Karaoke Forums

Wow!

Tymzdad and I just decided less than 2 months ago to give this Karaoke business a shot. I knew that getting gigs around here wouldn't be that hard, especially if the sound system was good and you have a personality of something beyond a wood tick.

Well, we landed a gig on a trial basis for 2 weeks. We gave them a deal they couldn't refuse. They were doing it on Tuesday nights, with a KJ who didn't even sing, had "maybe" 1500 songs, and when people weren't singing, he just played the CGD's by themselves.

Well, the bartender had said that she and the manager were extremely disappointed, and that they had actually cancelled it for a couple of weeks because no one was showing up.

So, I handed the bartender my card, and said if they ever desired to maybe give it a try on a different night, they could try us out. So, that's how the trial basis started.

We had our first gig last Thursday, March 18, and things went VERY well. We put up some flyers in the bar, and also posted it on an entertainment website for the area we live in. The first night we had a steady rotation of about 8 singers, and held a good 70-80 people in the bar until 1:00am. The manager was happy, so we were excited about the next week (which was last night's gig).

So, we get there last night and set up, and put the books out about 30 minutes before we started. We had a couple of songs slips turned in, and I think we had 3 in the rotation when we started. Then, the flood gates opened..........

1 hour later, our rotation was 25 people long, and only 1 of those people was from the previous week. People had mentioned that the sound system was much better than the places they are used to going to (this place has 16 ft. high ceilings), and the majority of the singers were REALLY good. There were about 120-130 people in there for the majority of the night.

So, we fought our first battle with a lot of people asking when they were up, etc. Also, we obviously had some people who requested songs that we did not have, but explained to them that if this became a regular gig, we'd work on getting those (especially catering to the "regulars").

At the end of the night, the manager said she had never had so much positive feedback about entertainment (bands, DJ's, etc).

So, we landed ourselves a gig every Thursday, and she is considering adding us for a second night during the week. There is also another popular place in town that is seeking a good karaoke show, and they are friend with the owner there. She mentioned that she had already given our name to them, and she hoped we didn't mind that she did it. We chuckled at that.

Also, a nice gal came up and inquired about doing a wedding reception.

So, all in all, we couldn't have ordered a better night, and we have all of your expertise in this forum to thank for it.

Thanks a ton to all of you for helping us with nothing short of a successful kick-off to our KJ career.

I'm so excited I can't even see straight!

Sounds like things are getting off to a great start. Good job! Being in a small military town though kind of limits the patronage (is that a word?) in my town, especially this close to the end of the month. Also, half of our population it seems is overseas right now.

Anyway, I went to this bar a few months ago after experiencing one of the shows that their KJ was running. The guy had no clue. He would play 3 or 4 regular songs to every karaoke song. Sound stunk. Mics stunk. Anyway, I went up to the owner and offered my services for 25$ MORE than what they were paying their guy. I wanted to be sure NOT to undercut another KJ. They just laughed at me. Now a few months later, after the word has gotten out about my sound and how I run a show, they're calling me asking if I would still do it for the price I told them. I said sure and they said, "Good, we'll see you tomorrow night." BLING-BLING So with any luck this may be the start of something great as well.

Tym,
I'm very happy to see it all is going well!!

_________________
Brian D.
(BHB)

It looks like Tymzend and I are going to be busy boys in a hurry around here. We have some very hot leads on Tuesday and Friday nights, referrals coming from the great Thursday night he described in his posting above.

Then, my wife and I went to a nearby small town last night to sing karaoke...a husband and wife team (who are way up there on our list of great people we have met thru karaoke) KJ that little bar 2 or 3 times a month. What a great little place! About 50% country, the rest pretty evenly divided up aross the musical spectrum. But 100% party, and packed to the gills! They have singers driving 50 miles or more to sing there.

Anyway, this KJ couple actually helped me line up a gig at this place for next Saturday night! It could turn out to be a once or twice a month thing.
These people are like all of you on this website. Anxious to help and encourage those less experienced KJ hopefuls.

I want to echo what he said above......thanks to this website and to all of you out there who have helped us get going. The information we have picked up here has been invaluable to our KJ business! We are happy to be here!

sure glad things are going good for you guys!

now if only MY business will pick up! !

TYM
let me know when ya can tell us what ya did right...


I think I knew it from the first show...

