Karaoke Forums

Yeah, You are probably right I am in a rather Bitchy mood today, My apologies for sounding unfriendly and harsh Johnreynolds. I live in Pittsburgh PA and we have had temperatures in the teens and Snowfall for the last 15 days in a row and I work in a Public School and it is my job to keep the property safe and clear on top of everything else i have to do. I am very tired. I am looking foward to a break in the weather so I can enjoy some karaoke with some friends and relax.

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Man Must Know His Limitations -Clint Eastwood

I'm going to have to slightly disagree by saying that the books don't have to reflect all the different manu versions you have, but that there should be some way for a singer to find out what version(s) of a song you have. For a normal busy show maybe 20% tops will really care about the version. For a quieter midweek show when it is a more serious singer than party crowd that number could go to 80% or even 100%.

As for it all being about customer service, you are spot on. I will download different versions of songs when I discover the version I have is particularly bad. If someone is asking for Sound Choice I can always try to find the Karaoke Channel version over at venuevj. (Stingray never did get back to be saying that venuevj sourced tracks were not for commercial use.)

- J

Is it that difficult to include manufacturer initial in the song book?
I don't understand this idea of withhold info of your product from your customers.

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

The reason I choose not to put numbers or codes in my books is:

1. About 50% of customers are numerically challenged and give me incorrect numbers. Even 1 incorrect digit will reference a totally different song. A lot are lazy and will only put a number and their name on a ticket.

2. If they just give me the name of a song and artist, there is only a very minute chance they have somehow screwed this up.

3. Including Name, Song Title and Number also gives them more work to do.

Am I crazy?

Vic in Sydney

Mine too, and the other 50% can't write or print clearly and that is why on my song slips I ask for song title and song number, have a better chance of actually finding the song they want!

(BTW, I do include manu codes in my books)

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Music speaks to the heart in ways words cannot express.

I suspect that this thread shares elements with the Is Karaoke Art thread.

I prefer singing off a truer rendition of the song, but will take what I'm given. And sometimes a rendition is too true....by that I mean, it will blank out parts where a backup singer sings. Sometimes I'd prefer to sing these parts.

On the other hand, you have to take what you're given sometimes. Even a syth version can sound good sometimes, and there can even be aspects of "lesser quality songs" that can outshine a well done song.

A track from Sound Choice will be SC, Sunfly as SF, Chartbuster as CB. I don't see that as being difficult to read.

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

Let me add a new "twist" to an old topic. And to begin, there is actually an even more basic question about the tracks we have or don't have, that supersedes the question of who the manufacturer is.

Are you losing SIGNIFICANT business because you don't have certain tracks, regardless of manu? Are you sure or are you "guessing"?

Are you gaining business because you have certain tracks, regardless of manu? Are you guessing or do you actually know?

In most song books SC and ZM would not be the first track listed. If you have more than one version of a track, how often to you feel the version selected by the singer was made because of familiarity with and a preference for the selected track. Or was it selected because it was the first listing that caught the singers eye? Are you sure or are you "guessing"?

When it comes to this and similar discussions I have wondered if the responses are subjective RATHER than objective -------- that is, commonly reflect what the respondent prefers, believes or has been told is this case by others on this forum rather than the results of some scientific survey?

It's kind of like the last guy who told me what a great KJ I am. Of course he must be correct in having that belief! Right?

I know on my request slips I have a space for prefered version.
99% of the time it is left blank - meaning customer has none
In that case I'll select usually what I feel is the better "manuf"

The serious singers will ask for a specific brand or attempt to bring you their discs.

But I doubt many KJ's are either gaining business or losing it because they don't have a track by a certain manu.

In todays market a good KJ will talk to their customers and if need be GET the specific track and manu wanted.

In my experience most don't care as long as it is a decent version. My super serious singers will bring in their own discs even when I have their manu version. I don't think I've ever had anyone complain about manus. I'm sure there maybe those people who just don't say anything, but whose to say they just wish I had the version they are familiar with and that could be any number of manus.

I'm not going to carry every manu version under the sun, so all basis are covered. Manus to me are personal preference. I just try to get the version that I think most people will be happy with. The expense of CDGs is high enough for one version let alone carrying 4 or 5 of the same song.

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[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

In todays market a good KJ will talk to their customers and if need be GET the specific track and manu wanted.

This is the magic answer - if someone absolutely will DIE without their specific version, pick it up or suggest that they do. I have advised serious, serious singers, who are not singing NEWER stuff but old stuff, that it is beyond monetary sense for me to try and find a version of a 30-year-old song that was put out by one manu only and buy the CDG. Once I explain the ridiculous cost of karaoke music, most are understanding. The die-hards will find it on their own; other people don't really care. (I have to laugh at times when someone brings in their must-have version of something and for all intents and purposes it isn't as good as another version...but hey, who am I to question their preference?)

I would say I have more good singers that don't want to sing on the bargain bin SGB tyoe crap - yes i've had several singers that have told me they don't like "brand X bar & grill' here or there because their versions suck. So I would assume that I do get more business based on the fact that I use a better quality - I wouldn't say that is the overall drive, other factors do come into play, but I would that is one that people do come back for. Guess? maybe, but again I have been told this by singers.
But along those same lines, many of our singers also bring in their own discs so if I don't have it, they do!

