Karaoke Forums

I think he is angling for a plane ticket and a hotel room.

Understood. But reasonableness can only go so far. I want to help the industry as much as I can.

Ryan

All that I am "angling" for is top source information that might actually be of benefit to me.

Please see the "Who Are The Industry Leaders" thread.

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

Joe,

I don't know you as well as I'd like to, so I can't deduce that for you.

Ryan

Once again, please see "Who Are The Industry Leaders?"

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

Suggestion based on the OP - "What can I do to get you all to Vegas?"

If you want to get us ALL (which I read to be "as many of you as possible") to Vegas, You may consider offering sessions for new hosts vs established hosts. There is some overlap between what you do on the DJ side as well, but DJ is different from work so it needs to be tweaked for the KJ world -

New Hosts
What gear is needed - (vendor presentations)
How to select gear - (vendor presentations)
How to set gain structures (vendor and real world KJ presentations)
Securing and keeping your first gig (KJ presentations)
Setting up your business (registering your business, getting as attorney, insurance. etc)
How to win in a competitive area (again legitimate and pirate hosts)

Experienced Hosts
Maximizing your margins - (adding trivia, DJ, Wedding, etc work as well as least expensive ways to obtain content, leaving equipment on site vs moving sit-to-site, etc)
What to look for (and look out for) when hiring subcontractor KJ's.
Advanced Business (getting as attorney, insurance, payroll, potential liabilities, etc)
Advanced Sound Processing (compression, equalization, effects, autotune, etc)

-Chris

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-Chris

I think the previous post by Chris is pretty much on the money. Though I have to say it's interesting/and informative to see some of the specific topics under advanced. Being is different areas of the country really highlights some of the regional differences in the way we do business. The one that sticks with me is moving vs. not moving equipment, simply because it's something I've never considered - does that mean you buy a new rig for each venue that you're in?

I made a decision a while back that I would do whatever I could to avoid moving equipment under certain circumstances.

If I am doing 3 nights a week at the same venie, than to me it makes sence to dedicate some equipment to the venue and not move it. It GREATLY reduces wear and tear, avoids the risk of leaving a cable, or mic or even something bigger behind which would be unavailable at the next location, drastically reduces transportation costs, and gives me HOURS of my week back.

I see the multiple rig investment as being off set by the cost savings from everything above (and more).

Plus it gives me a LOT of flexibility if I do need to move or swap gear to a venue in the same vicinity.

Here is what I do now as of this week.

Venue #1 - 2 Nights a week, but LOTS of gear/Lights used here so it all stays on site. Saves me 2+ hours in transportation and 1+ hours in load/unload time

Venue #2 - 3 Nights a week. I only rent them the gear here and they occasionally ping me to use it for other events. Since it is always on site, I can easily say yes and make a few extra bucks from it. Saves me 2+ hours in Transportation and 30+ mins in load/unload time.

Venue #3 - Shows on Wed/Fri
Venue #4 - Show on Saturday only - Gear shared between venues and I incur the move/setup time. But Venue #4 is the closest to me so it is the fastest to move.

Venue #5 - 3 nights a week. All gear secured in a DJ booth and we occasionally have the opportunity to do one-off events here as well for extra money.

Venue #6 - 7 nights a week. So they obviously have dedicated gear.

5 Sets of gear, building out a 6th.

-Chris

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-Chris

Chris, thanks for the reply.

It totally makes sense given having multiple nights a week in the same venue plus it sounds like all in all you drive time to shows is much greater there then it is here. Its extremely rare in my area for a venue to have karaoke more then one night a week. Out of 200 published shows in our city I'm aware of four venues that have karaoke more then once a week. Of all of our shows we only have one place that does that and its not consecutive night so leaving the equipment to have a 'night off' isn't a good option.

Are multi-night venues common in your area?

Chris, excellent post. I have one place we do trivia twice a week and we leave our cart, mixer and everything but the laptop and we lock it in a closet with only my host and the gm with the key. We plug into overhead there so no speakers or sub to deal with. Another place we do only once a week but they have steep stairs so we leave our cart only there to keep from hauling it up the stairs every week.

Every situation is different but I'll spend some money to make my hosts' life a little easier.

Chris, there are Pros and Cons to everything, but here is a Con you might want to think about when leaving your equipment at a venue.

If the place gets shut down for non-payment of rent, it is locked up by the County Marshal/Sheriff so that NOBODY can get into the place. That would mean you would have one helluva time getting your equipment back.

If there is a fire or flood at the place, your equipment could get destroyed or damaged, and the venue may not compensate you for that (insurance or not).

I think multi-night karaoke is pretty common in most larger metropolitan areas. There are many 7/night a week karaoke places in my area, some of which have been 7/nights a week for over a decade. I only have 1 venue that is single night and I already have them interested in adding at least 1 more night to the mix.

But I am also going to pat myself on the back for being a good salesmen. Single or multi-night, it isn't always easy to convince a venue to let you store your equipment on site. I have thus far had a 100% success rate where I have pitched it, but it takes some negotiating at times.

