Karaoke Forums

Lonman, BruceFan4Life said just a few posts above:

"And then they can't understand why they don't keep a steady string of shows going for years and years like the KJ's that are more customer friendly? "

and

"If you wind up losing a weekly gig over not wanting to supply a relatively cheap piece of equipment, don't blame the customer who complained about it."

There have been numerous threads around here in the few months i've been coming here where people have suggested that deviating from a strict rotation, or using what they consider to be 'sub par' equipment or backing tracks would result in empty bars and loss of work.. or such conditions sparking a mass exodus of patrons to neighboring venues.

You know, it's funny.. I sometimes relay things i've read on this board to people I know.. both karaoke singers and other KJ's, and the response is always something like, "Where are those people from?"

Hey.. i'm not saying DON'T play patrons discs.. by all means. I'm just saying that it's not impossible to do a wildly popular KJ show without hassling with patrons discs.

So lets see.............Lonnie get 5-10 discs a night.

Lets assume average is 5.

So 5 custie discs, and lets assume that each custie is with a party of 4. So thats now 20 people present in the bar. Now lets assume that they each buy 2 mixed drinks at 5$ each. (and at Lonnies place, the times Ive been there many of the guests were ordering dinners of one sort or another, so you can add food revenue also).

So lets see 20 peeps X 2 drinks each X 5$ a pop........that comes up to a GRAND TOTAL of....................$200 a night revenue to the bar based upon an average 5 people with discs bringing a party of 4.

So figure 5 nights a week X 200 a night=$1000 a week.

$1000 a week X 4 weeks=$4000 a month based upon 5 discs a night.

To alot of bars that aint chump change. And in alot of situations that could be the bar's NET PROFIT FOR THE MONTH.

DO THE MATH PEOPLES!!

Are you so quick to write off the amount of revenue that you may potentially be driving away from your bar owner's bottom line?

I wonder if HE is aware of it??
And this kind of DISSERVICE that may be happening to HIM??

I wonder how happy the owners would be if they knew of the potential results of the KJ turning people's discs away?

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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

Hey Cheese! Would your employer lose money if you decided to play customer discs? You may be running very successful shows and maybe you've been running them for years at the same locations but I still think that the guy who pays you to entertain his crowd would like to have those extra 20 people in his bar every night spending money instead of spending it down the street.

In the bar business, more fannies in the door equals more $$$$. If I'm a bar owner, I would rather have 200 people in my bar than 180 people in my bar. While 180 people might make for a profitable night; 200 people means a MORE profitable night. Bigger is BETTER. Why chase any customers away for no reason. Is that Karaoke machine that heavy to carry in and hook up two cables to? HECK! Today's songbooks weigh more than a karaoke machine.

We could play someone's laser disc but Lonnie has us beat on the tapes.

We get 1-2 customer discs/show at one venue and so far none at the others. As we are surrounded by mega-songbook shows, we really HAVE to try to make up in service what we lack in songs. I actually LIKE people who are so into music or karaoke that they would want to search out obscure groups or songs and buy their own disc.

We have had in a few from the "Scream and Puke" show in town and, like Cheese says, they could care less about having their own discs. Their goal is to make their friends laugh by screaming as loud as they can. As far as they are concerned, we offer LESS service because we won't stop the karaoke to play dance sets. We tell them to pick a dance song to sing and they think we are no fun. So we may lose a few from that. But in our case, the owner isn't worried as she would rather not have to go in and clean up the bathroom after they unload that one too many drink. I think what you offer depends on who you are trying to attract. The Scream and Puke show does well with a certain amount of people who would find a more traditional show to be boring.

But I would also say that there seem to be some who aren't really thinking out who they are marketing to and make their decisions on what THEY feel like doing or not doing and to heck with the singers. It seems so common that people have developed a real sensitivity about it. To play or not to play singer's discs seems to fall in that category or sore spots.

Again, that assumes if I offered that capability that anyone would take advantage of it.

Like I mentioned earlier.. in the last 12 months, I might have had two people ask about playing their discs.

To be honest, I couldn't fit 20 more people into my regular Wednesday or Friday night gigs if I wanted to.

But again.. my show isn't straight karaoke, either. I also spin DJ dance tunes at patrons requests.. and that fact, along with my raunchy humor and other associated drunken debauchery are probably the reasons I *don't* get more patrons bringing their own discs.

Speaking of which.. let's apply your argument to playing DJ music between singers.. if 15 girls want to come in and sing a few country karaoke songs, and then dance to songs like 'Bottoms Up' or 'Cupid Shuffle' should you play those dance songs in the name of 'customer service' or should you say, "NO! - NIGHT!"

Your show couldn't benefit from having those extra 15 young girls in the club?

It's all about playing to the crowd, man. If I were in a market where there was a high demand to play customers discs.. i'd do it.. i'd simply run a second player on my laptop and play the discs right from the computer.

Apples and Oranges. Playing a customer's Karaoke disc is still karaoke. Playing a dance set on a night that is advertised as karaoke night and not karake/Dance Party night is something that would not sit well with the die hard karaoke patron. I understand that your situation is different and if what you do works for your venues, I'm happy for you.

