Karaoke Forums

Here, $300. to $350. WAS the going price an the whole Island. But more Karaoke Companies means prices are coming down I guess. There are a lot of people here who sang once on stage, loved it and bought the minimum equipment needed and start doing shows ( mostly, pretty bad shows, ) So now the market down Island is saturated with so called KJs willing to work for next to nothing. And the guys with large investments and able to do good shows, are having a tougher time getting the shows. So I guess she saw that that was a way to get all the shows here. So far, it has worked. Her shows are OK, but not great, so to get any shows here, I will have to meet her price for now. Hopefully I can show that my show is worth the extra money. KJs in Alberta get up to $800. per night. Average shows appear to be about $450 per show. Depending on the venue and the show. And NORMALLY, prices for that sort of thing should be 20 to 30 % higher here than in Alberta. I just hope thgis is temporary here. Although, I may be getting the opportunity to move to Alberta, so it may all be a moot point..

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"Real life doesn't start untill the music plays." LSK.

I'm moving to Alberta.    

Karaoke around here was never that high.    Years ago Djs could get $3-400 on week nights.   The karaoke craze started 16-17 years ago and they started the prices low because it was so new.    They wanted to make sure people were going to do it.    Nobody knew if it would catch on.   The price here hasn't gone up $50 a night  in that whole time.   It's pretty sad,  because we do more work and have more expensive music libraries than most Djs.   People heard how much they were paying up in your neighborhood and they wanted a piece of the pie.    Can't blame them for that, I want some of that pie myself.  :drool:  Find me a cheap apartment in Alberta.  

We have been going through the same thing for many years now.   We can only blame our karaoke forefathers for our price mess.    Maybe cheap bar owners too.

Oh, wait. I forgot that's in Canadian money so I guess $1000 isn't out of the quetion.  :D

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Who loves ya baby?

Let's see. $1000. per night @ 5 nights. THats not too bad, but then you have to add in the cost of living deductions every year. That seems to be about 50% so next year it will be $500. then the following year $250. Hmmmmmm. Let me think about that for a bit.. How soon before I have to PAY for the privilege of working.

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"Real life doesn't start untill the music plays." LSK.

Jeffie the Canadian dollar is worth 90 cents US and we're heading to where it was before, higher than the US$.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

Okay. With American businesses running for cover in every foreign country that exists I wouldn't be surprised. The Motorola plant I work in just got bought out by Continental (Germany). They now have what amounts to a foreign monopoly of former US businesses (automotive).  They had 5.8 billion per years in US auto plant sales and now have added 9 Motorola automotive plants with another 1.9 billion annually. Pretty soon we'll just be a third world country who manufactures nothing locally anyway. Then we can all try to figure out what chapter of the Rise and Fall of the US empire we are currently at.

Canada is great but not exactly a manufacturing giant. Gonna be hard to get the dollar up to those levels.

-Jeff Wackyman

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Who loves ya baby?

It's not so much our manufacturing, but it is the world oppinion that is bringing us closer. Well, according to the economists that seem to get it right more often than not. The last prediction I heard from them was that we should level off at just a few pennys below US in a year to three years. After that it is unsure. BUT, All it takes to change that is another war or natural disaster, and how US and Canada deal with it, to totaly change that either way. So let the Karaoke Wars begin..

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"Real life doesn't start untill the music plays." LSK.

Is it possible to move to Canada without people assuming I am there to use their wonderful medical system. The only job I would "steal" is one that hardly anyone else in the country has the background and the interest to do.

I hate to say this but I am not being represented at all by the people I have voted for.

Tell me I'm not worthy enough to move to Canada. Go ahead prove that you have a superior country by showing the compassion that my country lacks. The other choice would be to show me a messed up attitude. That is something I see plenty of here in the US.

Does the US suck? Overall no. Is it beyond repair? I'm getting the feeling that it is.

Both places have thier good points and bad. One of our best points, is our medical. It ain't perfect, but it is better than the US. But who knows how long that will last. Govt. keeps screwing up anything that works well. Just can't leave well enough alone..Sooo......

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"Real life doesn't start untill the music plays." LSK.

Good to know. I'm afraid the mess we're in down here won't be fixed in my lifetime and will get a lot worse very soon.

I was a member of the young Republicans in college yet I voted for a democrat in the last election. (first time for everything) If I wanted a President who does nothing but go to war and speak rhetoric I guess he would be my choice. A total do nothing, represent nothing president. I don't like to add to his detractors (I voted for him against Al Gore) but I'm sick of getting almost no choice as to who I vote for. These guys need to stop worrying about pissing off the right wing, left out wing, whatever and get some things done. The World Market thing is a bust. Tarriffs serve a purpose. They protect US businesses. All of our US businesses have ran for other countries to make more money and meanwhile the US is being bought and sold to the highest foreign bidder. Time to get a bit more isolationist and take care of the home front. Just my rant.

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Who loves ya baby?

Echo, consider yourself lucky that you got $350 a show for all that time. There are about 50 threads about this very subject and it seems like the national average in the US is $125-150 a show no matter how good you are. Think about it this way:

You charge $350, some other guy comes along and offers to do it for $150. That's $200 in the bar owner's pocket. What is the difference between $200 for the bar owner?

