Karaoke Forums

What bothers me about the whole thing is that the Karaoke purists, and you know who you are, tend to look down their noses at those who run a mixed show like it's inferior. Not all shows, hosts, crowds, or venues are the same. Every place I have worked, since I have been doing this has requested that I play some dance music during the night. As Lone said, we are there to entertain. If I have singers, they will sing. If I have non-singers that want to dance, they will dance. I am paid to make everyone happy, not just one group.

_________________
I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Karaoke purists ...yeppers that me. I never wanted to be a DJ...I wanted to run karaoke shows....

_________________
"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

If a kj wants to play dance music sets - then by all means play dance music sets. I have no problem in any manner with that. What I have a problem with is advertising karaoke, then playing dance music sets throughout the night - that is NOT karaoke. All 1 asks is that if you are going to play dance music, that it's advertised karaoke/dj - not too much to ask I don't think. That way a singer may know that there might be some regular music mixed in as well. Yes I play strictly karaoke at our show - 20 years, 7 nights it's been that way. People dance to singers - with the occasional line dance (Cupid, Cha Cha, etc) thrown in!
You don't go to a place advertising DJ music and request "HEY , I want to sing some karaoke!" Remember you are here to entertain, I want to sing, entertain me!!!
But it's ok to go to an advertised karaoke show and ask for dance music???? Hardly! Simply put karaoke/dj on your ads and there wouldn't be any issues.

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

I have no problem with a KJ running a mixed show, as long as it was advertised as such. I also have no problem with a KJ doing a "Dance Break" during the middle of the show to play 1 or 2 songs, as long as that's it. If there are going to be multiple "Dance Breaks" in the night while people are there to sing, and you advertised your show as a Karaoke show, then I'm never coming back.

It's a different story if there's really nobody there wanting to/waiting to sing. If there's nobody there waiting to sing, then play more dance music, but at least play it from one of your Multiplex CDGs, so that people see the words swiping past on a screen, and maybe decide to ask for the Mic to sing along... or better yet, submit a song slip of their own to sing next.

If you have advertised your show as a Karaoke Show, then you are paid to make the Karaoke crowd happy. You advertised it as such... DELIVER! PERIOD!!!

Guess there are two different directions to go: 1) Cater to your customers, as a good company would do, or 2) Go through the arduous task of retraining your customers to do what you like or what you want to do...

I am not retraining my customers to do what I like or what I want to do...my customers want karaoke...if they wanted a mixed show they would choose a mixed show...there are plenty. We get the crowds because our customers like OUR shows. If I go out to sing I may chose a DJ/KJ show if I am in a dancing mood...or I may choose a all DJ show if I want to dance all night....if I am in a signing mood then I look for a smallish karaoke only show.

Cueball said it best

" if you have advertised your show as a Karaoke Show, then you are paid to make the Karaoke crowd happy. You advertised it as such... DELIVER! PERIOD!!!?

_________________
"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 heard of shows being described as a Karaoke Dance Party...to me, that kind of says it all...Karaoke you can dance to (slow or fast), karaoke you can party to, dance music you can karaoke, dance music you can party to, party music you can karaoke...etc., etc., etc...............

I was always told that you can't go wrong if you play to the crowd. Many patrons have told me they enjoy my show because I do let the customers choose what kind of entertainment they want at the moment. It's nice to have structure and it's nice sometimes to let the muse lead you where the crowd wants to go, not where you think they should go. I lean more to cue's concept basically karaoke with a line dance number thrown in just before the next round of karaoke begins. To me at least karaoke aka singing is an art form so is dancing, when I started out I was more of a dancer than a singer. Now that I have slowed up some the singing has to take front stage. I try to convey to my patrons it is all art and that everyone should participate. One thing I draw the line at is somebody wanting to get up and do a comedy routine, it is not the comedy store, and if they try something like that they get the hook pretty fast.

I wouldn't take it personally, smooth. Just because I prefer one thing doesn't mean there isn't a ton of value in another.
I have a very good example of where your approach works wonderfully. The wife and I are going out tonight and meeting up with a group of people from her work. Her company has hired me before to perform at several of their company functions. I've performed a mixed bag of Christmas carols and later sang a group of dance songs at two of their Christmas parties and did a bunch of Beach\boat\Buffet stuff at a company pool party. In short, I am the only one in the group that sings and they picked a place just to hear me sing. None of them do and they essentially hate karaoke. Some of them went to this place a few weeks back and saw they did a mix of karaoke DJ stuff. They thought of me, they thought of not having to sit through a bunch of bad singers, they thought of being able to dance some, so here we go. I would much prefer to go to an all out karaoke bar, but that doesn't fit with this group. Hence, eight new people just showed up at your show, only one of them sings and takes a spot in your rotation, they WILL make fun of bad singers (I'll tell you now, that is what they do) but they will dance and they will buy drinks.

I will admit to going to shows WAY outside of my area (usually when I travel and meet up with certain friends) and enjoy the guilty, albeit not obnoxious pleasure of making fun of singers. It's a release that I can't partake in at my own shows even though I would love to some times. At my show I am relegated to heavy sighs and subtle eye-rolls.

