Karaoke Forums

How much do you charge for a 4 hour karaoke gig at a venue (bar, club, ect).

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Electro-Voice Evolve 50... Taking Sound To The Next Level.

Depends on the distance, what is required, whether it's multiple nights in a row for which they would receive a discount per night. However getting a bar around here to pay it is another story!
Private parties are typically 3x a bar rate since it's a one time shot, where a bar is usually a weekly stream. But even private shows are not as abundant (or able to necessarily get a good price) due to people in general buying those same ebay/craigslist hard drives, a cheap little system & throwing their own home parties and not worrying about real kj's anymore.

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

Alot has to do with the mean income of your area. A household in Texas is 48,000. Here in the Valley it's 28,000.

Jon

Yes & no. A club would still pay if the patrons are filling the till. However there are too many kj's that don't charge enough to begin with - pirate or not that is killing the pay scale overall. When I started, a kj could make $350 per night even in a small bar, now it's lucky if a kj can find a bar to pay $100, why - because other kj's will whore themselves out for even less!

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

Very true. I see it happen all the time.

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Electro-Voice Evolve 50... Taking Sound To The Next Level.

There are enough non-pirate kj that do this to keep the downward-pay-spiral moving along.

It's actually more profitable for someone like Lonman to keep a single system in a place 7 nights a week -even at a discount-- than it is to move it around.... even at a higher rate. If it were that much more profitable, I would imagine he'd still be moving it around....

Which is why I didn't specifically specify that as the prime culprit.


Exactly.

I had a full mobile system up until a few years ago when I sold it all, most clubs will not pay over $100. Don't matter who you are.

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

I remember the $300 nights years ago too..... whittle, whittle....



Bummer dude....

I get almost twice that here in "Motown" and that's without SC at all...

Thank you for making that point... that it's NOT just the Pirate KJs who undercut and have driven the prices down. That being said, I charge $200 for a 4 hour show. For those places that feel it's too much, I offer them a 3 hour show at $150, with the stipulation of getting paid an extra $50 if I am asked by the Staff or Management to stay on for an additional hour.

Average price here is $150. Where we play every week they pay us $200. But that was hard to get too.

None of those choices are broad enough for my situation. My "regular" gig is $150 (with bonus thrown in on good nights) and when hired for a one time gig, I get $200. As Lonnie talked about, private parties are more lucrative, I get $350 to $500 but give discounts to those I know.

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KingBing Entertainment C'mon Up! I have a song for you!!! [font=MS Sans Serif][/font]

Here, it depends if it is a weekday or weekend.

Fridays and Saturdays pay more by 100%.

Um, the place that we've had for 21 years used to pay $250
plus $50 for good nights, which we regularly get. Now they pay
$250, no bonuses .. which we are happy with since our other gigs are $175 with no bonuses. But we recently lost one weekly gig to a KJ charging $100.

Some might say that $175 is a good price for 4 hours but once we pay for wages, insurance, taxes, unemployment, etc., that $175 is almost like nothing at all. The ball is being juggled constantly. Where inflation has caused everything to go up in price, our pay has gone down significantly. If this keeps up, we won't be able to afford to work.. can only lose money for so long before we're out of business.

Scary for a business that's been in business for over 30 years. (21 for karaoke)

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SoundChoice Certification coming soon!

Most of the hosts I know charge $250 for a basic 4 hour show. I do know one KJ who gets that, plus money for gas and free food and drinks. She's had that gig for 3 years now.

I have never been able to convince anyone to pay the 'standard' fee so I usually just charged $175.

-James

A friend of mine works one place, two to three nights a week. He DJs on Thursdays and Fridays for $150 a night, and does Karaoke on Saturday nights for $250. BTW, he gets that WITHOUT using SC. Just sayin'.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

not an SC thread, let's stay on topic please.

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

Well, the real bummer is.. the money that we can get for gigs has gone down over the years whereas the cost of everything else has gone up. My best gig has raised their prices but not their wages for bartender/servers.. and has lowered my pay. I feel really lucky to have that gig but it's frustrating.

And other places that want karaoke but only want to pay $100. I feel that the KJ's that pirate their library are the cause of this. I know of 2 that are doing this.

But I've said all this before.

March on SC & CB... I want the illegals gone whether they are the cause of the lower 'going rate' or not.

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SoundChoice Certification coming soon!

In my area, while the average price has stayed the same for the last 15 years or so, ($150) there are always those that drag down the prices by putting on less than adequate shows and charge $75-100 a night.
I have been very fortunate in my business. I work for one Owner that owns 9 clubs and he likes what I do very much. He pays me $250 per night for 4 hours. 9:30-1:30 7 nights a week. While I do charge low prices (only $100 per hour) for private parties. The average is $500 for 3 hours for private gigs in my area, I cannot do any private gigs any longer as my boss has me working 7 nights a week for the last month now and I don't see it ending anytime soon . and yes, it is all me, no nights off, no employees ugh! It's so nice to be wanted tho.
I am also fortunate that I don't lose out on gigs due to a booking change..ie: Special event, fundraiser or other event because my Boss will just move me to one of his other clubs for the night instead of sending me home.

I have always believed the price is not set by the Market as much as it is due to your performance as a Kj. You can't expect to make $200 a night if you have sub-par equipment and update your books once a year.
You get what you pay for.

I have always made it a habit of spending the equivalent of one show a month on New Music at least. I typically spend more tho. $250-300 every month on new music. I make sure the owner knows i am not just soaking up the money he pays me, I put it back in every month on the Newest songs and keep the equipment updated.

I'm sorry but I take offense to that. Am sick of hearing that it's my performance and not the market or undercutting KJ's that are hurting my business. Having 28+ in my rotation at every gig I do doesn't get me more jobs at other venues. Though it says volumes for the job I do! Bar owners are tight as they come (I know this because I was a bartender for 16 years) they look at it as "$100 for karaoke or $250 for karaoke..." the $100 wins. I don't have sub-par equipment (2 Crown X Ti 6000's, Madison MAS213d Subs, 18' Peavy speakers...I can rock the house as good as a live band!) and my books are updated monthly and reprinted entirely every 6 months. I spend over $150 per month on new stuff. Yes, they get what they pay for but they won't know what a good show is unless they hire me or go to my show (fat chance there), most bar owner look down their noses at karaoke. My area is hard hit by the economy and won't see an improvement until 2 years after the recession is declared over.
The undercutting KJ's are hurting the professionals[period]

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SoundChoice Certification coming soon!

You may take offense, but none was ever intended. I simply spoke from my experience. I have never worked somewhere (EVER) that would not pay me what I asked for. I turn around and walk out the door. I never would compromise what I am for less. Though I work in a fairly large city, 650,000, there is plenty of work, even for all the illegal Kj's. They don't hurt me or get in my way. I charge more than 99% of the Kj's in this area and have NEVER in 15 years been undercut and lost a gig to someone that promised more for less $$. Not once.

I have to believe that it has to do more with how I run my business, more than filling a void in the Karaoke Market and just getting lucky. I have always felt that if one was to give in to an owner/mgr pushing down the price then it would seem as one was desperate. The world takes advantage of desperate ppl always have, always will. It doesn't mean I am right in any of my views, they are just that, .. my views. Just words from a Kj that has been doing this since 1985.
No offense intended.