Karaoke Forums

Hi there,
I am new on this forum I firstly want to say hello. Secondly, I believe Karaoke books are a must. I've hosted Karaoke since 1984 and I've always used books. They have always made my life easier as a KJ. As for using request slips, I find them now obsolete. My rotation is first come first serve basis. I take it to another step by automatically adding my singers into the rotation by when they walk into the door. I have trained my singers to walk up and say hello to me when they get there. That instantly creates a familiarity with my singers. I use a program called KARMA to host my shows. It automatically keeps track of the rotation of singers, it has a ticker on the bottom of the screen that constantly posts the order in rotation that the singers are in. KARMA is a quick enough program that my singers walk up and give me their names, I enter it and they are in the rotation. I have them tell me what song they wish to sing when they come up to sing. That gives them time to decide what they are going to sing. When I had them fill out slips, they would more often then not change their minds on the song they wished to sing. They wasted way too many request slips. Also, this ended the problem of them using the request slips for giving out their phone number and not for Karaoke. I also use Songbookslive.com to post my catalogue. They can view my song list from any smart phone (Android or Iphone) , web book or laptop. I have two basic books for my customers 1) The main book and 2) the update book. I have a problem coming up soon though, because my update book is almost as large as my main book. I might have to look into using a Kiosk in the future. To sum it all up, I believe it is important for your customers to have a reference guide of some kind to know what songs you have. If not they will be standing in line to ask you what songs you have and that is not good because it slows down your nite.
Thanks!

@KaraokeDude: His quote "I have them tell me what song they wish to sing when they come up to sing. That gives them time to decide what they are going to sing. When I had them fill out slips, they would more often then not change their minds on the song they wished to sing. They wasted way too many request slips. Also, this ended the problem of them using the request slips for giving out their phone number and not for Karaoke.

Books are great for looking up songs BEFORE they get on the stage. Keeping things flowing quickly, with very little time between singers, will dramatically improve your show. Don't fall into the trap of letting them tell you what they want to sing when they get up there. Insist on a song ahead of time and they can only change songs BEFORE they get on the stage. I don't care if you only have 5 singers, that number may sometime in the future grow to 30 singers and running an efficient show will make you the KING of karaoke.

It starts with Books, or a kiosk, or an app. AND I love slips. Slips give you the opportunity to process a song request when you have the time, without the fear of forgetting what the singer just ASKED you to do.

PS. Song slips can't cost you that much can they?

A kiosk affords the same things that slips do with the added bonus of never getting the name wrong or the song wrong because you can't read their chicken scratch on the slips. I hate getting the song numbers wrong because I can't read what they wrote. I also, as a singer, hate it when the host gets it wrong because they can't read my writing.

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

Thank you for responding, I hosted shows for over 20 years the way you are describing how you prefer to host your show. I ALWAYS had lag time because people want to change their songs. I don't know what trap you are referring too. My show runs remarkably quicker the way I run my rotation now. The rotation is posted on the screen, I always announce the next singer and the sing on deck. The customers know that they must have their song ready by the time they get back to the stage. I don't know how many singers you have at your shows but by 10:00pm I have over 30 singers practically every nite I am working. By the customer screen the singers also know the rotation, their names are always put in, I don't have to worry about putting the song in the rotation yet. After the first singer, the next singer knows they will be next, so they come and tell me what they are singing. I never forget because I put it in right then when they tell me. I have no lag time between songs unless the singer doesn't sing then I call the next person up. I have trained my customers to be ready when their names are called or they know that their name will be put at the end of the rotation and the next singer's name will be called. Experience removes the lag time. I am very proactive with my customers. I have them fill out a survey and ask for their opinions about my shows. Every single customer likes the way I run my rotation. Their first thought when they get to the venue is getting their name into the rotation. They know that after their name is in that they can get seated, comfortable and relaxed before they decide what they are singing, the song decision can wait. I have a large following because they know that they are taken care of, I have a strict rotation, I DO NOT show favoritism to anyone, I DO NOT take bribes from singers to be put up in the rotation, they respect that. I have a great sound system (I am a sound engineer), everything is geared to the customer.
To answer your question: When you have an average of 34+ singers a nite, you work 6 nites a week, 5 hours per nite, your customers are using the request forms for uses other than a request form, yes they do get expensive.

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THE KARAOKE DUDE
JACKSON DUNKLEY
KARAOKE DONE RIGHT!

Thank you!
You named the best (or worst rather) reasons why I stopped using request slips. What is the best Kiosk program to use? I do like having the customers walk up and at least say hello and give me their name for the rotation. I get to meet them and shake their hands. I feel it's more personal.

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THE KARAOKE DUDE
JACKSON DUNKLEY
KARAOKE DONE RIGHT!

There's nothing stopping you from putting the kiosk right next to where your system is. Then you can talk to everyone that walks up.

