Karaoke Forums

[quote="Lonman"]Okay doke!
Still doesn't mean that a judge is going to judge on technicalities over the overall sound and performance.[/quote
80% of their score is tech

Oops.. wrong topic... ignore..

If a moderator could delete this post, I'd appreciate it.... Thanks

Ok so a judge likes what they hear & just bumps all the 'technical' scores up over someone who may be 'technically' perfect but doesn't sound as good and doesn't score them as high, nothing to stop them from doing that either. You can tell and explain to a judge all you want - bottom line is going to be their ears.

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So you would actually have to physically go somewhere to audition? Meh. I can't do that. :/

Uh.. this is a Karaoke Contest we're talking about.

Yeah... you'd have to go somewhere to participate (not audition)... somewhere in Salina, KS. Are you planning to travel out there?'

I'm sorry I'm sorry. Just sometimes I participate in online karaoke contests. I'm sorry. Stupid question. My bad.

The only stupid question is the one not asked!
Most of the contests ever presented in this forum are going to be for club/bar events that can be found throughout the Nation (and sometimes World). Not much online contest stuff here.

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People who could not read music:

1) Ella Fitzgerald

2) I am not even going to bother with the EXTENSIVE list of brilliant singers, arguably some of the best in history in their respective genres, who could/can not read music, but because they had/have exceptional ability and talent, did/do not need to learn what they already know or innately have a grasp of regarding technicalities in order to be in a class above those who learned to read music but just aren't as gifted.

There is much evidence to support the opinion that learning to read music can be helpful for many, but for some, is truly an option,not a necessity.

As far as contests,I agree that people who work in music in some capacity and are not affiliated with the venue are the only way to go. It will be interesting to hear how your idea for one turns out.

I have to add in my most recent experience with a karaoke contest:

The bar I am working at wanted to do a contest - January is typically slow since it is right after the holiday and people are usually broke. It picks back up around tax time, so it might be ok to run nightly karaoke contests - $50 Top Prize, especially at the owner's insistence.

And as always - I regret it.

Had a guy come in at like 9:30 or so. He's kind of regular. He signed up for the contest, but wasn't there when I called his name. I saw him return, so I was nice enough to call his name again. To be fair, I also called last call for the contest, if anyone wanted to get in, they must let me know before he is done singing. No additional contestants came forward.

That was nice of me.

The format is - Top 2 have a sing off, so it's minimum 2 songs to win. In the event of a tie for second place, those two must sing off to determine who reaches the Finals. There was a tie, and that last contestant who wasn't there when I called his name was tied for 2nd with a girl he beat in the first sing off.

Then came the finals. He wanted to sing the same song he sang in the first round. I said that he couldn't sing the same song. He then gave me another song and we kicked off the finals.

Had a girl give a flawless rendition of "At Last" by Etta James. His rendition of Lady Antebellum was mediocre. He could sing it, but he was late on a few words early on and missed a couple completely. Needless to say, he lost. It was a no doubter. There probably wasn't anyone in the bar who disagreed with the decision - other than him.

And that's when it all started.

He came up to me and tried to say that he didn't sing Randy Houser in the first round (it was on the judges forms, it was last accessed by the computer just 20 minutes prior). He would not accept that for an answer. So, he told me what a POS karaoke guy I am, what a POS husband I am to my wife, and what a POS business I run, and why "his" karaoke guy is better than me.

Whatever. A younger, less mature me would have sent him to the promised land - but I have come to expect that sort of thing from contests. Although - bringing my marriage into it was a low blow.

Then - he proceeded to tell the winner "the only reason you won was because Troy felt sorry for you" - and several other reasons as to why he should have won - to which her husband took exception. He ended up chasing that guy out the door and it took every one of his buddies to keep him from wrecking his entire year.

The next day, he that disgruntled singer sent that lady's husband a facebook message, demanding an apology. The nerve!

Anyway, he has since been barred - at least until he talks to the owners. But, thought I would share the latest and greatest contest horror story.

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

Ugh. Sorry dude. Another in a long line of contest horror stories.

I know there are some here that say they do them well and have zero customer complaints. I think those customers complaining just aren't doing it within earshot.

You just can't win with these things.

You're right. You can't win. You might have a great night, but in the long term, you just end up ticking people off.

Funny: I watch American Idol and watch those same sensitive and oblivious egos. In fact, just last night (its group week), the weakest guy in the group said to the judges (after their performance) "It wasn't our best, but I am standing by these guys". Obviously, he didn't hear himself sing. And sure enough, he was the one booted off.

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

Maybe before results are announced at competitions, the host should prep the crowd along the lines of "Not everyone can win tonight, but remember,the only way to become a loser is to act like one"

Yeah, I'll add to the chorus of karaoke contest horror stories. Last year, I took over a show that I used to attend regularly; the host had become increasingly erratic and unreliable, so the owner drafted me to revamp the gig. A month went by and, outside of the original spike generated by the first week with a new host, little progress was made - previous host had alienated a LOT of patrons.

