Karaoke Forums

As of now I am scheduled to work that Thursday but usually try to get T-Giving night off for family time.  I usually will work the Friday after.  Sat & Sun I am off, have a couple other guys working for me.

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Try and catch you Friday then!

May try to make it myself!

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

That's about the right price for soda pop.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

yeah, ol Motor Oil is usually a bit more expensive... Go and chew your dark brew, m'man! !

I only know of one bar in town that does not give out the pop for free (if you are with drinking friends or are known at the bar).

Another mistake many bars make!  CHARGE for ALL including refills!  $1 minimum for coffee, soda & water.  $1.25-1.50 for soda/coffee & water here & refills are the same.  Only exception to the free rule is if you have been spending money all night & need to sober up a bit, then you'll get your soda/coffee/water on the house.   PBR runs about $3.25.
Many clubs will up their prices during entertainment times, some as much as a $1 per drink, but $.50 is avg.

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Mistake or not, when you have 30 bars in an area, some will start chargeing lower prices. Eventually everyone will have to follow suit to remain competitive and get people in the door. This is especially going to be the case if the rents are low, the clientelle are not "rich" (in this case mostly college students), and the salaries of bar tenders are also low. Most of the bars that have dancing have a water cooler and paper cups for the dancers to self serve water. I don't know of any local clubs that change the cost of drinks when there is entertainment. Generally entertainment is paid for by the cover charge if any.

I don't know about the national average price of cover charges but as an example of prices for "known" bands the local cover charges max out at about $20 for most shows. "They Might Be Giants" is only charging $17 next month, and "The Melvins" were only $15 last week. Less well known acts generally are $6-$10 in the big bars or free in most of the smaller bars. About a year ago R.E.M. did a surprise gig in a benefit show that was only $15 cover. I bet R.E.M. could get away with $50 or more tickets in some places. Even the larger clubs do regular free shows with 3-4 or more bands performing. I only know one local DJ duo that can get away with charging a $6 cover charge on a monthly show.

I have a close friend who has given up alcohol, but still likes going to the bar scene and has many friends who go out. She has a couple bars that makes her "fancy" NA drinks with 4-5 ingredients for free (fruit juices, sodas etc), just because she used to be a regular drinker there, and has a lot of friends who are regulars. A couple bars even come up with new NA drinks for her to try out. I agree that as a good business model they should charge her, but it is kinda a close community of "friends".

At the bar that I am working karaoke, there are about 40 regulars who show up during weekdays (usually only 10 or so a night). On fridays and saturdays when the bar is packed (sometimes 100 people) they need a door person for Ids. At one time or another about half of the regulars have worked the door on fridays or saturdays to pay off their weekday bar tabs.

Sorta sounds like we are a bit communist here.....

Well if they aren't charging enough & have the entertainment to back it up, they probably won't last in business.  If they are giving away their drinks just to keep up with the other bars, then they probably won't last.
As far as the 'big name bands' coming in, they aren't charging $17 & 15 (which is about average - most local cover bands here get $5-15 per customer depending on the night) to perform, they are charging that per person - not for a night - which if (I think) you stated the bar only holds 45 people, then that equates to $675-765 to the band then what ever the bar charges for their drinks, they aren't playing for $17 or 15 dollars - trust me!

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Man, I have never seen anyone with such a fatalistic view of business as you.  Believe it or not, there are other ways of competing besides pricing yourself out of existence.

And I don't know where you get the idea that college students are necessarily poor.  The college students I know always seem to be able to find beer money.

No it is observation of the local situation. Apparently it is far from the national norm, fortunatley for you pro KJs.

I talked to a couple of friends who run a different karaoke gig in town. They started doing karaoke at the same time as me. They also were doing it only for free drinks.

Well there are 4 people involved (2 sisters and 1 husband 1 boyfriend) doing the karaoke, and they were doing only for the bar tab.

Sure it does not take 4 people to run karaoke, but they were doing it mainly for fun.

He mentioned to me that the 4 of them ran up a 45 dollar tab on drinks ON THE NIGHT THEY RAN KARAOKE for 4 hours. The bar said "well just pay $20 for the drinks". Not only did they not get paid for the karaoke, they did not even get a reasonable number of free drinks for 4 people. The cost to the bar is about half or less of the tab, as we have discussed. Their out of pocket cost for the entertainment after giving the essentially half price drinks to the KJ is essentially zero.

Now that is not my personal experience, but hey that shows that the bar does not value the entertainment much at all in my area. Prices are shot to hell already. It is not just me, this is from other people's experience in this town.

At least I get something (true free drinks).  I don't get paid, but at least I get free drinks 6 nights a week if I want them (even on the nights I don't run the Karaoke).
I generally was going to the bar 3 nights a week before, and I am continuing about the same. I also don't have to pay cover charges there  (but that was the case before hand anyway). They only charge a cover about once a month for a special band.

Now sure both of us are just "starting out" as KJs and have only been doing it for about a month each, and we may not be as polished as long term KJs. But trust me If I could get $50-$100 a night I would take it, at least it would pay for song updates if not my time. Fact is I really can't, at least for now. I hope to make it so I can regularly pull 50 people into the club on Karaoke nights, and If I can do that the bar tender will probably throw me a few dollars. So far my crowds my build to that but they are not that regularly yet.



The bands are playing in a bigger bar nearby that holds up to a max 575 people (legal limit). A good band will sell them out so they are getting 7-8k in ticket sales for the night. The main act may only get a portion of that, but a major touring band may have a support crew of 6-10 people as well as the band. Such a band may need at least 3-4k a night just to pay hotel, food and transportation costs.


