Karaoke Forums

How important is it to you as a KJ to have the ability to view a Singer's history with DateTimeSung, disc_ID, Title, Artist, Pitch, and tempo settings?

Do you feel that it is entirely the singer's responsibilty to know what song, version, pitch he/she wants or do you see it as an area where the KJ adds to his/her value by being able to assist the singer?

Most good KJs know what their regulars sing, whether they have a history or not. Singers *love* history, and many love for the KJ to pick a song for them. For hosts with a poor memory, the singer history is a godsend.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

It's nice to be able to store singer history (including key change & tempo (if used)). Many singers will refer to their list to see when they sang a song last or will have me add a song to it that they hear so they can try it another time. Since I can sort by date, title, artist, how many times sung, etc it makes it easy for me to refer them to their new song quickly. Some make a game to themselves and try to do songs that they've never done & will ask if it's in their history. Some will give me full reign & tell me to pick anything from their list - I usually pick stuff that isn't normally done or stuff that will fit the theme of the night. It's a very useful tool overall and would not want to use a software without it anymore.
Most singers don't even know anything about key changes - so often if I hear a song they are struggling with, i'll suggest they raise or lower the key.

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

I echo the other 2 replies. It is very important to keep singer history for many reasons, but the biggest reasons for me are version and key change. Like Lon I have several regulars that let me pick their songs based on what is needed to keep the show exciting and fun.

If your resistance is based on your software not having that feature...... get some new software.

VERY important. It never fails at least once a night a regular will come up and ask "What do I sing again"? And I show them their history.

Very important for me as well and for the reasons listed. But also because I want to start tracking the most performed songs and do reporting.

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-Chris

Simply invaluable! I can't imagine trying to run a regular karaoke show without this tool. Back in the day, I used index cards, but all that told me was the song, the disc number and the key change.

Being able to list history by date, or arts is another key tool, and of course the singers love it.

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Good music, good friends, howling good times!

Not to important to me.

Back in the day, BC (before computerized), we use to keep index cards too. Mostly to save money on slip printing.

I pretty much have the song my regulars sing memorized, I guess I have a good memory for that. So for me no need for my hosting program to track that.

Also I have most of my songs tagged with MFG code (ie: Joplin, Janis - Me and Bobby McGee (CB)), so my regulars also know what version they like.

So between having my regulars trained well, and good memory, and properly tagged file names, I really don't need it.

Now, if I was buying a new hosting program, and the ONLY difference between the 2 was a singer history, I probably would buy the one with the history. I would not pay more for a singer history in a hosting program.

Not at all. Twansenne and I are the same. My regulars' history is pretty much skull-stored.

However, I realize that this is dying skill, as kjs are now used to PCs doing the work. All good, as long as the singers are happy.

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

Some of the clubs we work have far fewer regulars and many more one timers or people that attend infrequently. Singer history is actually less important for these venues because they may never come back. But it is still good to have for informational purposes.

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-Chris

Yes, now that it looks like reports are soon to be possible even though the transition is controversial. I use my historical data continuously during my shows, but I have found that if a song isn't sung within the last year it probably won't be sung again. That, of course, depends on if the singer is a regular or not.

ALL, of my regulars love and rely on my CompuHost song history. Not some of them. ALL of them.

Honestly, the history helps me remember the names of my "infrequent regulars" as well. You know, those singers that come in every three months or so, and have been for years. I almost always forget those guys' name, but I remember the songs they sing, so I just look up the song in the CompuHost history and match it to the singer, so I don't have to ask their name. They probably then think I am the most attentive host ever because I remember their name and the songs they sing!

Even when I was still disk based, I kept all of my singers' slips in a 3x5 index card box. The concept is the same; the singers don't have to remember their history because I store it.

If you don't keep your singers' history, you need to. It's just good customer service, and it does make a difference on many, many levels.

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C Mc
KJ, FL

To Twan & Joe, I used to be the same way as far as singer history, didn't think it was needed, and even didn't use it for a couple years even though I had the capability. I knew what my singers sang.
I turned that thinking around after I finally started utilizing the feature. It can actually help regulars think of something else to sing especially seeing that they only sing the same songs over - some people didn't even really realize it & are now trying new songs. If you've never used the feature - you don't know how valuable it can be.

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

No doubt that you are correct, Lon. However, being disc based, it's not an option. While I do pretty well from memory, many of my regulars actually save their own slips and bring them back for each show. Kind of like having the feature without any work on my part....

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

One this I use the history for is to suggest different songs to customers. When I can say to someone, "You have performed that same song every time you have been in for the last 6 months" AND I can prove it to them, they kind of understand how old it can get.

I too have seen my singers increase their diversity because they can actually see they have performed the same handful of songs repeatedly over a period of time.

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-Chris

It is an option. As stated in my post, when I was disc-based, I just bought a 3x5 card box with alphabetic dividers, and kept my singer's slips in there, sorted by their first name. This is an easy way to provide a really good service to your singers.

You said it yourself, you aren't providing any service the way you are doing it now, but you should be.

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C Mc
KJ, FL

It's a great feature. I will take technology anytime I can. I know a DJ that was well known around my old stomping grounds. We threw gigs each other's way. Sometimes showed up at each other's shows. He used two ipods, had a little dj player for them. One night I watched him from the stage. Getting lots of requests but he could only que up one song plus current song. I asked him how he remembered all the requests, he looked at me and pointed his index finger at his temple. No thanks! He did finally switch to dj software. I'll take the easy way anytime unless it comes to exercise!! Sam Tarasco from Trailer Park Boys comes to my show sometimes, when I see him come in, I always put his history up, he gives me a sign and I put him in the rotation and when he hits the stage, it takes about 5 seconds for him to pick a song. I do this with other singers if they request, saves time for them and me.

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KingBing Entertainment C'mon Up! I have a song for you!!! [font=MS Sans Serif][/font]

i use it nightly. I could keep it in my head, but when singers are 50, 70, 100 songs plus in their histories, it just ain't possible anymore. i also use it like Topher to jump my memory for someone who has not been in for a while making me look that much better. besides showing them they have sang the same song over and over and over......i use it to suggest a specific other song. Allmusic.com and MTV.com are great for ideas like a certain artist so i will go through their history and find songs or artists similar and make that suggestion to them. "you did great on Etta James At Last, how about trying Nina Simone I Put A Spell On You?"

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

You are under a misunderstanding. I provide the service TWO ways:

1) By memory, which is usually quite sufficient.

2) By saving slips, rather than index cards. However, many of my singers save their OWN slips and bring them to each show, making my life a bit easier.

I do not bother doing this for one-offs ( though I sometimes remember anyway), but will if they show up a few times.

The result is exactly the same. Does that clarify a bit?

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

Hey Joe (One of the great song by the way!)

One feature of E-histories you couldn't match with index cards is a fast, accurate, ranking of all the songs ever sung by all your singers in all your venues by all your KJ's.

Would be cool to be able to network a large number of KJ's song histories in real time to be able to see what songs are trending or fading