Karaoke Forums

At one of my venues, I have 4 waitresses who are singers. They are all awesome. There are some regular customers (non karaoke singers) that request to hear them sing because they are that good. With that said...

I overheard a couple of karaoke singers complaining that the staff shouldn't be allowed to sing. Probably because it takes time away from them. But my take is... I allow them to sing when they can. They don't sing when they're busy waiting on customers, only when there's a lull and it slows down. I feel they work really hard providing outstanding service to the customers and if their reward is to sing a few songs, I have no problem with that. Plus, they add entertainment value to the show.

So, what's your take on this? Should the staff sing?

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

I pretty much agree with all your points. If it's slow, then their energy can add to the show. If it's a busy night, then they are too busy to sing anyway. And even if they do sing on a busy night, how many turns can they get? one? two?,,,, three or more turns means that it's not so busy then. It's kind of like the "coyote ugly" application

I had a couple of bartenders that sang two songs. The same two songs. Nothing wrong with that... If it was a moderate or slower night they would sing together. They would do it from behind the bar and would keep on working. They were both pretty hot and the regulars loved it. I know sales went up when they took the mics.

I agree with you Alan - 100%

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Music speaks to the heart in ways words cannot express.

I seldom have less than 25 singers and NEVER less than 20, so letting staff sing DOES anger the singers. I will let them sing on their birthday or some other special moment.

As long as they aren't ignoring their job and have a free moment when called (they still need to wait in the rotation), nothing wrong with it. The club I work used to allow it, but back around '99 a couple of girls took advantage of it and wasn't paying attention to their job and they put the kabash on it for all staff - although they still disallow it to this day, occasionally one of the staff will sing.
Most of the time it's a booster for those in the audience that don't sing and request to hear a song.

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

If the person paying you wants their employees singing then ok, otherwise no.

If the venue owner allows them to on their break, I will let them. They are the only only ones who get special treatment from me when it comes to their turn in the rotation
but they still only get one song a rotation like everyone else except that they move around the rotation and don't exactly follow the same person each time.

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

My thoughts egg-zak-lee.

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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 love when the staff sings.
the audience loves when the staff sings (with the exception of the PITA diva who thinks 5 singers is too many)
and probably 60% of the time, they are singing a song FOR a patron (they want to hear song x, but it has to be bartender y singing it)
they get ONE spot per round like everyone else, no more.
they have limited lists to keep only songs they have memorized, so they do not stop working while singing
had 2 venues (years apart) get complaints (from a single PITA NON-Singer) and tell me no more staff singing. next show the restriction was removed. both different venues had the suggestion box stuffed with complaints about them not being able to hear bartender x sing, and anyone with the owners contact blew up their phone and facebook.

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

Sorry late to this discussion. Back in the 90s, when karaoke was somewhat new it was popular for waiters/staff to sing a song or two. As time moved on and singers became more sophisticated, very aware of where they were in the rotation it became less popular. Singers are paying for drink and or food and feel it takes away from their time so I stopped it, with a couple exceptions. If the owner/manager wants to sing obviously he/she pays for the work, or one of the staff is a very good singer and there is a request for them to sing a song. Either way I place them at the bottom of the rotation, if very busy I won't sing as well. The worse no no in karaoke is insertion, that occurs when a singer is inserted ahead of another singer. I've been to bars/clubs where the KJ host has inserted new singers in the rotation, and have seen fights nearly breakout, even regular customers never return, it can get ugly. I was once in Las Vegas with my wife at a karaoke bar, and we sat there for several hours, while singers sung a couple of times and we never got up to sing. What happened was the KJ was inserting people he knew as they came in. Finally I went to the Mgr of the bar and he said he had received complaints in past. So we left and wrote very negative reviews on a couple of popular online sites like Yelp and FB. Never Insert, let me be clear, Never Insert.

The only time that I insert is if I am close to shut down and a singer who has not sung puts in a request and I have the start of the rotation coming up which means someone has already sung. I also don't insert next but after the third singer on the scroller since I only display the current singer and the next three singers. As to wait staff as long as the owner is ok with them taking a 20 minute break if there's more than one bartender, I am ok with it.

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

That will work, except I've been on jobs where they have a PhD in where they are on the list, who's before you. I would recommend talking to the person next explaining what happened and usually they'll be OK. Most of the time I tell the crowd how it works as singers come into sing, then placed on the bottom of the list. Because of all the issues with SC, I stopped putting up a 2nd video years ago for the crowd to see, and have them sign on with their song on an erasable marker board, very visible.

I have let staff sing ..they are put into the rotation like any other singer

I think they should. as long as it does not interfere with other duties. Besides, It will also help to create a better environment for staff and customers

staff sings at the of my rotation. if they are to busy they pass up their turn and get another chance the next round.
sometimes the regulars will stop ordering drinks and make them go up to sing.

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It's all good!