Karaoke Forums

so true

People do basically sing the same songs. Even the younger crowd.
I am so surprised that the younger crowd pick such old songs. I
personally think it is harder to do the newer songs (excluding country)
because they are so studioized. Special effects and such.

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*grin*  Actually, in the case I was referring to in my last message, the song was a current hit that is indeed available for karaoke ("Black Horse & the Cherry Tree" by KT Tunstall).  This particular kj didn't have it for karaoke but had it for filler music.  

I try not to sing the same stuff all the time, or repeat stuff too often in the same place.  I usually try to pick at least 1 new song that I haven't done yet.  Often I'll just browse thru' the book, not looking for anything in particular, just looking, and I'll find a song that I love and I'll think,"Wow, I've never heard anyone sing this for karaoke!" and I'll do it.  (That is, if I know it well enough and think I can do it justice.)  For instance, one that I found last time was "The Boy from New York City" by the Ad-Libs (they had the Manhattan Transfer version too, but the Ad-Libs version is in a better key for me), and I've never heard any version of that for karaoke, so I did it.  It went over really big.  (I've only been doing karaoke for a little over a year, so maybe _you_ guys have heard a lot of people sing it for karaoke--but _I_ haven't.  Except myself.   )

If I want to do a song that a lot of people sing (e.g. "You Oughta Know"-Alanis Morrisette), I do it early in the evening before anyone else has a chance to sing it.  If I have a song picked out and someone else beats me to it, I just change mine--no big deal.  (That doesn't happen very often, though.)

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"Black Horse & the Cherry Tree" I love that song and the crowd loves
it too. I usually don't get to sing it because a regular always does. I'm
like you always trying new stuff. I try to find songs others don't do because I
want the patrons to have 1st pic. I just learned Losing Grip by Avril Lavine. Most
people will do Skater Boy or Complicated by her, so I picked that one.

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Perhaps he is then a hack like a lot of the kjs in my area.  I subscribe to the top hits monthyly discs and get the new songs asap, including "Black Horse & the cherry tree"

There is one KJ in my are whoes newest song is 2 yo, and another that the newest is 5 yo

I put a vcr shop on campus at CSU in Ft collins and went down to a big college bar to karaoke.. It was packed which is the way I like it I sang something by Hank Williams. The kids went nuts. and I was trying to get back tom my bar stool. This cute little thing didnt look like she was old enuff to drink came running up Oh god you remind of my grandpa and gave me a hug... That was his favorite song...When they called me up the crowd parted and I sang makin believe by kitty wells Nuts again

When I sang dayo I never made it back to the bar stool and got all kinds of offers (drinks) Next day I caught this young singing in a gruff voice and trying mimic a southern accent "Makin Believe" I was rollin on the lawn... Old music goes in all parts of the world I know....Music is music and if it comes from the heart it has no genre and sets souls free... At good shows there is no generation gap...

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When I took over the spot at the bar I'm at now the guys song lists was
6 years old. You'd think people would be overwhelmingly happy when I took over.
But I still get the random you don't have _____. Usually I do, but they are to dim witted to find it in the book.  LMAO If I don't have it it is because I wait a few months before updating. People don't realize the cost involved. I'm only adding in new songs I know will be requested over time. If it just came on the radio yesterday I won't have it until at least 2 months down the road, sorry. If people are that impatient about it they can always buy the cdg themselves and bring it in, but they don't want to spend $20 for one song either.  LMAO



karyoker - great story!

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I get people that can't find a song in the book to save their life.  I finally just tell them if they can't find it, just write down the name of the song & i'll get it for them.  9 out of 10 times I know the number or at least the disc it's on.

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Lon I know you dont like multiple requests but wat we tell them now turn in 5 or 6 songs  If we dont have one we will think about getting it if we get enuff requests for it...\ It makes for people doing new ones too....

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We have one night every now and then when there will only be 1 or 2 singers plus the KJ.  These are "kamakaze" or "sewer-slide" nights when we try, or dare others to try, new songs.

We had those nights at a 7 nights a week bar.. It was back when the cd's were 12"   Nancy would put on a cd and we would pass a wireless mic down the bar Whichever song came up was the one you had to sing... Actually that is when I perfected my singing abilities.. I miss those days....

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Without getting involved in the big "pure karaoke" vs. "filler music" argument, let me just say this:

At the place where I went last night, the kj showed 2 or 3 music videos by request.   I know someone requested them; however, I noticed after the kj started showing videos, the crowd had dwindled significantly and most of the singers had left.  (not me, but I probably should have--I was having a rotten night and I wasn't in the mood for videos--but that's just me)

Most of the time for me, it's "the more karaoke--the better'.  

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I think having places that mix karaoke with other forms of entertainment will allow for other places nearby to keep pure karaoke. Personal tase for different crowds.

Obviously the kj don't know how to read the crowd, if people ARE leaving because of the dance music, then you stop the music.  If people don't leave & get more into it, then you continue what you are doing.  The particular crowd you were in obviously wanted more karaoke.  Some crowds WANT a mix, some don't.  Whatever works is the way it should be done.