_________________
Brian D.
(BHB)

I think what we did right was to buy very good equipment and music as a first priority. Thanks in large part to all of you on this website, we got off on the right foot. We bought a Mackie CFX12 mixer, a pair of SRM 450 speakers, and a SWA 1501 subwoofer. Boy, we got some compliments on our sound. One gal came up to us (a good singer...no beginner) and said that she sings regularly at the most popular karaoke club in town, and remarked how exceptional all the singers sounded. She asked, "Do you suppose it is the accoustics in here, or what?". Now, this is a 80 foot square room with a 16 foot high metal clad ceiling.

We told her that it had a lot to do with the equipment that we were using. She said that she had never heard karaoke sound so good. THAT was satisfying!

Our music is very basic at this time...only about 4000 songs. But, all Soundchoice, DKM, Chartbuster, with a few PHM recent updates. We desperately need to add more updates, because we got 2 more gigs next week. Now we have next Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights booked. All at different places!

The other thing we have going is that we are in the midwest, where any type of phenomenon catches on much later that it does on ths coasts. We evidently have an untapped market here...everyone scrambling to pick up some karaoke entertainment. At our Friday night place, the owner said he doesn't need it to fill his place up (small venue), but he has had so many customers demanding karaoke that he is gonna go ahead and do it, 'before the place down the street does'.

We also made a point of chatting with all of the singers during the night, telling them how much we appreciated them coming out to party with us, and shaking their hands as they left. I think karaoke people like to feel that they are part of a fraternity of singers, and they like personal attention, which will bring them back the next week. Very friendly people, for the most part.

Thanks everyone for getting us off of the right foot. Well, it's a free night, the wife and I are going out to....KARAOKE....what else? We can't get enough!

Honestly, there's a lot of competition around here. Most of the bars who have Karaoke, have had the same people doing it since the earth cooled.

What I have seen is a lot of bad shows with even worse sound systems and horrid song selections.

Or, you'll see a nice song selection, but the system sounds like the singer is trapped in an oil barrel, full of oil.

You can't have one or the other, you have to have both.

I see shows around here where the KJ doesn't sing. Some bar owners tend to think that isn't very professional, unless it's strictly a DJ/KJ show, and agreed to upfront.

This last gig I booked yesterday......the owner says "Do you sing?" I said "Yup". He said "Heck, that would be an upgrade right there".

You singing songs yourself inspires the crowd. You could sit there and play DJ music all night, but that's not going to get the person who is right on the "edge" of overcoming that stage fright to do it. Grab the mic, tame it for them, and let the flood gates open for a great time!

Keys to success?

1. Great Sound
2. Great Music Selection (still working on that one, but have a darned good start)
3. Great Personality (Say something besides "Thanks Jim, Ethyl, yer next")
4. Ultimate Confidence

After that, just let it fly. I believe fully that we have one of the best sound systems in the area, and have already been told that by an awful lot of people.

Hey, make people sound better than they ever have, and you'll have your hands full with booking gigs.

Aw heck, I'm preachin' to the choir......

First off - CONGRATS!

Good job, and I know you'll have a lot of success. Your ideas and list of what makes a good show are right on. I started a new Fri night gig this past week, on a trial basis. Bad part of it was they scheduled it for 5:30 - 9:30 p.m., kinda early for karaoke on a Fri night. Tried to tell them that, but this place has a lot of older folks who don't party late (its a private club). Tried to tell them I could bring in a good size crowd for the karaoke and their members could just join in as they liked. But not being experienced with karaoke, they just didn't comprehend. They normally run happy hour 4:00 till closing (usually around 7). Even with the happy hour prices, I think they set a record that night. It started out a little slow, but after the first hour, had 35-36 singers and approx 70 people in the place, over half of which were my normal karaoke followers, not even members. It sure makes it nice when you have a following like that so you can go into a new place and have a great night immediately. The thing I have to work on with them now is to do the show a little later in the evening, and it's ok to go with the happy hour prices 4 - 7 or so, but when you're paying for entertainment and have a house pretty full, don't run the happy hour all night. I was drinking crown and water at $3.00 happy hour (normally runs $3.50), so 70 people at $.50 times 3 drinks would have produced approx 2/3 the cost of the karaoke. I'm sure they'll come around, just inexperienced with this type of set up. At any rate keep up the good work and always remember to make your followers feel and know that you appreciate them. They'll follow you anywhere if ya take good care of them.

Thanks Ron......and good luck with your new Friday nite gig. Once you get those people educated and in a karaoke frame of mind, you will have a great thing going! What you said about having a faithful following of folks is right on. I hope we are going to have that pretty soon here.

I can already see that it is easy to become very friendly with your regular singers. Like having a little family reunion when they show up to party and sing with you. It must feel pretty good to have them follow you across town to a new venue!