Karaoke Forums

just for another point of view, while i do not do bribes, it is amazing the number of people (last night for instance) who come up wanting to know the price to sing next. it is apparently more normal than we realize. then when i let them know they have to wait just like everyone else and even my sister gets no special privileges, they never return. at least a 1-2 a week someone new will try and never come back when it doesn’t work. i HAVE noticed that they are always either early 20's college douchey clubbers, or 60+ with their own discs. apparently the young clubs and oldies venues are the main culprits.

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

Have you ever thought about putting up a sign that says "Sorry, We Don't Cater To Prima Donnas".

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Electro-Voice Evolve 50... Taking Sound To The Next Level.

It is fairly common in vacation/resort areas. I have paid to move up in Reno, Las Vegas, Myrtle Beach, New Orleans and San Francisco. It is accepted practice in all the bars I sang at, and I looked at it as me choosing how to spend my entertainment dollar. They have virtually no regulars in most of the venues I'm talking about. As a Kj in Myrtle Beach at a resort, it was often that I would make $200-300 in tips on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday nights in the busy summer season. I mean each night, not for all three, sometimes it was $20 tip just to play a simple song request.
Some days I really miss that gig....

There are a lot of issues to address with KaraoQ

1) In the US, it is generally frowned upon to accept a tip (bribe) for preferential placement in the rotation. We all know some KJ's do it, and some singer attempts it practically every night. But it hurts business more than it increases the bottom line.

2) No Windows Phone app (may never be considering the small adoption of Windows Phone, but its a big deal here in the Seattle area)

3) KaraoQ.com is down a lot (like right now!)

4) Taking a percentage of tips - I kind of waffle on this. I personally could care less about tips. I can go weeks without getting a single tip then have a night where I make $100 or more. Tips are just sprinkles on my cupcake. I have spoken at length with my hosts about tips. Some of them do quite well and miss the income if there is an off week. Others are like me and could care less about tips. They all know and understand that tips don't influence rotation and if I ever catch wind that they are doing it, they are done.

There is a potential here for a KJ to make more in tips even after the 25% hit. But that depends on adoption of the KaraoQ app. I don't see a lot of that happening outside of Nashville any time soon.

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-Chris

Just came up with an advertising hook for them.

KaraoQ - We create and enable KJ prostitutes and dick head customers.

There is only one. There is nothing and I mean nothing that this app can help you with.

OMG, Chris! What did you do a couple of weeks ago before finding out about this? How did you ever survive all these years without this lovely piece of, em software? How were you able to expand and grow your business, very successfully I might add, without ever using this? OMG! How did anyone do it?

I will say that the minds behind this are geniuses. If they can get someone to use this and then dig into your profits while they reap the benefits, is just genius.

Like I said, how did we ever get by all these years without this? OMG!

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Electro-Voice Evolve 50... Taking Sound To The Next Level.

Instead of mocking them in a forum where they aren't present, I email the CEO directly....

No plans for a Windows Phone app

They will be rolling out a "Premium" paid version of the app that will allow a KJ to turn off the Bump feature.

Customer lookup is currently system wide. They are implementing a feature to only parse customers that have checked in at your venue to reduce the size of the customer list.

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-Chris

Just answer me one question: Is having this app going to make you and your show(s) any more successful than you already are?

(all I want is a simple YES or NO)

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Electro-Voice Evolve 50... Taking Sound To The Next Level.

I doubt it.

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The Line Array Experiment is over. Nothing to see here. Move along.

No. In the current iteration it would actually be detrimental to my business.

But I am all for people trying to disrupt the status quo. Their app has potential and I feel they could learn some things by reaching out to the karaoke community.

To date, I have yet to find a mobile app that meets my needs. If I can help someone create something that meets my needs then I have done something to improve the industry.

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-Chris

Chris I don't think any app is ever going to meet your specific needs because Bob has said karma will never has kiosk features, and you have already stated that you aren't willing to transfer the data from one program into the other.

Or are you talking about just having a place to keep your songbook online that is phone searchable?

I agree with you but for different reasons.

There is technically no reason why a 3rd party Phone app couldn't be integrated in with Karma. However, working with Bob would be difficult at best and is the biggest roadblock to integration. That will be what prevents it.

No matter because I have been laying down the framework for my own app that will do everything I want, everything others want, and a whole lot more that people just have thought of yet.

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-Chris

I do allow bumping and announce it throughout my shows. All a singer has to do is purchase the bar a round and they can sing next. It has only happened once.

I may try that this season, but they will have to give me $20 too as I get my drinks on the house anyway.