Karaoke Forums

I am starting this thread because I would like to know how business has been. Many of you who are lucky enough to have shows at places where it is always busy won't appreciate this, but my market is saturated with karaoke, and a couple of my shows are in the rural portion of the market.

I will occasionally get a night where it is slow. Sometimes, I can point to it being a holiday weekend. Or, maybe St Patty's Day being on Thursday cut into Friday's business, etc etc etc. The point of this thread is to help to identify reasons for fluctuations in business.

If you would like to participate in this thread, please let us know what night was better or slower than average and what the weather was like.

This past weekend, we had a great Friday, but our Saturday was rather slow (except for a last minute spurt at last call). The weather was rainy off & on and the temps were slightly above average. Normally, summertime is very slow for bars in my area because we only have 4-5 months of really nice weather. It was kind of a mystery because it was raining and I was anticipating a big crowd.

There was a Blessing of the Bikes like 50 miles away and a lot of people went, but I don't think everyone went - which is why it is such a mystery!

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I'm not a cheerleader, but I paid for my pom poms with my own money!

Things have been a little slow for me lately, but New Years to June is typically a little slow. Things pick up about 25% here once the second kids get out of school, especially on Saturdays.

My area is very touristy, with TONS to do around town (three pro sports teams, thousands of restaurants/bars, weekly festivals, a dozen + big live music venues, 75 miles of beaches, etc.), so I actually get better crowds when the weather is bad.

My late nights are also very busy after large local events and sporting events.

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C Mc
KJ, FL

Our Fri & Sat are never slow - always 25-40 singers on avg. Most bars around here don't have slow weekends unless they just plain suck.
Sun - hit/mis - although we have been pretty busy the last few weeks with a new suicide weekly contest we have going. Prize - 2 free rotation tickets to be redeemed at any time in the night so they can sing when they turn the ticket in.
Mon - fairly steady (24 singers last night, although started out slower last night, crowd didn't come in until 11 then BAM, sunny with rain showers)
Tue - slow - I attribute this to $1000 10 week karaoke contest in another part of town
Wed - hit/miss
Thurs - fairly steady (avg 20-25 singers)

Holiday's that fall on Mon, the Sun before acts like a Fri or Sat night. However the Monday will typically be slower than normal.
Summers really aren't much slower, they just come in an hour or so later. Rain/sun don't really make a difference normally except for the first sun of the year which is normally slower that night. People getting a taste of their Spring/Summer activities. We also tend to be slower when concerts are in town - even if the headliner isn't what the crowds typically would favor.

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

Ours have fluctuated from near record tills one week to dead the next. Then it goes back up. It is hard to figure as we talked to some people in towns over an hour away and things were slow there, too, on the exact same nights--big concert somewhere? Don't know.

But here are the things that will affect us: Govt. checks come in at the beginning of the month, no one has money by the end. The Casinos will periodically run special giveaways/free drinks/dirt cheap drinks/drawings, etc. If you can't weather that until they can no longer afford to do it then you are toast. We are about to be toast in one town.

Also extreme cold or snow will keep people in. . Winter also plays a role as the smoke inside a bar with the doors shut tight for months gets so bad that even the smokers can't breath and will stay away. We have had people start choking up on the stage while singing. So some are "seasonal" visitors.

In summer, it gets dark later so people don't get into party mode until later. Also there are lots of competing activities like free concerts in the park, fairs, etc.

Sherriff's stepping up stopping people as they leave will keep people away. We just had a singer die in an alcohol-related car accident and that has had people depressed for a few weeks. School vacation schedules can also affect things.

What we hadn't had much experience coping with are small town politics. Who people have known longer, went to school with, are related to, etc. can be a big factor. It is like going back in time to High School. You can have people coming regularly then a group will have a feud within itself and you lose half who won't come when the other half is there. Someone spreads a rumor and a mess of friends boycott where that person is. Other hosts in one town have used it to their advantage as we are newcomers. We are taking jobs from locals, people are traitors if they come to our show, etc. Weird stuff. One town is real friendly and doesn't do that kind of thing too much but the other one is really into the drama for some reason.

Alot of this stuff would be inconsequential if the economy was better. But right now I think that it is the main factor and all of the other stuff is just a result of people desperately fighting to get what little spendable money is out there. Even the fact that it is the month property taxes are due can be felt. Very tight right now.

Been slow at my gigs, but it's because of the economy, or cops, or weather, or moon phase, or sun spots, or voodoo hex, ect.....

But yea, it is slow right now. It's a cycle that comes and goes, it will pick up again, unless the GOV totally screws us.

