Karaoke Forums

The way I see it, Karaoke is simple. People come to your show, or people are already at the venue (for other reasons), and just happen to be there for your show. People get up to sing at your show. Some people leave, and some people stay. That's it. Simple.

I have seen variations from one show to the next. Some variations have included "Theme Night" (Sing Gender Benders, Sing Love Songs, 60's Night, etc...). I have seen Contest nights.I have seen some shows where the Host uses lights and fog/dry ice machines. I have seen some shows where they have toy instruments to use as props to make your singing a more enjoyable performance. None of that, IMO, constitutes being a "New Innovation" to Karaoke shows. It's just an add-on/variation to how the Host runs his/her/their show/s.

Now, here is something that I considered to be a "New Innovation"... Live Band Karaoke (although it's not so new anymore (since it's been around for years)). I have seen two different styles of this:
1. A Live Band plays the music, and you sing the song (from a lyric sheet handed to you).
2. A regular Karaoke track is played, while a band plays instruments alongside with the song, and you sing from the monitor.
Not only was this a variation to your normal Karaoke show, but the use of a Live Band made it a total change to its format.

I think this is what the OP is looking for... some new ideas and thoughts that would suggest a change to how Karaoke is presented.

Live band karaoke can't technically be called karaoke. It should be called open mic night, which is what it really is. Karaoke, translated from its original Japanese, means literally "empty orchestra", which means there is no one playing instruments. Again, you can't redefine karaoke, and if the fundamentals change then it's no longer karaoke.

You're all beating a dead horse. It's like you're trying to make a circle more round.

I think this thread is a good example of why some people can't succeed at doing karaoke.

No vision. No creativity.

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-Chris

I think this is an example of someone who doesn't get what karaoke is. Being a KJ isn't an art form. It doesn't take vision or creativity. If that's what you want, become an architect. The people who wrote the original music needed creativity. The people who engineered all the tools you use needed creativity. What you do is a job and you're not creating anything except fun. You lookup songs and hand people a microphone. Yes, it helps if you have the personality for the job, and there are plenty of things you can do to make people have more fun, but you don't get to "reinvent" karaoke. You can't reinvent something that already exists.

I guess this all boils down to the wording the OP used. "invent" or "reinvent" are probably the wrong words to use. All of the suggested ideas do NOT reinvent anything. They're just a slight twist on something that has already been defined. That's the only point I'm trying to make. I'm not saying KJs can't do "creative" things to make the show more fun, but the word "invent" needs to be dropped. That's all.

The way I see it...

In a divided world filled with so much tension and hate, a world that may not be around much longer, it's more important than ever to live each day to the fullest. Live, love, laugh and try to have a sense of humor. This is more important than karaoke will ever be.

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

While being a KJ isn't an art form, getting the most out of every singer, does take some skill. Putting together a show and managing a business does take some time and talent. Filling up a venue with customers and making a success of the evening requires some organizational and promotional savvy. While it might not be artistic it takes some luck, some effort, and most of all sticking to a plan. The art part comes from your patrons, the people who want to create something, and have a good time doing it. You supply the means they supply the artistic spark. That is why it is fun.

Completely agree

Artistic sparks. Well of singing the same songs every single week is artistic I guess.

But I see KJ s who find ways to gently prod their singers to expand their repertoires have much more interesting shows than the ones where the KJs rely on the singers to change things up on their own, because most of them won't do it.

So I don't know if this counts, but here's a "promotion" I have done...

Get yourself a fake tree like the ones they have in offices. You can find them in thrift stores.

Get play money and clothespin it onto the tree.

At the end of a round you go into your spiel about how the bar and you have teamed up to bring back a "rare and unique botanical specimen from the deepest heart of Africa, fording crocodile infested streams, climbing mountains, dodging headhunters and cannibals till at last you found it!

" Bring forth, the money tree"!

Set the tree up in the middle of the dance floor. Pull one of your singers names out of a hat. Give them a morocca. Explain, "This is your money maker". You must shake your money maker with one hand while using the other hand to get the money.

If you knock the tree over you are done. Any money dropped on the floor you lose. When the music begins, they run to the tree and harvest money till the music stops. Whatever is in their hand will be traded for real one dollar bills. If they get all of the bills you can add a bonus.

Play a short song such as the theme from the Price is Right or The Jeffersons.

My singers loved it. It only takes a few minutes and it encouraged people who had never sang before to try singing so they could get a shot at the money.

To make it more challenging set the tree up so its easy to knock over.