-Chris

_________________
-Chris

Sometimes you can be surprised also Chris, performing in public is pretty much like taking your clothes off for all to see. It will be quite plain how much talent you have or don't have real fast. I do encourage everyone and don't make fun of singers, I remember how shaky I was when I started. The challenge for me is to get someone up singing that never sang before. One lady I started this way became so good she is singing at the local Indian casino now and getting paid good money. I can say I discovered her and encouraged her. You never know if a singer will improve, or stay the same it is interesting to see how the develop.

one of the singers that was a crowd stand out favorite was a 4 foot 11 bald little man from Malta nicknamed "Legs" he could not carry a tune if his life depended on it and in his language they have no TH sound....he would have such a blast singing and shaking "Wild Ting" and other tunes that everybody would wait for him to appear.....Karaoke is not star search.......it's about having fun. I am not a great singer at all, but I can have the house dancing and laughing in no time.

_________________
"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

Like I said.....guilty pleasure and a release. I didn't mention that it is also quite rare.

Noone needs to remind me how one can be surprised. I have only been hosting for 3 years, but I have been singing in public since 3rd grade. I have been a very regular karaoke singer for about 20 years. I have been blown away many times by people I would never have thought would be able to sing, or entertain.

Myself.....I am what I call a studio singer. Easy enough to listen to, not so fun to watch. I am not a performance singer. Unless I have a fair number of drinks in me, I pretty much stand and sing. There are so many people out there that have mediocre voices, but they have a stage presence that blows people away. That is not me.

-Chris

_________________
-Chris

I am an ok singer, but I love to see people have fun My Grandson Angel had his karaoke birthday party at one of our venues and decided he got to pick the songs for everyone to sing.....I had to sing "Take it off" and "Thriftshop" for him.....most of the songs I do sing are not what anyone would expect me to sing from looking at me....a 50+ year old plump grey haired grandma in a calf length dress.

DH is a great singer and showman, and is known for his ability to sing almost anything...and his wild shirts.

We have FUN at our shows

_________________
"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

Then again go to a dj club and ask to sing karaoke! They wouldn't cater to a singer - guaranteed! They advertise DJ, not karaoke. If I see KARAOKE on a sign in front of a club, I wouldn't expect to hear dj music - if I wanted dj music, i'd go to a dj club! If I saw karaoke/dj, then i'd know there was a mix and KNOW that it isn't pure karaoke all the time - which at times I might actually enjoy so I would seek those shows. Why is it so hard to simply advertise it that way?

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

this is what i tell people who come up asking for DJ music. i ask them how mad they would be if the DJ just stopped dance music so a few people could sing karaoke. that seems to get the point across.

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

As usually we all differ in our opinions. Almost every show I have ever gone to has mixed some regular music in, or the host will take a break, or whatever. Look, when a band plays out, they play in sets. They take a couple of breaks and play some filler. Should the patrons get annoyed about that?

At my show, there are mostly Country singers and Rock singers, right now. BUT there are those that want to shake their butts but do not sing. So YES I cater to as many as I can. At the place where I back my friend up, the OWNER of the place asked us to mix it up. I am fine with that. I have the capability and the resources to do both, so I will do both, if that is what is needed.

I just did a party last weekend that was mixed.

To me, it all about fun and keeping everyone happy and buying drinks. People who dance get thirsty. They spend more money. More money spent equals fuller till. Fuller till means happy owner. Happy owner means Bobby gets to keep his job.

_________________
I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

We had a blast Saturday night. We located at a table as far away from the stage as possible and the ladies did not make fun (or pay attention) to any of the so so singers. And it was mostly so so singers in a 15-18 (guessing) person rotation. We got there early and two of our ladies hounded the KJ\DJ into starting early and I did a five song set, four requests from our group and one from a sweet lady sitting with what looked to be her husband. I only sang two more, but we made them dance numbers and it led into 20 minute (or so? maybe 30) DJ sets.
Notes:
The guy was on time, which means he was set and ready to go at least 30 minutes before show time.
I tipped the guy $30 for allowing me to sing early (and for having to deal with the ladies).
I am pretty sure he was running from one of those drives. I didn't look, but the "book" was huge and he said to just ask because he had everything.

That is because most DJ's do simply that and don't really know much about karaoke. I do both and I like the DJ aspect since I have total control about what I play and most patrons like the mix because I rarely get requests, everything just moves along. I also enjoy the KJ part and can see where you can combine the two. That is why in the past I had so much work because I could do both. For weddings karaoke is not good at least in my opinion, DJ is perfect that is why I do so many and parties as well. Most of my patrons are very polite since that is the type of atmosphere I try to create at my shows. They understand my philosophy that it is all art and should be respected and embraced. It doesn't sit well with a few divas but they only drink soda and water anyway.

I've done three or four KJ\DJ wedding receptions that were very successful but they were for people who are into karaoke. I've also done several performing\DJ weddings. The % has ranged from 10% performing to %30 performing. It's funny because I have recently been asked to do two this September! I'm gonna do them and I am doing them for free.