Karaoke Forums

I was talking to the owner of a pub where I used to do Karaoke and asking if he was interested in putting it on again. (These Pubs are getting fewer and fewer as people just are not going out anymore. We've lost FIVE that were only 10 minutes walk from where we live.) Anyway, he said that his big problem with karaoke is that people get up and sing the same BORING songs EVERY time. I nodded and agreed, as inwardly my heart used to sink as certain singers requested songs. How can you stop this?

You really don't stop it (people lock themselves into familiarity) other than drawing in new singers. Let them know you'll get new songs that aren't listed - on the fly if possible, this often lures new songs people will try - this has stopped oversaturated stereotypical karaoke songs sung at my shows. Do suicide nights with the bar kicking in say $.50 off drink coupons to anyone actually finishing a new song that they normally do not do (hopefully you have software that tracks singer history so you can see if they've sang it or not). Do an alphabet game where everyone has to sing at least 1 song that begins with that letter and at least 1 artist that begins with that letter. Do not allow duplicated songs in a night - once done, it's off limits for the rest of the night.

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

I have done a game, on slow nights, where the singers open the book to any page, and pick a song from that set of pages, ONLY.

_________________
I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Sometimes I encourage karaoke "roulette" where the host picks the song. Sometimes from the singer's history, sometimes not. Many of my regulars enjoy this and quite a few of them have found new songs that they like because I have a mild talent for choosing the right song. My only rule with this is: not your first song of the night. That is always your choice, and if you can't decide, wait to sign up until you can give me a song.

"Kamikaze" karaoke where the host provides a bucket/jar with songs on slips and the participant draws from that. This means that they have prior knowledge of what they will be singing, unlike roulette.

Some of my patrons will use the "take your chances" method (similar to what Smooth suggested) and agree to randomly open the printed song book and once opened, they have to choose a song from those two pages only. Sometimes they even let someone else choose for them. The biggest fear is that the book will open to Children's, Christian, Christmas or Spanish.

When people tell me they can't decide (often because my list is overwhelming) then I tell them to look at other songs by artists they've already sung. I also will suggest that they pick a year and go to the web and look up Billboard's Top 100 Year End List which is usually posted on Wikipedia. I, myself have had a lot of fun choosing songs that way. This is also a way to "customize" a performance to honor a birthday, anniversary or other historical event.

Another way to influence song choice is to pick a "theme" like a word that can be in the artist or title or related. For example: Ape Man - The Kinks, Shock The Monkey - Peter Gabriel, I Go Ape - Neil Sedaka, Gorilla - Bruno Mars or anything by Gorillaz or Arctic Monkeys. For a theme to be completed, I usually suggest that at least three songs be sung in one night. It's not difficult if you are there for the entire 5 hour show. I usually reward a a completed theme performance with food/drink and a hearty, on-mic congratulations. You can be as strict or loose with the theme as you like. On a whim, I just looked up the word "burnin" without the "g" to include Burnin' It Down, Burnin' Sky and Burning For You and those are the first three titles to come up. There's a theme right there. The possibilities are endless.

Get creative and encourage your singers to do the same. Be the example.

_________________
Never the same show twice!

We used to have a simple suicide contest. $20 prize. The song was picked similar to the manners described above. Singer sung what was picked via us flipping through the book until someone in the audience yelled stop. We'd ask left or right page, then scroll our finger down the page til someone yelled stop. That was the song - it could've been ANYTHING. The contest was basically how well they tried and must complete the entire song.

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

I don't use any hosting software from my PC (just a simple MP3+G player); but do any of you know if any of the popular hosting platforms have something that would choose songs at random from a given list of say 100 songs?

It would be cool to have something like a wheel of fortune spinning graphic on the screen and let each singer (or the KJ) press a button to spin the wheel when they go up to sing.

_________________
Doing home karaoke since 2000. Setup: Shure SM58 Mic; Sennheiser e825 Mic; JVC XL-MV333 CDG Player / PC Karafun 2; Soundcraft 124fx mixer; QSC GX3 Amplifier; Yamaha BR12 Speakers.

I usually spend my regular Saturday night show using an app called Karaoke Roulette to pick my songs. Without it, I never would have sang Prince, Michael Jackson, or Donna Summer, so it keeps things interesting for me.

_________________
Co-host of The Greatest Song Ever Sung (Poorly), a karaoke-themed podcast

Tricerasoft's Swift Elite has a "random" button, but I've never intentionally used it. No graphics like a spinning wheel though.

As for mixing it up... New stuff is always key. We just bought "new" product: Soul Vol 1-6 from Zoom, and expect people to paw through it for a couple of weeks, until we find another release.