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[shadow=deepskyblue]I'm impressed, I've never met such a small mind inside such a big head before.[/shadow]

I know the thread started out as "Taking requests for nonkaraoke music."

This question is for everyone that plays dance music.    


Are you playing it because you want to and think you should be or is it actually being requested?

What would happen if you just didn't play it?   And said you didn't have any to play.

Would you be fired?    I haven't been asked to play dance music in quite a while.   I'm talking weeks.    And that is normally just one person asking when it does rarely happen.       Are you getting multiple requests nightly?      How many per night?      I'm trying to figure out how much pressure was exerted on you to cave in, to the dance music requests.

How many dance songs get played a night?    Do you do it regularly as part of your normal format?   Or just if there is a request.

I'm not going to play dance songs because one person every month or two asks for it.

Babs, do you get a whole lot of requests for it?

I conducted an experiment tonight.    I had 12 singers at the time.    About 40 altogether.    This was about 45 minutes in.     A guy came up and asked if I would play a song from his Nickelback non karaoke disc.     I decided to play it to see the reaction, from the crowd and the singers.     I played the song and watched the crowd.     Some were nodding their heads to the music, but mostly it was a non reaction.    He came back up about an hour later with the same disc (a promise of a really nice tip) (SURE) and I played Animals (which I have on karaoke but he didn't want to sing it.)    Again I watched the crowd.     I also announced that I don't normally do this.      I watched the reaction.  Again some head bobbing.  Basically everyone just looked a little bored.   I waited to see if the singers would have anything to say but nobody came up and questioned it.     Now I have to say it was a none normal crowd.   There were a lot of new faces and most of the regulars didn't show.   There were at least 60 people, I never really counted the heads.    Not the best night there, but not the worst.

There was no dancing to those songs or any other nonkaraoke requests.    But there were some slow dancer during the night.     So I will just keep doing things the way I have, since I started.   My agenda will not change.     They may not have been the best dance songs, but it didnt lead to a mass request for any other type of nonkaraoke songs.

He welched on the tip.    I saw that coming from 20 miles away.  LMAO

So let it be said that I do not have a totally closed mind or that everything has to be my way.     Well actually, it does.  

Well for one thing, you need a dance floor to start with, I seem to remember you saying you don't...if that's the case, no dance music should be played at all, for one thing the club can be fined for people dancing without the proper permit for it or space for it.  
2nd, most Nickelback music isn't considered dance music, not saying I haven't seen people dance to it, just not often...Figured You Out is about the closest to dance music.  If you were going to do a fair test, play something like Brickhouse or some other kind of disco tune that was & still is likeable.  I know some clubs up here that do disco sets & the floors are jammed everytime.
3rd, you only do it in the first place if your crowd is in a dancing mode, if they aren't doing hardly any dancing, there's no point.

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[shadow=deepskyblue]I'm impressed, I've never met such a small mind inside such a big head before.[/shadow]

In other words, what works under the conditions you work under may not work in other places.  And conducting any 'experiment' in which the conditions are preset to insure failure is not an experiment at all.  A 30x50 hardwood/tile area without tables needs to be present before any experiment on dance vs no dance.  Your patrons obviously aren't dancers or they would be going to a venue with the proper space for dancing.

and lildog steps in pooh agin.

It looks like DJ-o-k-e pooh.

I don't understand something.   Why is it that you all justify playing dance music saying it's because of your location?

If you let the nonsingers dictate how you run your karaoke show that tells me one thing and only one thing.   Your karaoke show wasn't working.   No amount of justification will hide that fact.      

Call me a troll, say I don't exist, whatever but I'm sticking to my guns on this.   You are admitting that you couldn't do an all karaoke night.    I don't care if you are in anypart of the world.     It doesn't cut it.    

You can justify it to your friends.  

You can justify it with other DJ-o-k-e-r-s.   But I am not buying one ounce of it.

1 out of every five businesses fail within the first five years.


Other Pure KJs aren't buying in to it, either.      :no:

Karaoke singers are the same all over the world.     Not just on the Left Coast.

Do not blame it on people wanting to dance.   NON singers have been dancing at my shows for 14 years.    They use to dance at your shows too.   What happened?    

It sounds like denial.   Plain and simple.    Justifying it doesn't fix the problem.     Admitting there was a problem is half of the cure.      

Playing dance music is just a band-aid on an amputation.     A bad attempt to hide the real problem.     The patient is still bleeding to death.    

This has nothing to do with who's way of doing business is right and who's wrong or what works for who.     Your karaoke didn't work.    Admit it.     Something you were doing or not doing, didn't work.    Nonsingers are not the excuse.     Making money for the bar is not the excuse.      Pure KJs still make bars money.     Pure KJs still have dancers.     Nonsingers still out number our singers.      Just like yours.    They stay all night, just like yours.   They have fun all night, just like yours.

Denial.