Karaoke Forums

Hey gang,

I was wondering what your policy was on another person singing the same song someone sang earlier in the evening. Besides alerting the second singer that the song was already performed and recommending something else, if they persist to sing the song anyways do you let them?
I had two older (60+) gentlemen that got in a pretty heated conversation a few weeks ago when the second guy sang the same song about an hour and a half after the first guy. I suggested to the second singer that he should ask the first singer if he minded him performing the song again and he assured me he did and I even seen him walk over there and start talking to the first singer. He gave me a thumbs up and I assumed (i know)it was cool.
I did ask the second singer to sing a different song and he said he didnt feel comfortable singing anything else and just wanted to sing this one. Which is when I suggested he go ask if the first guy was ok with it.
Long story short.... Second guy sings song and walks off stage. He is quickly approached by first singer who pretty much gets in his face and says "why the %&# you doing singing my song"? to which the second singer starts screaming at the top of his lungs for this guy to get out of his face and he doesnt own the rights to this song and to quit swearing at him, etc, etc.
Once I heard what was going on I immediately stopped the filler music and played two babies crying which I have on audiobits in Compuhost. Just about everyone started laughing and I went and broke up the supposed fight.
Well, lo and behold, turns out the second guy never even mentioned to the other about singing the song he had done earlier. He lied to me and told me he did so, I take blame for this spat.
Thanks

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Sound Choice and Chartbuster Certified

I'm shocked the first singer remembered what he sang and hour and a half before. Honestly, they are both huge babies and I'd probably scold them both. Singer 1, you don't own the song and my policy is to allow others to sing the same song later if it's more than an hour since the first. Singer 2, you lied to me so you are done for the night.

Rule #284 Do not let singers sort song requests out for themselves. That's part of your job.

I don't let singers repeat songs except on very rare occasions and only if I get approval from the first singer.

Early on in my karaoke singer days, I was asked to sing a sing that an earlier singer bombed on. I came into the club after that singer made his attempt and new nothing of it. The host at the location never said anything to me about it. I sang the song (Jane by Jefferson Starship btw....same Dangerous version I still sing today) and was almost immediately confronted by the original singer as I walked off the stage. He called me a show off and said that I was rude for trying to show him up. It took myself, several singers and the host several minutes to calm the gentlemen down and make him realize that I was unaware he has attempted it and that it was a request from another regular.

I remembered that experience when I started hosting and decided to just not let folks repeat songs.

My karaoke show is not KISS FM. No need to hear the same song 4 times in an hour.

-Chris

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-Chris

Wow... people who get worked up over another person singing "their" song really need to learn how to relax.

I would have no issues letting someone repeat a song at opposite ends of a 4 hour show... but anything too close I always suggest that another song be chosen.

I *have* seen people almost come to blows because someone requested their song before they had a chance... also extremely childish. I guess it only matters if you are a one trick pony...

I think repeating a song does take something away from the show. Especially considering the volume of availale material. Sure, people come in after and have no idea what has been sung, but we try our best not to repeat. It still happens, and whenever it does, I'm reminded of why it's a bad idea. It's usually a popular, mainstream song that gets repeated on the radio ad nauseum. I think we're updating our software to prevent it from happening. Everybody's got their favorites, but, sorry.

I mean, look in the book. You can't find 1 other song that you'd like to sing?

i dont allow repeats either except the occasional special if the first singer is no longer there.
for the "that's my song" BS, i will look at whoever said it and use "I paid for it, so actually it's my song." that usually gets a chuckle and the "you got me" head bob.

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

Thanks for the replies. The gentlemen who sang the song first no longer comes to my show on Monday nights. He refuses to be around the other guy and though I'm somewhat bothered, I have to laugh at the adolescent behavior these 2 retirees are displaying. The other gentleman is prouder than a peacock and I actually had to tell him last week to stop telling everyone who walks in the door his blow by blow account of their squabble. Go figure.

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Sound Choice and Chartbuster Certified

That IS just too funny!!! I wish I had been there to see that.

Now, regarding singers who submit a song that was already sung.... I allow it; however, I will first inform Singer #2 that this song was just done, or it was just submitted by someone ahead of you, and would you (Singer #2) mind picking a different song. If Singer #2 says no to my request, I then inform him/her that I will let him/her perform that song in the next rotation, so that the crowd can have a chance to forget it was just recently done. I have never gotten an arguement from that.

I know that there are some KJs who have a "No Repeat" rule (unwritten, but known), where it doesn't matter if the Singer has left for the night or not... Once a song is sung at their show, it is not allowed to sing it again that night.

As for the "Hey! That's MY song" attitude... I've seen that many times in the past (mostly as a Singer and not as a KJ). There are some people that are so into themselves, they feel that YOU MUST ASK for THEIR PERMISSION to sing something which they are known to sing. It's laughable how possessive these people can be. I knew one KJ who used to sing "Amazed" by Lonestar. Well, one day, some acquaintance of the KJ came in and submitted that song. The person had seen this KJ sing that song occasionally, and hadn't heard it done that particular night, so she figured she would give it a try. The KJ in question did not know the song was submitted (because there were Co-KJs running the show, and the other KJ was running the equipment), so when the song was queued up and this acquaintence/friend got up to sing it, the KJ started shouting out, "THAT'S MY SONG!!!". After the Singer finished the song, the (upset) KJ decided to immediately re-queue the song and sing it again. Talk about childish.