I'd give you the name of my kiosk, but then 16 people would jump on me as either being biased or "advertising."

There are two that I know of.

In no particular order:

Karaoke Songfinder
Compuhost

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Birdofsong

@TheKarakeDude: I didn't mean to accuse you of running a poor show, that was not my intent. I have been to many shows that take a singers request when the singer is on the stage, and it can easily eat up 1 precious minute each and every time a new singer gets on the stage. Forty to 60 songs per night could be 40 to 60 minutes of no one singing.

I too use Karma, and I love the program. I use the history feature frequently, I use the trim silence feature religiously, I use the change the song version feature all the time. My goal is no more than 15 seconds between current singers last note to the start of new singers first note. Many times there is Zero time between singers. I am an OK typer but not stenographer speed, and when you factor in spelling errors ( I only spell what I know is absolutely accurate), I cannot accomoplish my 15 second goal.

I'm sorry if I read you wrong.

You forgot Super Remote Request Tool from Tricerasoft, $24.95 I am playing with the demo right now before I get it. Looks like it is going to work pretty good. I just need to be able to manipulate the database to eliminate anything with <PA> attached to it before I enable it for my shows.

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

No problem If you're not the best typist try this: When searching your database, only type in the first 2 letters in each word. It will still find your song. It's quicker.

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THE KARAOKE DUDE
JACKSON DUNKLEY
KARAOKE DONE RIGHT!

I've been thinking about trying it. I'll check it out. Thanks!

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THE KARAOKE DUDE
JACKSON DUNKLEY
KARAOKE DONE RIGHT!

I use CompuHost. I would never use anything else. Here are a couple of kiosk screen shots that I have posted on my website.

http://firelightkaraoke.com/kiosk.html

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

Ok, Mr Scott, why didn't we go to this place when I came to Utah a couple months ago? That guy did have a lot of songs, over 100,000 if I remember right. Brewskies wasn't it?


I like song slips for two reasons mentioned, spelling and not forgetting if they just come up and tell you while you are busy. I have a paper cutter at home so I spend little time making song slips. I have the Compuhost Karaoke Kiosk but having problems using it so still using books. I will still keep at least one once I do go Kiosk.

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

we pay around 150.00 for an entire box (10 reams) of legal sheets cut into 10 tickets each. This lasts us right between 8-10 months and we use the tickets for advertising our business, doing drawings for prizes at venues and to collect email addresses to send our newsletters.....all in all a very effective use of $$$.....we could save $$ and cut them ourselves but just SO not worth it.

Athena

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"Integrity is choosing your thoughts, words and actions based on your principles and values rather than for your personal gain."
Unknown
"if a man has integrity, nothing else matters, If a man has no integrity, nothing else matters."
Lee McGuffey

I have never used slips, but I am considering starting for just the reasons you state. I woul like to start an email list, collect Twitter and Facebook data for friends and notifying of special events. I can't think of any more reliable and efficient way (short of using a kiosk) to grab this info.

-Chris

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-Chris

ChrisAvis,
If you do go this route I recommend you custom design your tickets and make them 2 sided. We have booked many a gig from a song slip someone pulled out of a wallet or purse and handed out. Ours have our Custom logo and contact info on the back of each slip with lines for singers name...song name....artist and our "catch phrase" on the front. We did experiment with color but found it didn't make much difference except in cost to us. If you don't have a logo and need someone to design on for you I can highly suggest the person who did ours...just PM me.

Athena

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"Integrity is choosing your thoughts, words and actions based on your principles and values rather than for your personal gain."
Unknown
"if a man has integrity, nothing else matters, If a man has no integrity, nothing else matters."
Lee McGuffey

Yes don't just have a slip with Name, Title & Number - although at some shows even THIS was too much, I have seen slips that were cut up scraps of paper.
Make sure your contact info is available & possibly your logo. They can work as mini business cards in a pinch.
Key Up / Key Down lines are also nice.

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

Yup... I was thinking about using slightly heavier stock. Basically cut them to business card size and replicate my business card on one side and the song request info on the other. Print and cut at home to save cost vs the slightly heavier paper stock.

-Chris

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-Chris

We have our slips professionally made and the advertiser pays for it. We haven't paid for a slip in the last 8 years. It has both our and the advertiser's info on it.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

Make my own slips, 400-500 at a time with good old MS Word and a pair of scissors.

Tried collecting emails and shiz for a while but it was just too much to keep up with. Plus, with all the social networking now, it's really not necessary. I can send a mass email to 2,000 people or just post my show info on FB and Twitter.

I've caved and will be printing new books for summer, though highly edited from 14,000+ songs to just over 8,000.

8,000 is plenty. We all know we could run our businesses with 500.

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Terry O'ke--- Fake Music for Real People.

Give the name. Who gives a fig what people think.

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