Karaoke Forums

As many of you know, I've had to make a few trips to NY. I found one place in the area where I was at that had "karaoke". It was a Thursday night. Now, the KJ was super nice, but here's how the evening went:

8:00 - Karaoke starts.  The KJ sings 3 songs, plays 2 dance songs, sings 3 more songs. I put a song up, immediately got to sing. The rest of the hour is a rotation of KJ, me & dance songs.

9:00 - starts to pick up, several people are putting up songs (during this time, I ask the bar tender how long Karaoke will be going, since I hear an announcement that a DJ will be coming on later, I am told 12:30)

a few minutes before 10:00 - the KJ announces that he will play 3 more Karaoke songs, then the DJ will take over. WHAT!!!!!

I go up and chat with the KJ, and apparently this is how a typical week goes: 2 hours Karaoke, the rest of the night a DJ (seperate guy by the way)

Talk about a waste of time going out. I would much rather have a Karaoke night with some filler music, than a 2 hour karaoke show, where once the singers get relaxed enough to sing, it's over.

I told the KJ that I was going to have to come back in a couple of weeks (I gave him a specific date) and asked him if he could talk to the owner about having a straight karaoke night on that date.  He said he'd see what he could do.

The only other "karaoke night" that I was able to find in that area is a once a month thing at another place.

So, in closing: if you're in the Waterloo - Penn Yan region of NY, there is a serious need of KJ's!!  :wink:

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You live about 1-1/2 hours away from me...too bad you weren't closer.  We have a karaoke venue here every Saturday night and the rotation is very good.  I can usually sing an average of five songs from 9 to midnight.  xxDebbie

I see you don't live in the area...misread your post.

Now you can see why karaoke isn't working in that bar.    What karaoke.    The KJ sucks and the bar owner sucks.

And the Bar owner and the KJ dont even have clue as to why they can't make any money....  

Go save them Bigdog, and show them how it's done!!  :D

BD's new slogan??? ................"Here I am to save the day,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"

Go work your magic man.

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"You know that I sing the Blues and I do not suffer fools. When I'm on that silver mic, it's gonna cut ya, just like a knife"-The SWINGCAT

My mission is to save karaoke for other generations.    Putting hacks out of business is the only way.  :shock:

That's how I got my job where I'm currently at. The KJ's were really selfish & bad, and they didn't promote the bar & the drink tickets enough.

They saw my style the first night, and knew they had the right person. Karaoke is all about the audience! Why wouldn't it be? If people wanted to come hear you sing, you should have a recording contract with someone & a live band.
Karaoke is for the customers. KJ's should do what is necessary to entertain them, and if that means not singing the whole evening if it's busy - so be it. If it means stepping in with a duet - well, your choice on that one.
I believe that most customer go to karaoke to have fun & sing themselves. If not hear other sing. But, that's the only way the bar is going to make money, is if you get audience participation.

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Snare drum pounds on the two and four
All the party people get on the floor

I have had a few bad experiences in NY with bar manager/owner policies and also with some KJs.  One instance was, after having travelled from Pt Washington into the city (about 50 min by train), I turned up at the bar to find the KJ packing up. This was about 30 minutes after the start time for karaoke.  Turns out the bar owner did not want to pay the KJ for the normal 3-4hr gig as there were not many people in the bar at the time.  Needless to say that bar owner didn't get any of my beer money that night!  How are you KJs supposed to make a living with bar owners like that!  I mean, you're booked for that night, you get yourself and your gear there, set up, and then get told to pack up and go.  I would expect that once you're there and set up, you should be entitled to be paid for the full night, not just a half hour!  Now this KJ is very good and has awesome sound gear.  He knows what he is doing, which is more than I can say for a number of KJs I have seen.  I no longer return to that particular bar, but I do support this KJ at another bar he is regularly booked.

One gripe I do have with the way a lot of KJs seem to run their gigs is the way they seem to favour new arrivals over those who have been in the bar since the start of the night.  It seems that every time somebody new walks in the door, their song goes to the top of the rotation.  Now I have no problem with that at all as they are there to sing too and if there are a number of people in the bar, they could be waiting a long time before they get to sing just one song, if their name goes to the bottom.  What seems to happen though, is that EVERY new arrival's song goes to the top, so if you , say, get five or ten people arrive in a short time frame (or together), the existing rotation suddenly stops until they have all sung.  And if more people arrive during this time, then the people who have been supporting the bar (and the KJ) the longest, get to wait even longer, and may not even get another song in.  What is worse is that most of the "late arrivals" have usually been drinking at and supporting OTHER bars during the night.  Surely a better way of handling the rotation would be to "slot" the new arrivals into the existing rotation.. ie. keep the rotation going but every other song or two, have a "newbie" sing.   What are your thought on this?

That's up to the KJ and the Bar owner.  The KJ should cover that before he does his first gig.  My service agreement states that if I am there and setup, I will be paid in full wether I gog for 15 minutes or 4 hours.



It all depends on the KJ, and how they add new singers to the rotation.  For me, 80% of the places I play at the newbies get added to the bottom of the rotation.  It can seem like I am playing favorites, if I say, have 10 people in the rotation, and the current singer is #8 in the rotation.  A newbie comes in and gets put in @ #11, and sings after 2 more singers.  Usualy that works at most of the place I play, becasue there is not a BIG rotation.  But now say the current person singing is #1 in the rotation, the newbie still gets put in @ spot #11, and has to wait for 9 mor singers before they are up.

Now at a couple other places I gig at occasionaly (private clubs), there is a BUNCCH of singers, say 25 in the rotation.  I that is the case I will put newbies in the rotation usualy around 5 singers after the current singer.  If 2 newbies come in at the same time, one gets put in 5 spots after the current singer, and the oter gets put in at 8 spots after the current singer.  

It is realy hard to keep a fair rotation.  IF you have concerns ask the KJ, and if they are a decent KJ, I am sure they will explain it to you.

They have to go somewhere.   The rotation is constantly in motion.  So the end is moving around to.    You say put them at the end.  What if the end is after the next song.   Should they wait for two ends to come around?    I add new singers depending upon how many I get at one time.   If they trickle in, then it's every 5 or so.   If they come in 10 at a time, it's every other one.    Nobody ever sings more that one song per rotation.    I also want to make sure that every singer gets to sing at least once.   Depending on the size of the rotation, there is such a thing as getting there too late to sing.    We are bigger diplomats than at the United Nations.

I'm back in NY. Court is tomorrow. What happens then decides if I'll be here for Thursday's "karaoke".

As far a the rotations, I also put new singers at the end of the list, and like stated, it depends at which stage of the rotation that I'm at when the song is put in as to how soon the "newbie" gets to sing.

As for the KJ who set up, and then was told to break down because the crowd was slim: GIVE ME A BREAK!  Alot of times, things pick up within an hour or so, and what starts out as a slow night often gets busy. I think the bar tender or owner just wanted to close early, but who knows.....

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14 years ago, everyone came early to get a seat and most of them ate dinner before/during the show.      Nobody comes early now.    I use to panic if nobody was there a half hour before the start.   Now I don't panic unless there is nobody there 1 hour after I start.    Everyone just goes out much later than they use to.    Maybe the drunk driving thing.   Can't get as drunk if you're an hour late.

Your opening remakes justifies my comments about dance music killing karaoke.   Very soon they will not have a KJ.   They will just have a DJ that does the same thing.  :yes: