Karaoke Forums

Anyone here aware of the Touch Tunes karaoke jukeboxes? One of the biggest karaoke companies in my area just got replaced by one. Basically, it's just as it sounds. It's a regular TT jukebox that's also equipped with karaoke. You put your money in, select a song, then it gives you around 30 seconds to take a provided wireless mic to wherever the bar has installed the TV for the lyrics. I heard about it and immediately went to try it out. First off, it seemed the library was lacking new songs, but was pretty good when it came to the basics. Second, the mics sounded good, but at this location there was no reverb. I don't know if that's a setting they just weren't using or if it doesn't exist through the system. Of course I understand the value of a show and a host vs. just a machine on the wall, even then it's kind of scary. If a vending company installs one of these machines, the bar no longer has to pay for karaoke, the bar gets paid for karaoke. It could possibly lead to less drink sales during normal karaoke hours, but singers literally have the option to sing at any time. I did get a chance to ask the bartender of this mid-large size venue how they were doing with it, he told me that it was "eh". Sometimes busy, sometimes not. Has anyone else heard about these machines? I'm not too worried yet, but I feel that when TT gets things ironed out a little better, us KJ's are in trouble. Thoughts?

Seems like there would be lots of problems with this set up. Do people stand in line while waiting to see who is next? What if someone refuses to give up the microphone? What if someone just decides to spout out 4 minutes of non-stop profanity? What about duets and group songs? Are there extra microphones? Disappearing microphones?

Are there dedicated hours set up for a karaoke "SHOW" or is the machine available at all times? It seems to me that people wouldn't come in to a bar where no one was already singing and decide to be "FIRST" to drop a dollar into the karaoke machine. I think the really bad singers might actually get booed if there wasn't a KJ there to get the crowd to applaud after a poor performance. It could get ugly if someone's girlfriend was booed and the boyfriend took offense.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see how it all washes out. Personally, I don't think that I'd patronize such a place. Too many opportunities to abuse the rotation. Some drunk guy trying to put 10 dollars in the machine so he could give a concert. Good Greif!

While in California last month I visited a few karaoke hot spots. ONE spot advertised Karaoke in huge neon and the days/hours they had it. I went in only to find a similar system that you speak of. A Karaoke "booth". Yep, like a photo booth, you pay, you sing, you see the words on the booth screen, the audience see's it too and you as well. It sucked IMO. and it wasn't busy.

Bar is responsible for advertising karaoke....
Bar is responsible for managing the rotation....
Bar is responsible for promoting karaoke during "karaoke time"....
Bar is responsible for the "experience"....
Bar is responsible for "maintenance" (contacting the jukebox vendor if there is an issue then waiting for them to fix)

I am not too worried about it. I have not heard of any of these in the area yet and I feel confident that I am worth more to a bar than the JB version of me.

-Chris

_________________
-Chris

Yup, saw in on one of the "fix the failing restaurant" shows. Wonder about that licensing too....

Anyway, this is not a new concept. Karaoke Jukeboxes have been around for at least 10 years.

While they seem to have been accepted in a few Asian-style karaoke rooms, they have failed miserably in American public venues.

Arguments over who's next, and equipment damage resulting from same.

all-nighters from the same singer ( good or bad) causing customer walk-outs.

No one to answer questions about songs or bulid confidence for those too shy to try it.

Pretty much nothing to make it any better than singing at home.

They ended up gathering dust. Later, licensing problems popped up, but by that time no one cared....

_________________
"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

First time I ever did karaoke was in a Japanese karaoke bar. They had a remote you punched a code into for the song you wanted to sing. When it came up, they passed the mic to you. Worked there. Don't see it here.

Imagine your show's worst singer. Now imagine them singing literally 20 times in a row on a mic with no EQ. Nice

_________________
C Mc
KJ, FL

The bartenders made adjustments and the sound was pretty good with the deal in Japan. The Japanese business men pretty much handled the rotation just fine ha!. I am sure it was a different deal than this juke box thing.

Let's see... Ten Japanese Businessmen singin' Elvis or Ten Rednecks singin' Toby Keith... The bottle slingin' would probably favor the Rednecks... Poor Bartenders!

I beg your pardon. They were doing Frankie and Deno.. No lie. Couldn't speak a word of English but sang Sinatra like a Vegas Crooner. Lot's of Saki.. Lots..

...So that's the real problem in the States, plenty of beer, wine and liquor but not enough Saki-Saki....

for those of you whom have never tried saki, proceed with extreme caution. that stuff will definately mess with your head

Was that letter “S” a replacement from another obvious letter? We (asian community) don’t pronounce it like that.

Here’s your kj vs. machine, a Bar Jukebox Skyscraper. It comes complete with 1200 watts of power, Polk Audio Speakers, Mid, hi & sub. Karaoke coming soon.

At the end of their specs, quote: “Your unlimited jukebox music subscription allows you maximum earnings at a flat monthly fee. Your broadband connection allows you access to our entire music library that updates with the latest releases weekly”. I have no idea if the website is active or inactive. Wonder if it's affiliated with cloud.

http://www.barjukebox.com/category_s/1821.htm

_________________
To be fortunate enough to derive an income from a source as fulfilling as karaoke music has got to be as close to heaven as we can get here on earth!

You can get singers out the wazooo with Saki. With Saki, everyone's an Idol.. NOTE: We were drinking Ky Bourbon when we were in Japan. Go figure..

...Well Brian, it looks like that site is alive. I don't know how well they're doing but they just uploaded a video on You Tube in reference to becoming a sales rep.

...I did find an alternative to the word Suki, if it's what you were referring to but I'm puzzled???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Jlv8F9c ... re=related

Similar excitement from that youtube lady, but not quite. The referenced letter was "F". A favorite expression of the bar girls when I was stationed in MACV. Vietnam. "Hey sailor boy, f***y f***y".

_________________
To be fortunate enough to derive an income from a source as fulfilling as karaoke music has got to be as close to heaven as we can get here on earth!

Just remember there are places that have jukeboxes but still bring in bands. We play in one place that had their own system and discs for weekends (we played elsewhere) and we still play three nights a week there. A jukebox in one thing, a professional show is something else.

_________________
You can be strange but not a stranger

I am a TT Karaoke host at 2 bars in PA. I do very well, in fact number one in the country for karaoke song sales through the TT juke according to Touchtunes themselves. Both bars I work average $1200 in drink sales each during my 3 hours. So in retort drink sales do go up. The mics do have reverb its just the host has to know how utilize the remote control. As far as someone putting in a bunch of money and hearing that one person all nite doesn't happen being that the host can edit the lineup. I'm not going to tell all as to how I run successful shows, but if anyone here decides to try to host it good luck.

a host friend of mine uses some kind of digital box that is supposedly from CAVS and it also sells karaoke tracks. I don't know if its the same system.

Personally I would never use anything from CAVS all there other stuff, in my experience has been severely overpriced (IE you could do the exact same thing FAR more cheaply with a computer*

-James