Many touring bands are touring for promotion purposes anyway, they are trying to advertize their CDs and that is how they make money.

Blah, blah, blah ...

I was just checking the web for the current price of tea in China, and was wondering to myself how this post has survived over 110 posts.  

Jimeny Crickets!

Perfect example, the bar wouldn't even flip the bill for the entire tab, they wanted to pay less & less.  What needs to happen is all the companies in your area do a little hiatus for a couple weeks - Hell you won't be out any income & then come back in charging a minimum, chances are you'd all get your asking price.



Actually most bands don't make anything on cd sales anymore especially with piracy running as high as it is.  Unless they are selling their own discs without the aid of an actual record company to back them, then they could make more.  Figure if a record company produces the bands disc, they will sell for say $10, the band generally will get about $1 per disc but chances are the company will sell a couple hundred thousand copies leaving a couple hundred thousand to the band.  If the band produces their own discs, they too will sell them at $10 each, but everything they sell is their own so to make that same figure above, they only need to sell 20,000 discs but it's not as common for bands to be producing their own discs independantly & where they make their real money is through touring & merchandising.

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There's actually an article in the Entertainment Weekly that I just got in the mail today about all of the changes in the music industry and how revolutionary Madonna's recent deal with Live Nation and Radiohead's new downloadable only album are.  

One of the things it says is that a lot of bands make almost their entire income by touring and that more and more they're viewing their albums as a promotional tool to make money on their live shows, rather than a profit generating product.  Which does make a lot of sense since not only do the bands on major labels get a pretty small percentage of each CD sale, but most CD's released can measure their sales in thousands, not hundreds of thousands.  So once again I'm left wondering where Fred gets his facts from.

DrFred  for heavens sake, your shooting yourself in the foot!! a few free shows to get yourself started and established in a bar being your a new KJ is one thing, but doing a good show for free just cuz its fun is insane!! I personaly HAVE A BLAST doing karaoke, but I am also smart enough to know that if the bar cant pay me its cuz they arent buisy. if they arent buisy I will be bored and not meeting new people or entertaining people. there are enough hacks out there who do poor shows driving down the value of a show. what youre doing is killing the people in your area who expect to get paid.
  Ive actually had other KJs plead with me to raise my prices as I was doing shows for the same price as better known Kjs in the area by raising my price by 20$ even I could weed out the bars who did not care about the shows quality. I raised it $50 and found that even tho I have to go sell myself I dont end up wasting as much time on bars that dont care. I also have less trouble selling to those who care about quality because they  think the more expensive must be better. I have talked to DJs who wanted to do less shows so they raised there price $100 and wound up with MORE SHOWS! the mentality is if it costs more it must be better. I guess on the flip side you can have bars that will take shows for free as im sure I would not like them. bottom line is even tho its a hobby doesnt mean you cant make some cash!

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the voices arent real, but they have some good ideas

As much as i like Dr Fred's written disposition plus the fact he remains cool when others seem to attack his fun free karaoke hobby, i tend to agree with Supercharge's opinion on this.

Charge your venue reasonably what you think you're worth and you will likely receive it, if its' quality work you provide,....in my humbled opinion. Worked for me.

You miss the point.

I like the bar where I am doing karaoke.

I would rather do my karaoke night there for free than somewhere else for even $200 a night.

Sure there are a few bars that I dont dislike too much that I could be tempted to do karaoke at, but to be honest, they would have to pay me $250 or more to do karaoke at 3 of the local bars that do karaoke, another couple for 100  or so and only the one where I do it, would I do it for free.

I have a day job that pays enough for me to have that freedom.

...Well then you-go Dr Fred! If it's your prerogative then i support you.

I just know at the end of a long drawn out night of 6 hour karaoke (supposed to be 4) and i'm dead beat and finished loading/unloading the truck at night- my only-then (besides pride for a fair pro show and hugs) concellation (sp?) is the money that i count in tips/flat rate. That's when i'm alone and away from everyone.

That somehow makes it all worthwhile. I kinda like to see it as babysitting money for the drunks i endure at times. "that extra $50 to have put up with them"

What is your reward at the end of it all when you're alone?

Is the "thanks from everyone" redeeming enough everytime you work??

Just asking, not judging....okay.

In my experience "giving too much" to the singers begins with appreciation by some, then it leads to familiarity, then expectation.

In order not to disappoint, we struggle to provide the same great quality, eventually stressing ourselves out and feeling unappreciated.

Sure the social rewards are great, but the body and mind needs some kind of tangible reward, does it not?

Once again i don't judge others decisions to pursue their own happiness and would never blame others for my own failings...even in an industry that might be tanking in a few years. (hopefully not though- i love this karaoke thing!)

I  suppose i personally would move-on with optimism into another industry- just like my many friends in the real estate business are doing now!

Once we get beyond our basic survival needs the among our greatest need is respect and thanks from our friends, relatives and coleagues.

My day job pays for my basic needs very well. I chose karaoke instead of buying an overpriced luxury sportscar or a house far beyond my needs. When it comes down to it a "$10,000" toy is not an extremely rare thing in this county.

Thanks from a drunken idiot is not anywhere near enough, the patrons at the bar who are thanking me are among my friends.

I also get satisfaction from doing a job as well as I can.

Am I overly tired when I finish, sometimes yes. Are some nights going to be "better" than others, of course. But it is something I have chosen to do.

Very well said Fred..

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott