only show and keep the bar packed.


At the KJ/dance set I had a good time (I like to dance too) and am considering doing this at my gig but the rotation wasn't handled very well. I'll probaby go back when I'm in Anchorage but will watch the rotation a little more carefully to see how they're handling it at that time. It was a high energy show with a nice mix of people.

As for the KJ/Live mic set it was 2 rotations of kj, 2 songs per live mic and worked well. The KJ took a short break when the live mic acts were playing once they were set up (keep in mind this is easy setup - a guitar, a mic for a fiddle type stuff).



I'm about to mention something that I saw happen at a karaoke show and how the kj was handling it (and most of you will shudder). It was a nice night and the energy was high in the bar. Everyone was having a good time. A few people who wanted to sing started turning in slow depressing songs to sing (3-4 people of the 50 or so there). The KJ started telling them to pick more uptempo songs. He started telling the crowd between people "Don't turn in any slow boring songs". He even gave me back one of the slips I turned in (Louis Armstrong - What a wonderful world) and he said he wouldn't play it that night because it wouldnt' fit the evening (I understood, I had turned in 6-8 slips and had plenty of high energy music as well). Everything was going ok and the energy stayed high.... until....

The group turning in slow songs went to the management and insisted the kj play their songs. The manger talked with the kj and told him to play the songs (after the kj told him why he was doing it and warned him of what might happen). He played the songs and the energy went dead in the bar (not bad singers, just depressing low energy songs). The bar nearly emptied out 2 hours before closing.


I understand the need to keep the energy up so everyone stays, but how do you handle the person that turns in "Send in the Clowns" in the middle of a high energy evening? BTW, this same KJ removed songs from his song books just because he never wants to hear them again... (anyone else do this?)

Well, I wonder if you have changed your format or have you been let go? My two cents would be to try to get the "rock" crowd into Karaoke too. Make sure you have a good selection of rock and pick a popular one to sing yourself. Then invite some of them to sing with you. Get them involved!!! That helps my crowd out. And I get a lot of compliments on how I work a crowd.

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I am a retired 22 year Marine. I learned to DJ music in 1989 on Okinawa. When I returned to North Carolina I started my own business and trained DJ's. I had as many as 20 DJ's being trained at one time. I began some Karoake at that time, but not much. The demand just wasn't there. In 1998, I moved to Beaufort, where they make Marines, and Karaoke was a big request. I work on my own now and I enjoy it a lot more.

ya know, I used to be one of the strongest opponents to dance mix at roke shows. I was there to SING, dang it! If I wanted to dance, I'd go to a dance club!

Then I started making money doing this stuff. And guess what? To me, it doesn't matter what the singers want. It doesn't matter what the dancers want. It matters what the owner wants. After all, he's the one paying me.

What does an owner want? Money in the till. That's it. He doesn't care if it's karaoke, live, or DJ. He doesn't care if it's country, rock, or hip hop. He wants money, wherever it comes from.

Karaoke singers (god love em) don't put money in the till. They drink 2-3 drinks a night (if that). 40 singers * 3 drinks=120 drinks *$3.50 per drink = $420-$175 for the KJ=$245 for a night's gross for the bar. Then take out rent/mortgage, utilities, product, leasing on pool and gaming tables, salaries for the bar/wait staff, etc., etc....Doesn't leave much does it?

Dancers, OTOH, D-A-N-C-E. When they dance, they get hot. When they get hot, they sweat. When they sweat, they get thirsty. When they get thirsty, they drink. When they drink, the till rings. When the till rings, the bar owner smiles. When the bar owner smiles, I get to keep my job. When I get to keep my job, I smile. See how it all works out?

If you've got a crowd of 100, and 80 of them are screaming "Dance Music!," the owner (the guy that's paying you) will be much happier if you keep the 80 rather than the 20.

The trick is to find a way to keep all 100. The best way to do that is to do both...karaoke AND DJ. The only crowd you can't draw to a Karaoke show is the live music purists. Entertain the crowd you have. You will be much happier.

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Paid2Party
"I love karaoke. Where else can you get paid to come out and party with your friends?"

ya know, I used to be one of the strongest opponents to dance mix at roke shows. I was there to SING, dang it! If I wanted to dance, I'd go to a dance club!

Then I started making money doing this stuff. And guess what? To me, it doesn't matter what the singers want. It doesn't matter what the dancers want. It matters what the owner wants. After all, he's the one paying me.

What does an owner want? Money in the till. That's it. He doesn't care if it's karaoke, live, or DJ. He doesn't care if it's country, rock, or hip hop. He wants money, wherever it comes from.

Karaoke singers (god love em) don't put money in the till. They drink 2-3 drinks a night (if that). 40 singers * 3 drinks=120 drinks *$3.50 per drink = $420-$175 for the KJ=$245 for a night's gross for the bar. Then take out rent/mortgage, utilities, product, leasing on pool and gaming tables, salaries for the bar/wait staff, etc., etc....Doesn't leave much does it?

Dancers, OTOH, D-A-N-C-E. When they dance, they get hot. When they get hot, they sweat. When they sweat, they get thirsty. When they get thirsty, they drink. When they drink, the till rings. When the till rings, the bar owner smiles. When the bar owner smiles, I get to keep my job. When I get to keep my job, I smile. See how it all works out?

If you've got a crowd of 100, and 80 of them are screaming "Dance Music!," the owner (the guy that's paying you) will be much happier if you keep the 80 rather than the 20.

The trick is to find a way to keep all 100. The best way to do that is to do both...karaoke AND DJ. The only crowd you can't draw to a Karaoke show is the live music purists. Entertain the crowd you have. You will be much happier.

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Paid2Party
"I love karaoke. Where else can you get paid to come out and party with your friends?"