Karaoke Forums

What is the best way for a smaller kj to inexpensively keep up with some of the newer songs to keep their selection updated? I would like to legally add to the library without spending my entire weekly kj paycheck on it. Thanks all.

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what if I am the one whos normal and the rest of the world is all messed up?

Moved to karaoke discussions.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

If you are only making enough weekly to pay for a couple of new discs every month you need more work or another job.

Chartbuster puts out monthly discs Country, Pop, Urban for about $20 each. So for $60 plus shipping it would keep you up to date and should only be about an hours worth of work, not a whole week.

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I like everyone when I first meet them. If you don't like me that's not my problem it's YOURS!
A stranger is a friend you haven't met yet

Years back, I wasn't making a lot of $$$, but still subscribed to monthly CDG discs. I found it was mostly a waste of $$$$.

In my experience 95% of karaoke singers sing the same songs all the time. For those that like to try the new stuff, usually it is only one or 2 songs per month of the new stuff I got.

I was spending about $100/month on new karaoke songs, with only one or 2 of those songs being sung. I switched my thinking, and if someone requested a song, then I would order a disc, instead of "subscribing" to monthly disc subscriptions. This cut down my costs to about $20-$40/month, and sometimes $0.00.

I agree with the subscriptions, more of a waste of money than anything else - for the most part. I subscribe to CB now for the last year & have actually had several newer songs done regularly. Otherwise I prefer to take actual singer requests & pick up what they want to sing - usually custom disc route these days.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

I take requests as well and sometimes pick up newer discs if I feel like it, but I don't feel any real need to rush out and buy the latest. Mst people don't bother with them after a bit, if at all, anyway. Keep your money in your pocket and make up a request list instead. I get my singers to fill out what they want, along with their name so I know who's requesting it, and if it's available, and if there are multiple requests for it, or if a regular singer requests it, I will bring it in. Otherwise I buy nothing. Never had any complaints with my method.

I am liking Custom more and more, also, as even with only 5,000 songs in our books, the duplication rate from buying discs still gets up there. It may cost more per song to go custom but the songs actually get sung. Along with the singer's requests, I usually end up replacing a bad version of a song or two and still end up with room to put in a few new ones that look like they might be hits.

Every now and then, if a new releases disc has 3 or 4 really popular songs on it I will get the disc instead but more and more I am just ordering the few highlights off them via custom. It doesn't expand our songbook as quickly but people seem to be excited by what we have rather than complaining about what we don't when we buy per what they ask for.

i don't currently have a show anymore, but when i was working I also had a request list. Once I had three or four songs that had been requested several times, I would order it on custom disc and/or download.

In fact, in one place they let me have access to their internet server so I could actually fufill a request by the next rotation.

My policy was "Buy a requested song and get a free drink"

worked like gangbusters for a while..


-James

Unfortunately not legal to use.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Another option. If you don't have a lot of money to spend, try Quick Hitz. You find them on Ebay all the time for 9.99 with free shipping. They're not SC or CB or even Pop Hits quality, but they're not too bad either.

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My first choice IS Sound Choice.

Hardly anyone sings new songs besides me, besides maybe the country ones. I was buying the Chartbuster monthlies only, until they screwed me out of a song I wanted without notice and then I bought PHM. Then I bought the CB country disks because they had more songs per month. Now that they have cut back to 12 songs, I'll probably just stay with PHM, since I usually think they are better anyway.

Big waste of money to buy monthly - 90% of those songs will never get sung. Buy a core set then buy individually by request. Occasionally I will test this theory myself and buy a "best country" or "best pop" hits of a certain year. Those songs rarely if ever get sung. People in this area get so fed up with hosting companies that never upgrade their music that now they buy for themselves, only the tunes they want to sing themselves, and bring those to the shows. I guess it depends on the types of singers a show attracts but the singers who frequent my shows are pretty serious singers. Sure saves me a lot of dough when they buy and carry their own.

you are correct. The problem is, I don't care. As long as the copyright holder gets their cut, my concience is clean.

-James

Not to start a big legal conversation, but why would this situation be illegal?

I can purchase and download a song to use at a show right?
I can buy previously owned CDG's to use at a show right?

So why couldn't I buy a song from someone with a drink of their choosing for a download that was originally downloaded to my pc on my account in the first place?

What if the deal was buy me a coke and I'll download the song for you?

Lonman is stating that while it may be legal to buy a download, playing a download at a commercial event is questionable at best. Some maintain that it is illegal to playa downloaded song period at a bar show. At home it might be legal but for pay it is a no no if you subscribe to certain person's attitudes. I have a hard time believing that one would get sued for content bought from a manufacturer's download site, especially since it isn't available on disc form period.

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The Line Array Experiment is over. Nothing to see here. Move along.

Just wanted to chime in and thank you guys for the info. I'm thinking about becoming a part-time KJ and this is very helpful.

Thanks for all the options. I will be looking into a few of them.

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what if I am the one whos normal and the rest of the world is all messed up?

This is all very good info....Thanks for sharing....

Buykaraokedownloads.com

you can get a 6 month subscription for new music for $200 or a year for $300. Right now I don't have a subscription, I just pick and choose a handful of new songs for $1.50 to $2.00 each, but a great source for newer stuff. If I recall, with a subscription the song numbers vary monthly but it is around 15-20 or so.

A lot of people here will cry "Illegal" but that is just a matter of opinion. That could be said about ANY of the download sites.