My bar owner makes somewhere between 35-40% profit on beer and 40-50% on liquor BEFORE expenses. So, right there, at an average of $3 a drink or so, he has to sell 167 MORE drinks for him to make that $200. I've been to ALOT of karaoke bars, and it seems like the average person has 3-5 drinks. Of course some have 0 and some have 15, but we'll go with 4 as the average. So, you need to bring in 41 more people each and every night in order for your show to be BETTER to the owner's bottom line than the other guy's. That means that even if he has a cheap rig, no song selection, etc., but gets by on the reputation of the bar, and has ON AVERAGE 35 less people there each night than you ever did, his show is more profitable for the bar.

Those are pretty conservative #'s too, if you ask me. The reality is probably an even higher #. Pure economics, it is hard for the bar owner to justify your $350 over the other guy's $150 under almost any circumstances!!

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C Mc
KJ, FL

I have no problem with the bar owner. He does have a business to run. But with a limited audiance, you need the better product to draw customers to your bar. But still, it is thier business.
  But the price WAS $350. and they were paying that with out complaint. But now, she and others farther down Island are dropping the price, to what I see as unreasonably low compared to other businesses with the same cost outlay, it becomes unfair business practises. And, they are cutting thier own income for no reason other than they can't provide as good entertainment, and can't stand up to competition.
  Due to supply and demand, our price should be around $350. when you considder costs and availability. This comes from the Booking Agents. Van Isle has always been more expensive due to transportation costs. But now, Instead of keeping up with cost increases, we are going backwards. Our entertainment prices have long been a lot higher than in the states. But out cost of living is so much higher. The AVERAGE home in Vancouver is $750,000 to $1,250,000. THats just the normal house that the average laborer would buy. Here, it's not that high, but it's back on the rise.
  Local econimy sais I should get that $350. But now that it's going down, I see no choice here but to follow suit. It just means Karaoke prices and quality are not in tune for the better quality show, for the area. If that's the going rate, well then that's fine.                
  It's just frustrating to have prices and wages roll back when it was not nessasary.

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"Real life doesn't start untill the music plays." LSK.

Cost of living does explain a lot to me about the going rates for KJs up there.

It seems that there are too many KJs in many markets. If I do go into the business, I will go to work for friends as a fill-in KJ and not try to compete. This could change if the idea turns out to be unfair to already working KJs.

I'm sure your show has more quality than the competition.   I seriously considered becoming my own competition buy building a $100 a night set up.   Less songs, less speakers, corded mikes.  Then if they didn't want to pay for the full ride, I could still make money by landing the job they wanted to pay for.    Under cut your competition.    Drive them out of business, if you can live on less money.    Build 10 crappy systems, flood them out.    Take all of the jobs for less money.   You will make more money by doing it in volume.

That's because the new breed of singer is exposed to these lowballer karaoke shows & that's what they get used to & don't care if the system is top notch - because if they ever get exposed to them it's already too late & the clubs either stop karaoke or they go with one of the lowball companies - at least in this area!  This unfortunatly is the new way & because of undercutters that spend peanuts on their system & selection from e-bay pirates, they don't have to charge premium prices so quality flies right out the window.  As long as people go into support these types of shows, there is no hope for the future of big pay & quality karaoke shows anymore!

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

It appears that this is the way of it now. Well, the investment is made, not as high as some I know of, but still a lot. I just dislike compromising my values and business ethics. Seems though, that if I want to stay in the Karaoke business, I don't really have much choice here. I can't afford to resell, I wount get my whole investment back, and I really love being a KJ and doing it my way.. So, off to war I go..

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"Real life doesn't start untill the music plays." LSK.

If you need to do a couple of shows a week just to survive. then sell yourself to wedding arrangers, and as a party host. get out of the bar business.

Here I get $150.00 for a 4 hour show at a bar. at a wedding or a party the same show goes from $750-$2500.00

You can bet your competition can't put on that kind of show.  also check out the competitions show. and give a comparable show for a comparable price. If the bar wants a show without lits, and personality, so be it. when he wants you back as you were he will have to pay your fee.

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I'm Not Dead yet...... But every day Im getting Closer !

Yea, I seem to think that sorta way is what I will have to do. Not sure how the bars will react to my putting prices down. They may just say, well, she's here now so well just stay with her. But I'm going to try anyways. Like I said, part of the problem is that so many people here are related to her... Not sure about weddings locally, They are rather rare. Most just do a JP and go to the bar for a drink. (75% lower income native population here). But, it's worth trying for anyways. Just can't push or fight for it too hard, cuz my other job require that I stay on very good terms with every one. As much as I want to KJ, my other job has to take presidence due to the nature of the job. And, once my wifes schooling is done ( 2.5 years ) we are most likely going to be moving out of the area. Seems we can't really make a decent living here at either job due to population size and local economy. To old to start learning more trades..

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"Real life doesn't start untill the music plays." LSK.

The economy isn't doing as well as it was.        Inflation from gasoline prices is hurting every aspect of the retail market.   They talked about $4 or more gas today.  :shock:    I believe it's coming.    :yes:    So what do you think is going to happen to all of our venues?   We will be seeing a drastic drop in the size of our crowds.    :O    Bar owners will be talking about pay cuts to keep you.     You will be thinking about pay raises to pay for the extra gas prices.    :yes:   Who do you think will win?      Only the cream of the crop has a chance to survive.    :yes:   If you aren't in that position, you better get there.     Book yourself 7 nights a week, so when the going gets tough you may end up with 3-4 good ones.