So the owner suggests a karaoke contest - I play along, because, hell, is business gonna get WORSE? Hadn't realized what a stressful undertaking it is. Because people are dramatic. Like, really dramatic.

We run it very simply: one winner per week, 12 weeks, grand finale pits all finalists against one another. Week one is a fiasco. We have three contestants: an older gentleman singing "Mack the Knife" and the like, a middle-aged guy who sings classic/80's rock type material, and a younger guy who sings both modern and classic r&b. We made clear that the contest would be judged on participation, stage presence, and vocal ability; our two older gentlemen understood that, and when the middle-aged guy won for a spot-on rendition of "Cover of the Rolling Stone", the older man congratulated him and shook his hand. (Indeed, the older guy couldn't have been more gracious. He returned in week 4 and won a spot in the finals by a landslide.) The younger guy, on the other hand, was a different case: he felt like he had the best voice there, and his friends took to blasting the bar and my business on Facebook, claiming that we were racist (he was the only black performer that night), that we'd been paid off, that the middle-aged guy was, and I quote, "someone's drunk uncle that sounded like Meat Loaf". (He was completely sober, and more of a baritone, but I digress.)

It was right there in week one that I realized this was going to be a stressful 12 weeks. The guy who made a stink about his loss was a fine singer, sure, but he was boring. He sang an R. Kelly ballad and Stevie Wonder's "Ribbon in the Sky" -- both were nice and all, but listless, and he bombed the key change on the Stevie song. I was nothing but kind to him, shook his hand on the way out, invited him back to compete again, complimented his performance -- I even bought the bastard a drink. And then, the next day, I'm a redneck who hates black people and their music. (I actually despise country music, although of course I have to remain impartial when I'm working; I'm a huge fan of r&b and power-pop.)

It snowballed from there. Ex-regulars who hadn't shown their faces in months - sometimes years - expected to enter the contest and win solely based on name recognition. Some nights, the expected judges simply wouldn't show up, and the owner would insist I pick a winner. After one such mishap where I made the apparently awful decision of picking the best singer - that time I picked the only male contestant, so I was a misogynist; at least he was black, so I wasn't racist anymore, which was nice - I made a show on judge-less nights of picking the winner out of a hat. Was it fair? Of course not, but I wasn't about to be made a martyr for daring to reward quality. (This inevitably resulted in a drunken, tuneless woman who warbled her way through "Nothing Compares 2 U" making it to the finals. Seriously, you can't win.)

Finals arrived on Week 13. It was, again, a fiasco. My best singer to date didn't show; the remaining contestants ranged from horrifying to mediocre to actually kinda decent. The middle-aged winner from Week 1 killed it -- easily the best performer of the night, no questions asked. Another singer was in great form, but wasted his lungs on slow, depressing alt-rock. (A tip: Pearl Jam's "Black" is a pretty egregious choice when you're trying to win based on crowd participation and stage presence.) The winner ended up being a bit of a surprise -- a girl who had snuck into the finals on the strength of a whimsical rendition of a Britney Spears song. She never wowed anybody, but she picked upbeat songs that were in her vocal range, and the crowd cheered a lot for her. More importantly, her entire extended family came in, and spent money. Like, a lot of it. Which I guess means it was rigged, but I thought I was clear about not having a vote. Apparently not -- I thought this place was going to riot.

Our final performer was an ex-regular who only showed up for the chance to win stuff. She's a strong enough vocalist, but she only sang ballads, and not particularly showy material. One of the friends she brought with her was an old high school flame of mine; despite the fact that I'm happily married, and haven't thought about that girl in a decade or more, I was accused of speeding up "Fast Car" and throwing her timing off so she'd lose. All because I dated one of her friends when we were teenagers, which is apparently grounds to hate her. (Contrary to popular belief, I didn't hate this woman because she was friends with someone I was once intimate with; I hated her because she was a whiner, entitled, and a sore loser.)

The bar was packed that night -- they had a $4000 night, after months of ringing $1000 or less. The contest brought business in, but at what cost? How many people would return after feeling burned by their loss?

Didn't really matter in the end; the bar took a week off from karaoke for the family (and myself) to take a well-deserved vacation. While they were gone, an electrical fire burned the place to the ground. They want to rebuild in the next year; they say they'll bring me back for karaoke when that happens. I'll agree on one condition: No. More. Contests.

"The younger guy, on the other hand, was a different case: he felt like he had the best voice there, and his friends took to blasting the bar and my business on Facebook, claiming that we were racist (he was the only black performer that night), that we'd been paid off, that the middle-aged guy was, and I quote, "someone's drunk uncle that sounded like Meat Loaf"."

"...Ex-regulars who hadn't shown their faces in months - sometimes years - expected to enter the contest and win solely based on name recognition."

" ...I made the apparently awful decision of picking the best singer - that time I picked the only male contestant, so I was a misogynist"

" ...the crowd cheered a lot for her. More importantly, her entire extended family came in, and spent money. Like, a lot of it. Which I guess means it was rigged"

"Our final performer was an ex-regular who only showed up for the chance to win stuff."

and i will still get asked by the bar why i won't do contests, this happens at every contest i have ever seen.

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