I have actually had someone come up to me once and ask for my permission to sing "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh" just because they knew it was one of my Signature Songs. I not only told them that they didn't need my permission to sing it, but I encouraged them to do so. I love to hear other people's renditions of certain unique songs which I have been known to sing (which you rarely hear at Karaoke shows).

What an excellent retort. Consider it stolen.

I've been known to use phrases such as "Is your name Merle Haggard? If not, then the song doesn't belong to you." or,

"Around here, nobody owns the songs. It's strictly first-come - first-served."

but I like the "I paid for it, so it's mine." much better.

Thanks.

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Earl
(BS, PHD & Certified CurmuDJeon)

[font=Times New Roman]"Growing Old may be mandatory... but growing UP is still optional."[/font]

I have wanted to sing a song, and a previous singer just finished..

No harm, no foul.. I picked another..

WTF is the big deal.. Are we not adults?

I have done that when there was a song that I wanted to sing and I knew it was a "signature song" of someone that is in the bar. I just like to be respectful of the people that sing the same songs over and over.

-Chris

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-Chris

I know most of my patrons and what they sing, at least being the host I try to keep things smooth. I have a couple hundred songs I do usually the more unusual or funny. I don't like doing the songs everyone else does, and I try to rotate what I sing so it isn't the same old thing all the time. That being said if I know certain singers only sing certain songs I tend to stay away from those songs. I always inform singers if a song has been done. Most of my singers are very respectful of one another, and ask if the song has been sung already. It's nice to have patrons that treat each other with consideration.

This is a rhetorical question, right?!?!? Any karaoke night I have visited was more like a daycare than an adult gathering, whether it is attended by full-time grown children or those with alcohol-induced infancy characteristics...

Once a song is done, is is usually off limits for the rest of the night. This was a year long poll I took with singers when I first started. As a singer, they don't want someone with the attitude "hey I can do that better put me up" or 'that's my song, I need to do it now" etc, and as a customer, they simply don't want to hear the same songs repeatid in the evening. So we made that rule years ago. Rarely get any complaints on that one anymore.

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

I am also a "once per night" host.

I do avoid singing songs that other singers typically do, just because I have so many that I can sing and they usually have a much more limited repertoire.

I trained another host at my service club, and told him why I did it. He got tired of people complaining that they wanted to sing "Gunpowder and Lead" or whatever the latest hot song was. So he developed the answer of "The system won't let me do it." True enough, if you think of it in the sense of the system of running a show we use....

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Yes you should let them both sing the same song only after as you say telling the 2nd person it was already performed and giving them another choice as an option.

If they insist... it is either their signature song they feel comfortable with or they may be secretly competing with the other person. This rarely happens unless you have groups of regulars that come in every week, where then hopefully only "friendly" competitions happen. But sometimes it gets ugly and then you as a host would have to step in and make at times Yes... uncomfortable calls.

If the song is extremely popular you could always set a "cap" on how many times a night a song can be sung.

I have the "No Repeats" rule in my songbook, and I always state it over the mic during my introduction for every show. I hate karaoke contests to begin with, and I'll be damned if I'm going to deal with a pi$$ing contest between 2 singers as to which one performs a song better.

I have well over 20,000 songs in my book to select from. If the other person can't find something else to sing, then I suggest that they get to the show a little earlier to guarantee themselves that particular song.

Same as many others here, I don't allow repeats for the night with the same rare exception that the original singer is gone and there was enough time in between to not feel bad about the repeat. It's just tacky in my opinion, even if the second singer might be better... I usually tell them it's not a contest and I have plenty of other songs to choose from, so there's no need.

Now to the singer that comes up and complains about someone singing "their" song, I usually tell them it's first come, first serve. Be here earlier next week to claim "your" song.

Glad I clicked this one on. You know some people are polite, I've had people come up to me when out singing karaoke who know the songs I sing and ask me if it is OK they sing one of "my songs", but I always tell them of course "it's not my song, it's Merle Haggards" or whoever the original artist is! Old timers are sometimes stuck back in their teen years, odd how they (we) can remember a day or time in every detail, but what I ate last night, or what ball game I watched over the weekend, can't remember, hope you all live long enough to find out what that's like, to be an old timer, thinking of kicking butt in your senior years. Once I got a call while on duty on my local first aid squad to go to the senior center due to an injury, these 2 old timers actually got into a fist fight, bloody noses, black eye, hurt pride is all that was wrong. But one was walking around in a walker, the other in a wheel chair....go figure, and one was arrested.

What bothered me once and I never went back to his shows, everybody loved a guy who was a professional auctioneer. I love the song, but for him to sing The Auctioneer Song by Leroy VanDyke 3 times in an hour, was a little much. I complained to the KJ and was told he allows requests and he cuts them in front of anybody else on the lineup. Like I said, I never went back.

I never had a problem yet of anybody repeating the same song by another singer. Likes been said thousands of songs in the book, and yet I find in Karaoke the same singer's singing the same songs this week as last week gets stale too week after week!

I think the main question coming from out of all this discussion is, who the hell is Merle Haggard?