Oh and I just thought of why I don't do the outside disc thing. The Kiosk does not have an outside cd mode so there's no way to request the song in the que.
Besides just tested the two players that play cd+g's off of cd-rom and found out my rom is not cd+G compatable so it's a moot point anyway. Neither PowerKaraoke or Karawin worked.
Really not a big deal as I have only had one singer bring in a disc when I had a cdg playable cdrom drive before that laptop got stolen.
And I am use to 20 to 30 singers with nonsingers outweighing the singers.

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The Line Array Experiment is over. Nothing to see here. Move along.

Sounds like just more excuses to me. I clicked on your web link and it shows ZERO shows on your calendar. Where are these 30 people singing? In your basement?

I don't place private parties on my calender since the public is not welcome at them. I haven't done a bar show for a couple of years because I chose to leave it due to safety reasons. But when I did do bar shows I had zero problem getting repeat customers to sing or show up despite not playing outside discs.

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The Line Array Experiment is over. Nothing to see here. Move along.

Hey.. now and then I get people who just want to sing along with the original track, too. Do I tell 'em to F off because karaoke is only with guide lyrics on the screen?

What do you play when you don't have any singers up yet? Just sit there with dead air waiting for someone to turn in a slip? Or sing yourself until someone turns in a slip?

When I was disc based I had the means to play outside discs but from September 1993 til December 2002, I had zero requests to play outside discs. That made me decide that since I was going digital I would do so all the way and not carry an outside player. I still feel this way.

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The Line Array Experiment is over. Nothing to see here. Move along.

Do whatever you like, Cheese. It's your show and I don't live anywhere near you so it won't affect me either way.

SAFETY REASONS ???? Man! You have an excuse for everything. Sound Choice might show up just when you play that once a year customer CD and now someone might spill a beer in your mixer or a fight might break out and a thrown bottle will catch you right in your noggin. You're really beginning to make me chuckle.

A bouncer died at the place a day after one of my shows. That dangerous enough for you. And yes I have been hit in the head with a bottle after I went after a guy for breaking one of my mikes. So yeah it is a big deal to me.

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The Line Array Experiment is over. Nothing to see here. Move along.

I get a karaoke disc, put it in & push play so the words are still on the screen. Or I will sing until someone puts up a song. Or flip back & forth. I advertise karaoke, that is that is provided.

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

This may fit better in the technical section but it is on topic. When using an rgb out for the video on a computer how do you also hook up the video from you cdg player?

A video A/B switch. Possible you'd need to convert the computer output to work with the input on the switch, both computer & player connect to the switch & the output of the switch goes to the tv (or splitter to several tv's).

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

To respond to Swingcat's question concerning Lonman's and my ability/desire/choice to play singers' private discs that they bring in....

Many, many people now have karaoke systems at home - they buy their own music, they practice like mad fools, then they bring their discs in and want to be able to sing their own versions. Why on EARTH would I not allow them to do that? Many of the singers who come to my shows are extremely talented -- and if someone aspires to be like that by buying their own music and practicing like mad to get better, then it seems to make sense to me to provide the best service I can for them.

People seem to be very accustomed to looking in a book and not finding their song choices - not the case at my show necessarily, but there are many hosting companies in our area (the Pacific Northwest) that run pretty minimum collections. Be sure you have something to sing and bring your own, I say. (I do it myself, particularly new music when I know a location isn't going to have anything newer than 2 years ago. Crowd enjoys new music, too, and maybe they stay longer and spend more???)

Again, this is one of the reasons I opted for Hoster - no illegal copying of the song on to the drive, yet I am able to offer this service. Most recently, on Thursday a fellow who specializes in reggae and is extremely good at it, was so pleasantly surprised that when I didn't have some obscure reggae song in my book, I was able to play his Legends reggae CDG. Everybody got up and danced. I've been doing this since 1996 and in all those years no one EVER asked for the obscure song that he sang. Will I go out and buy a bunch of reggae songs that will never be sung? No, if this guy wants to sing it he brings it. Works for him, works for me. I can then spend my tip/song money on songs that many will sing.

As much as I could probably sing out of a book anywhere I go, if I'm singing new stuff like Katy Perry, etc., I love the option of being able to sing it when I go out to sing recreationally. Many non-host/hobby singers feel this way, too.

(BTW, none of my shows qualify as "scream and puke" shows {thanks M, love that description}, and all three are diversely different as far as attendees, yet at each show different singers carry their own discs.)

While I won't play outside discs, I will take requests and if they are a regular, I will do my best to find their song for the next show. So I don't ignore requests for songs I might not have, I just have my own way of fulfilling their requests.

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The Line Array Experiment is over. Nothing to see here. Move along.

I just DJ'ed a private party tonight with topless dancers.. several of them got nice and sauced and wanted to sing karaoke.. topless.

None of them brought their own discs. They were content with my catalog.

Perhaps if i'd offered the ability for people to play their own discs I might have had a bigger crowd.