Karaoke Forums

I am considering writing an article for a local karaoke publication and I need some help with one topic.

It involves the startup costs of a brand new karaoke host at a single location. I want to make an attempt to keep this on track as much as possible so let me build a a detailed scenario to keep 3rd party assumptions to a minimum.

Theoretically, let's work with the following:

The venue is located in a reasonably well trafficed, higher population metropolitan area (indicating wide variety of music requested with a fair number of one time songs)
The venue wants to do karaoke 7 nights a week at their location
The venue already has an excellent sound and light system including the ability to play CD+G or MP3+G.
The venue does not own any karaoke music

A karaoke host that is just thinking about getting into the business sees the opportunity and decides to make a leap of faith and invest in karaoke music with the hopes of long term rewards.

There is only a 2 week window in which to locate and acquire music before the show goes live.

What would be the estimated cost of LEGALLY acquiring the music to START a new show?

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Looking to the future, assume the following:

Once established, there will be a core group of regulars that rotate through since it is 7 nights a week

Due to the location and population there is a steady stream of new singers on a regular basis

Most importantly, there will be an active attempt to accomodate SPECIFIC song requests (versions and manufacturers) made by singers. In other words, if someone wants the DK version of song X, then an attempt will be made to obtain it (as inexpensively as possible, but current market price if that is all that is available). They will not be told to "settle for the SGB version" unless that is the only version.

Given these conditions -

What would be the estimated cost of LEGALLY acquiring music over the first 12 months of the show?

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If it were me doing this then -

Initial Startup Costs

Sound Choice GEM series - $4480
Chartbuster KJ Media Pro HD - $199
Additonal 200 Credits - $327
Random Karaoke Music - $500

Total - $5506

Someone who leverages eBay and Craigslist effectively may be able to get things up an running with a larger collection for less money. But with the two week window they are at the mercy of the selections being sold at the time, when auctions end, and how quickly things get shipped.

First 12 Months Costs

In addition to the startup costs above, there would also be an additional XXXX dollars.

The XXXX is a pretty extreme variable because we just don't know what will be requested to be able to determine costs. Someone who requests a song from SC8125 could drive the cost up significantly (providing the disc could even be obtained). Same with songs from DK Sets.

I will be somewhat conservative (for me) and estimate an additional $500-$1500 over the course of the first year and dropping rapidly after that since the music gets re-used.

Total for first 12 months - $6000-$7000

My personal thought on this is that variety is a factor in the success of karaoke in larger metropolitan areas (beyond sound, KJ, venue location, lights, blah, blah blah). I would not consider $8000-$10,000 *for just the music* to be out of line to get your foot in the door and ensure that you *immediately* have the variety needed in a larger metro area.

Thoughts?

-Chris

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-Chris