When I listed multiple versions years ago, people would always ask me what the difference between the listings were. I'd always explain to them it was like going to see a cover band at a bar, some really sound like the original song, others tend to perform the song, but sometimes not as well or make it almost unrecognisable. I never listed any particualar version first in my books & when that question was asked they would always tell me to pick the best version. Sometimes the SC version would be listed 2 or 3 songs down in a group of dups, 9 out of 10 times, the SC disc was chosen because the singer either knew of the quality, brand or version. No guess here, this is from direct observation.

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The reason I like this forum so much is that I get to see so many peoples points of view.

I'm going to run with Sunfly for sometime and see how I like the versions or if I have any complaints. I have not listened to every song, but a few months of running a show with SF should give me an idea of how good or bad they really are.

If they are really terrible, I guess I will just look for someone selling their Soundchoice collection and invest another few thousand in another set of discs. *cringe*

Has anyone tried to make a bulk purchase from SC and got special rates? e.g: 3 KJs go in and buy 3 complete sets off them??

Thanks everyone for the feedback. Much appreciated.

Vic in Sydney

Sunfly IMO is very hit or miss - some are great, some are terrible, don't get me wron any manu is going to be like that, even SC is not perfect, however their hit to miss ratio is a lot higher than most others. The newer SF stuff seems to be a little more tolerable over some of their first few years of producing.
You can find the Sound Choice Foundation 1 & 2 on ebay right now for $575 for both new, add all 5 Bricks to that @ $422, you have a killer core set for under $1000. Then fill in the gaps with the other manus & requests from your singers.

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Currently my collection has 63+ manufacturers. There's the 'top five' or 'top ten' known ones and the rest are forgettable. I could do initials for the known ones and 'other' for the rest but in 2.5 years of hosting I've had maybe 5 people ask for a specific manu. - that's out of 1500 unique singers. (Of course that could mean that another 45 people wanted to ask but didn't!)

I've tried other useful info in my books such as showing which songs are available as 'guide vocal' multiplex versions and people seemed not to care. I'm still trying to identify the different types of duet songs (male/female lyrics provided for one/both singers, vocal included for one / other etc) although I suspect that might also be unused.

Again I'd say that since my books are non-dupe I can probably identify that multiple versions are available, but not what they are on a per track basis.

I agree that withholding info from customers seems counter intuitive, but I feel that I'd get more questions about 'which version is best' than I do about 'which version do you have' if I displayed every different manu.

- J

I tell singers the difference between versions is like the difference between a Yugo (SGB) and a Cadillac (SC).

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You can be strange but not a stranger

We had some people in once who were adamant that every song they sang had to be a Sound Choice and then they kept taking pictures........

My book doesn't include the disc manus, and in seven years one person asked "if the whole collection was cheap american brands", which five minutes later I found out meant that he only wanted to sing sunfly.

My book has very little Sunfly in it, I'm a huge SC and ZM fan, and despite my efforts to explain that I do everything I can to get the best versions of songs (and If there was a particular version and song he wanted I would get it by next week). . . When he started pulling faces at my EK discs (which are similar to SF and also a british band) I gave him my bible (All of my 14,000 tracks listed with Manus) to which he still wouldn't sing.

Out of all of my regulars, most can barely be bothered to pick up a book to read, but for hardcore addicts I will get in the versions they want, (more often then not, I just buy a better version for them). I've had about 40 requests for certain versions, usually though it's for songs I don't have.

On my rare nights off, I prefer to know what brand the KJ predominantly uses. . . and then I can choose what to sing depending on the what versions that company has produced that I like.

Based upon the two preceding posts which responded to a question I posed to assist the OP and others to determine the reality regarding singer familiarity and preferences for particular manus or tracks (see part of my original post above), I am even more convinced that an insignificant percentage of Karaoke singers either are aware of differences in manufacturers or are concerned with said differences to the point where they have developed a strong manufacturer preference or even a preference for specific versions of the songs they regularly sing!

IMHO kj's often impose their preferences on singers. And IMHO SC maybe a Cadillac, but SGB is a Hyundai which I would be proud to drive anywhere (I own two) and Caddy's are not what they used to be! Ironically, during a conversation I had last week with a person at Chartbuster, they were telling me about the SGB tracks that they like to sing. And while some of the tracks they prefer are not available elsewhere when I asked what they thought about (read as quality) the tracks they are familiar with they felt they were quite good. Others on this forum have stated that their only REAL complaint, in general, with SGB is that they have to pay particular attention to the highs. One forum member simply warned about some discs that have absurd lyrics, but that the series was very useful otherwise!

To each his own. BUT... this thread questioned whether the Manufacturer matters to singers. I'll interpret that to mean MOST singers and to me MOST is over 60%. I actually don't have any personal evidence or even anecdotal evidence from this forum that EVEN 10% of the singers are concerned with the manu. Also, I'll interpret "singers" to mean the typical person and not singing kj's!

In all honesty, I haven't listed multiple listings since 94. There were times we would make a point to show people by playing side by side different manus (before & after showtimes) of the same song, we got more & more on the quality band wagon. "Most" of our singers are very karaoke knowledgeable & do ask for specific brands & versions or they just bring in their own. So I am basing my answer on my show only, can't tell what other singers & shows are like.


He didn't say Hyundai, he said YUGO! The 'disposable' car produced in the 80's.


Every brands does have their diamonds in the rough & SGB is not an exception to that, just not very many - and if you are comparing something unique that they released that no one else has, then of course they are going to be the best for that one.
My main problem is their over synthed sound quality sounding like it was done on a $99 Casio keyboard.

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