Karaoke Forums

Work hard and stay true to the business is the first thing I would like to include.

Here are some tips (take them for what they are worth).

1. Learn your equipment and how to set it up for each location you are in, no 2 rooms are the same.

2. Respect your singers regardless of their level of (or lack of) singing skills because without singers you are out of business.

3. Deliver what you promise and more if possible, never overstate what you can do or it will bite you in the end.

4. Buy the Essentials from Chart Busters and the Foundations from Sound Choice and PHM and you will have the lion's share of what will be requested. This is to start and remember that just because 1 person ask for a song dosn't require you to go out and buy it or else you will go broke trying to buy every song for every request.

5. Make your books (if you choose to use them) orderly and update them on a regular bases. Nothing is worse than a new singer showing up and not being able to find the song he/her are looking for even though you do have it in your library. Don't just assume they will just walk up and ask you for a song espically if they are new to the bar.

6. Meet and greet your singers and thank them for coming in to sing. Don't assume the bar owner or the staff does that. If you do it this will help you develop loyal regulars. Customer service is an inportant part of your business and the bar customers are in reality your customers too.

7. Get to know the regular non-singers too! For them is is a spectator sport. Including them can make a difference is the survival of your show.

8. Learn what your competition in your area is doing. If they have been in the market for a while, sometimes they become complacent and lose the drive to run a quality show. Be differant. If they run a quality show, you might pick up a tip or two that you can add to yours. DO NOT copy their show.

9. It is about the singers, not you.

Pretty darn good stuff!

10. Have fun!!!!!!!!!!

These are just some of the thing that I consider that work for me. Just my 2c.

I roger a lot of what has been said.

When it looks like it is going to be a busy night, I cap the first rotation at say 16 singers. At that point, I stop taking new singers in the first rotation and let it go around. I won't let someone who arrives at 10pm sing at 10:15 if the first singer has been waiting since 8:30. I do have some sympathy for FIFO, so that you will never hear a new singer sing if they haven't heard *you* sing. But I like to keep the rotation as coherent as possible, so I don't do it as to when the request is in.

Also, if someone has arrived early with their husband (or wife), and has been there all along, I will insert them in the rotation as if they sang an empty song the first time through.

At my Thursday venue, my shows go from 8:00 to 11:00, while my Saturday shows go from 8:00 to 12:00 midnight...

In each case, I list the names of the singers as they arrive, and if I don't already know their name, I'll ask..

At the mid-point of my shows, (9:30 and 10:00 respectively) new arrivals are inserted into the list immediately behind the current singer. Just a simple variation on the old "if you snooze - you lose" .

I don't know that there will ever be a perfect rotation system, or one that will satisfy everyone, but this system seems to be about as close as I can get.

As for sound checks... I always seem to have at least a half-dozen "regulars" show up at least an hour early... only too eager to "assist" with sound & microphone checks. Sometimes, especially when I'm still adjusting equipment or taping down cables, their "help" can be a pain in the butt... but I treat it as a cost of developing a following, and that's a part of doing business.

So, as much as I would like to sing at the beginning of the night to do the sound checks, I defer to the "regulars" while I check the sound from the floor.

These are things that work for me.... Your mileage may vary.

Well my goal is to stand out among the other KJ's in my area, we have not started our business yet however I was hoping to get some tips from others.

I know there are things that some KJ's do that others don't, some good and some bad.

There is such a thing as karaoke etiquette, and I want to know things that make you or others stand out in a good way(besides your equipment and song selection).

My husband is a great guy, funny, smart and will be a fantastic DJ, I am the shier one that loves to sing (obviously when we get gigs I will not necessarily sing at every show, it depends on the venue and the number of singers plus I would not sing every rotation)

I will not accept "bribes" to bump a singer up in a rotation which I have seen at several shows I've attended (just a personal choice)
I will not give another person a microphone during another singers song unless the singer says it's alright (I've had this happen to me as a singer and I really don't like that)

I have also seen several KJ's who are new to the business, they had a slip asking questions like: "What type of music would you like to see in the future? What do you think we could improve on? Were you happy with the song selection? What did we do well?" Do you think that is a good idea?

Oh revered reverborator - I am disappointed that I didn't get to experience one of your famous notable quick nasties! I was so hoping when I read your name...

Sorry, Karen......usely when I try to be serious, nobody pays any attention to what I say.... .....also remember, half my posts are gone before anyone(cept the monitors) gets to see them..... ....then again.....maybe I've found religion...

These tips are fantastic, I'm glad that you are all so willing to help us. I am finally able to get some of my ideas out there without fear that people will think I am trying to steal their show.

One idea I have is possibly starting out with a charity show, that way they can see how we do and we would give the money to a charity ( for example, humane society, Ronald McDonald house, veterans fund, music lessons for under privileged children, breast cancer research) It would also make for some positive publicity. And after our first charity event, we were thinking maybe 1 show per month for charity depending on how many steady gigs we have per month. Is that something anyone has ever done? How do you feel about this?