The band's turning down gigs. We have more people that want us to play for them than we have open dates. We were booked for New Year's Eve by Valentine's day.

Giving up karaoke hosting was a good move for me. I came to the conclusion that there very likely weren't any manufacturers for karaoke in the US that were not engaging in copyright violations. I refuse to support pirates or those that profit from their work.

Looks like I'm being rewarded for that decision!

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Dave's not here.

No horse in the race eh?
(don't worry, I won't tell Athena)

I'm just way out in front of the field . . .

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Dave's not here.

It's been ok. Our entire city is down right now.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday are all strong for us.

It's the Fridays and Saturdays that are hurting. Weekdays are all regular karaoke crowds.

Weekends are dependant on many people going out. We normally jsut DJ on weekends where we are used to $6000 - $8000 in bar sales we are currently around $3000 to $4000.

So instead of us making $300 to $400 a night we are making $200 or so.

This week was unusually busy. Even our normal 'dead' nights were packed and our normal nights have been busier than normal. What I am experiencing is other hosts coming in that are closing their shows early (one actually came in to say their show was cancelled) and several people I have not seen in years popping in here & there. May be just a fluke this week.

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

Our shows - Thursday & Saturday - have been fairly steady, with 30 - 35 singers on Thursdays and 25 - 30 on Saturdays... We have the occasional spike, like the 57 who showed up earlier this spring. But generally speaking, the foregoing numbers hold true...

Except:

Two nights ago (Saturday evening).... Fourteen singers, including me (I don't normally sing at our shows.)

This was/is a long weekend here in Canada... and is traditionally the first weekend when people get their campers, trailers, and motor-homes on the road for the season... In many areas, including this one, the Saturday of this long weekend is set aside for bon-fires and fireworks... These, I suspect, contributed to our less-than-stellar crowd.

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Earl
(BS, PHD & Certified CurmuDJeon)

[font=Times New Roman]"Growing Old may be mandatory... but growing UP is still optional."[/font]

we seem to be holding rather steady with 20-25 singers most nights, but once a month or so we get a crazy night of 40 or so singers (in a venue that caps at 68) and then a slow night of 12 -15. mostly if i have a slow start, it usually coincides with a poker tourney at another bar. poker has been my main problem in the last year.

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Paradigm Karaoke, The New Standard.......Shift Happens

Dead dead night tonight, had about 9 singers tops. Far cry from last Mon with 32.

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

Last weekend was a good weekend for most of my shows. My Saturday show was really good. The best part was that most of the singers were all new and all really good. It was raining, so that definitely helped.

One of my bars cancelled karaoke for this Saturday because of the holiday weekend.

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I'm not a cheerleader, but I paid for my pom poms with my own money!

My last 2 Wenesday's (usually 30+ singers 100+ total patrons) was down to 15 singers and 15 non singers (30 total duh). Some have speculated American Idols finals as the reason. We have had a very high number of people with coughs and colds as well, so thankfully they don't show up to give it to the healthy ones.

Summer weather has always marked a slower period for my shows, both with DJ/Karaoke and with the bands.

With the warmer weather comes block parties, festivals, homecoming celebrations, family get togethers, county fairs, outdoor concerts, vacations, back yard BBQ's, or people simply staying at home and enjoying the nice weather in their own back yard with a few friends.

In short.. lots of additional competition.

Strong shows will historically stay strong.. where you feel the hit is in those weaker shows.

Working with the bar management on drink specials or other promotional ideas on karaoke night helps with customer retention during the warmer months.

My shows are definitely weak by most standards. The reason tho is that I am in a semi rural area of my town, and the main part of town is saturated with karaoke.

That is a good idea about getting the bar owners to work out some deals & promotions. I plan to do trivia during my weeknight shows early in the evening and add an hour, just so I can keep getting paid.

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I'm not a cheerleader, but I paid for my pom poms with my own money!

I was out with cough & cold/flu last Tue-Sat, had to have my weekend hosts fill in.

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

This weekend was very good! Thursday was much better than normal at both bars. We figured it had something to do with the holiday - like a lot of people had a 4 day weekend, others were getting out of town and wanted a night out before hand. Friday was very good as well, which was surprising because we thought it would be slow due to the holiday (but it was raining). Saturday was also very good at one bar, but the other canceled due to the holiday.

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I'm not a cheerleader, but I paid for my pom poms with my own money!

We did only fair and had just a few new faces as far as holiday traffic. We are in a town with a reservoir and businesses were hoping for a good weekend but the weather didn't cooperate and one store owner said business was just 10% of what it should have been. But we didn't lose too many regulars to travel, either.