Most people are hard pressed to get more than $25 if you clip the money to the underside of the leaves.

great question!

and i "can't" answer it. because whatever answer i give, folks will be ready to jump on it and scream "that ain't new! that's not reinventing trivia" and "i've done that, you're just late to the party." and that's not the point. to me. no offense. i'm trying to say, the chick i saw doing trivia was "redefining/reinventing" trivia for herself and her audience, not reinventing it for you (i don't mean, you as in you personally) or this board.

(she didn't do this,) but for example, if a year after i see her doing trivia, with paper answer sheets, i come back and now she's handed out those "easy" buttons from staples and instead of answer sheets. and now she has folks hitting those "easy" buttons and shouting out answers. (again, she didn't do this, this is a hypothetical.) this to me is not a theme night thing. or she now does trivia with 3-D holograms.

i'm just impressed that she keeps moving forward every year or year and a half with her trivia and pushing it into something different for her and her audiences only. she's not doing this for notoriety per se or to impress anyone outside herself and her audience.

so, i'll leave what she does private. no offense to you or anyone on the board.

my question was can this be done in karaoke? to push karaoke in a different way that isn't a theme night or gimmick or to necessarily to impress anyone outside of yourself and your audience. i'm just thinking out loud asking if it's possible and trying to use how i feel it's possible as a trivia host...

aha!

yes. this. this right here is what i'm gettin at. i dig this idea!

and i wouldn't want to copy or really try anyone's karaoke 'reinvention' ideas. i want you yourself to pioneer in it and take it as far as you can. and let me just sit back and admire. which is why i don't want to say what my friend is doing in trivia. just let me appreciate what you're pioneering in as a fan of hosts who pioneer.

i like this thread though

and i really dig philosophically debating about karaoke

and whoever seemed a little pessimistic towards karaoke by saying it's more of a simpleton thing and to keep it simple, i disagree there witcha

karaoke is enterainment to me. and if someone's hosting it, that someone is technically an entertainer as i see it. and entertainment needs innovators and needs to be reinvented, re-imagined, restructured; all of that.

and i don't necessarily want to take anyone's creative reinvention of karaoke. i just wanna hear about it and admire it and see if it's possible. then see if i can reinvent karaoke in my own way that's not what you're doing.

like i'm thinking there's gotta be a way to bridge karaoke and the lip-sync battle. i think the lip-sync battle is not for me. but folks dig it.

while i do like it as a neat idea for a special night, i am curious what other ideas are out there that do not involve literally having to pay people to sing.

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

When I posted that, I didn't mean that Karaoke was a simpleton thing or to keep it simple. I was just trying to describe it in it's simplest terms. If you read my post further, I elaborated on my thoughts as to what I believe are innovations to Karaoke as vs variations to how a host runs the show.

I just started using a tablet to allow me to easily put songs in the que which helps me because I don't forget what they asked for between the time it takes to get to my system after they give me the request. Part of the reason I can forget what they ask for is because someone else interrupts my journey to the system. I have a hard time remembering multiple people requesting songs while I am in the audience with the old way that I was trying to run my shows.

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

Empty orchestra - simply put music minus singing (nothing about instruments being played or not). A live band can absolutely be considered karaoke if no one is singing the lead part - just like canned karaoke tracks - only difference, music is live instead of canned. We have a live band karaoke that runs often here and quite successfully I might add. They've even got lyrics on screens for the singer.
It can be argued (and those that do) that karaoke is only karaoke if graphics are on screen - which is also wrong, lyrics on screen are simply a tool to deliver the singer the lyrics, it used to be printed lyric sheets in audio only cassette cases (or even 8 track systems for those really old school karaoke heads!).

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

I still use slips so they hand me a slip - I don't forget. Does your program automatically insert their requests into the karaoke playlist like Hoster has the ability to? If not, there is always that little chance you may forget to add those singers into the cue......just sayin!

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

Drove over to an old familiar club last month, eager to have a bite to eat and say hello to old friends.

Surprise, surprise, trivia night.. Who knew they could have vision and innovate..

Basically I'm entering the requests directly into the player using remote desktop. So there's no way I can forget to add them into the rotation. I am not using a kiosk or phone app. Don't need one the way that I am doing it.

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

my man, cueball, i wasn't directing anything towards your way--if if it seemed like i did, i messed up. we haven't met, but i know you're a good dude from your posts and and great KJ and i think i know your general feelings on karaoke which are always very positive (i feel). yes, i did peep what you wrote about karaoke innovationas and variations. i was referring to folks not necessarily on this board or on this thread who i feel think that karaoke is a simple thing (which it is) and that we really don't need to put eyebrows on the mona lisa so to speak...