-Chris

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-Chris

I’m with Cue on this one. To kj’s leaving their equipment in the venue, partial or full: Word to the wise if you haven’t done it yet, make an inventory list & take pictures.

Signature last page: Acknowledgement of Ownership. Your signature & date, then have the owner of the club/bar/restaurant sign & date as well, with a statement that he/she certifies that you are the sole owner of the listed equipment (or words to that effect). Have it notarized, original to you & copy to the owner. Cases in point:

Marie Callenders Restaurant, 4 yrs ago, belly-up chapter 11. Came to work & doors were closed. People from corporate office were inside doing liquor inventory. I told them all the kj equipment belongs to me. They’re in total disagreement because they were told the restaurant own everything inside. And besides, they’re not authorized to release anything without proper approval from the corporate office. ‘Called my wife to bring the ownership papers pictures & all, they called the manager for verification & the manager called the corporate office. Got everything out!

Numero Uno Italian Bar & Grill, 12 yrs ago, non-payment of rent. The waitress called me at home - the county Marshall’s closing the place. When I arrived at the venue the place was already shut down & padlocked. The Marshall was still in the parking lot; I reasoned with him to let me get my equipment out & showed him my papers. No deal. His orders were to get everybody out & close it. He told me to go to the city hall commercial properties & prove they belong to me. I did, & only then was I able to get my gear out, Were it not for my documented inventory papers my rig would’ve probably end up in one of those quarterly restaurant equipment auctions.

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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!

Very good advice, Brian A. My friends had their venue burn to the ground a few years ago.

I've been at my show 7 nights for 21 years now. There are a few others that are also 7 nights - one that has been running a couple years longer than ours (but with different hosts and companies along the way). Many that offer karaoke more than one night as well.

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Great advice, Brian. My wife has been bugging me to take pictures and inventory. So it has moved up the priority list along with getting insurance to cover loss regardless of where it is stored.

If it is cost prohibitive to store on site, I may start moving things around (or pay someone to do it.)

-Chris

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-Chris

Ryan--you also run karaoke shows in Iowa-you must personally see how all the pirates even in Iowa have hurt the industry.

How many legal K.J.s beside you- do you know?
How badly have the pirates driven down the price in Iowa ?
How many Karaoke shows do you run?
Has the Gem series been worthwhile for you?
You do know that all the pirate activity that hurts karaoke is an even bigger problem on the D.J. end.
If your magazine took a stand on piracy you would at least attract some of the legal K.J.--D.J.s--but judging just in your Iowa area how many is that?

Then why- as a promoter- would you add a negative influence to the event??? Sorry, but- though I guess you are trying to curry favor- it will backfire.

Also: I received the MobileBeat e-mail, and it treated karaoke like a DJ stepchild.

Allow me to explain: These- despite similarities in some of the equipment- are two COMPLETELY separate but but equal skill sets and professions, whether you are aware of it or not.

Examples:

1) DJs need more music knowledge as it is they who mix the party. Also, beat-mixing ( though as an art it is only required for recording -as opposed to PC- DJs, who can beat mix while deaf if they have decent software.)

KJ's are the ones who need to know how to mix sound. DJs simply enhance professionally mixed original mixed tracks with professional vocalists. KJs have to mix recreations of tracks with each and every new vocalist of varying skills in less than a few seconds. There is no "setting sound" in karaoke. each song is different.

Also, midrange is king in Karaoke, while DJs enhance upper and lower ranges.

2) Personal interaction: DJ's might learn a little mic work, but personal interaction is pretty much limited to requests. KJs have to learn how to build confidence in shy newbies, know the different versions, discuss vocal keychange, problem solve non-karaoke difficulties, deal with video as well as audio, and many, many, many other things.

3) DJ's are the stars of their shows, and have the ego to prove it. Karaoke Hosts have the job of making OTHERS the stars, and can control their egos.

I would add that the biggest list of "crappyoke" and failed hosts come from DJ "wannabes" that add it as a "sideline".



If you want to attract KJs, think about it, and treat karaoke hosting as the separate ( non-spinoff) profession that it is.

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

Sorry, duplicate post

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

Joe, I could not agree anymore. In my market there are several DJs that on occasion will host karaoke but can't keep up the high paced demands of Karaoke hosting. Since I do also host other events as a DJ/MC, I have to shift gears in my mind and be often much more low key and (you can start laughing now but I couldn't think of another word) proper/refined. I say it is easier for the properly trained Karaoke host to do other events than it is for a DJ to host a high energy karaoke show. That in itself is a skill developed by years of DJ/KJ'ing and attending many industry related conferences and networking with others in our industry.

Unfortunately, the entertainment industry does place karaoke below DJs in the food chain and the only way to overcome that is for us to stand together and a show of force at any and all conferences around the country. As I have made my rounds at conferences and other DJs have gotten to know me, I have noticed a higher level of respect for karaoke host. Remember, we are in a part of the industry that has possibly more wannabe bad host than on the DJ side. It is up to us to raise the bar.

Ryan is making strides by giving the karaoke industry an entire day in Vegas at Mobile Beat. If you go back through past years, Mobile Beat hardly even mentioned Karaoke. Gotta start somewhere, don't you think?

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