Karaoke Forums

I would not recommend anyone get into karaoke full-time. It's almost foolish for some people to take a sound system, invest in karaoke music and start running karaoke. Might have been feasible 5 years ago, but it's just not the same.

It's a great sideline gig, but I highly recommend spending all of your efforts learning the wedding biz and refining your marketing efforts. One wedding pays an entire week's worth of karaoke. I'd rather work one night a week for $X.xx than 5 nights a week for the same price.

That's where I'm at now. Through attrition, I am down to 5 total shows per week, 2 of which are on Friday. I do two of those shows and my Saturdays are reserved for weddings/private parties. I am not actively searching for new shows and if I got a call, I would only accept it if one of my guys were willing to do it.

Not me! Not anymore.

Lone - Do you spend your days conjuring things up out of thin air to post to the forums?



You have no idea why the other manufacturers haven't pursued legal action. You are just making up your own reasons and assuming that's what the manu's are doing.



Then you throw in something that sounds perfectly legitimate and reasonable to make it sound as if you know what they are doing when.....you don't.



I wouldn't be so sure about that. There is always the possibility for DK management to change direction. Same with Pioneer, and others that are still around. Even the brands that don't appear to have any real owner could get snatched up by an enterprising entrepreneur with a taste for stirring the pot and going after the bad guys.



This is where you are completely and utterly incorrect. The SC lawsuits shook up the industry and for the first and only time made pirates re-think what they were doing. In the areas that SC sued, SOME pirate hosts got out *or* got caught and settled *or* legitimized themselves in part or in whole. The industry on a broad scale started to talk about piracy instead of just ignoring it. The lawsuits, if nothing else, have placed the subject of karaoke piracy into a more public forum where even the singers and venues know something about it. I can't help but think that even a small percentage of people make a conscience choice to not steal the music now as a result. YOU may not like their tactics, but they caused some much needed waves in the industry.

I would like to see SC and DT expand their efforts. I would like to see them really focus their energies and bring the hammer down hard on some people and make examples of them so that people truly think twice about stealing the karaoke music.

BTW.....My prediction is that SC will stay alive for a while yet. I don't think Kurt is ready to throw in the towel. I believe Kurt wants to go into production again and will. I believe 2013 will see some things from Sound Choice that will surprise the anti-Sound Choice folks.

-Chris

This is more along the lines of where I am going as well. Difference being I am actually getting a lot of requests to do karaoke shows these days and I have a bunch of hosts that are able to work for me. So I do the shows to keep the network alive and keep my company name out there.

-Chris

According to James part of the reason new production did occur in 2012 was due to vendors APS and Donna Boris ripping SC off for over $200,000. To expand their efforts in the legal process, manus need money in order to pay lawyers and to hire investigators. I don't think it is making up things to deduce that they are lacking the financial resources to follow through on legal actions. SC begins these suits and fails to follow through. Why would APS and their sub-contractor Donna Boris with hold money from Kurt and SC, unless they have not been paid for services rendered? If this legal process is such a money maker why haven't other manus followed suit? Since as you have pointed out the venues and singers are even aware of SC's efforts. Can it be Chris that other manus see little to gain from all of this? I think what we are going to see from SC in the following year is more of the same, if they are still around. So far only around 330 hosts are certified, 300 cases total settled and maybe another 300 cases under investigation. That is less than 1% of the entire industry. At that rate it will take a 100 years to solve the problem. It could be that karaoke might survive another generation or so. Maybe some hosts will follow rick's example and devise a business model that doesn't use karaoke at all. He has shown that it works, it could be the manus efforts will speed up the decline of karaoke, not help it as so many certified hosts believe. If SC gets mired in counter suits this new year, don't expect PR/DTE/CB to jump into the same legal quicksand. Have a nice day.

I can only speak to my reasons for doing this....

I am looking at a very long term investment at this point that involves a lot more than just running karaoke shows. I am diversifying my interests instead of putting them all in one basket. That includes, btw, adding Trivia nights, doing DJ work, Weddings, Corporate events, and other things I don't care to mention right now.

-Chris

Thanks Chris, that makes total sense then. I agree with the diversity 100%, and I understand you have a full time job so you can do this at your pace. I did the same, and had the DJ business going as a part-time gig when I got laid off my sales job. Trying to replace a six-figure income was quite stressful but I found a way to make it work, and now three years later I wouldn't go back to that environment. I'm 56 years old and I'm my own boss from now on.

I am in the same boat. I want to do it on my terms though instead of waiting for a hammer to fall. That is why I started 3 years ago when I saw certain signs taking shape. If something were to happen tomorrow and my day job disappeared I will be a lot less stressed about it than if it would have happened a few years ago.

Always have a Plan B....and a Plan C if you can.

-Chris

8)

It is important not have all your eggs in one basket, that is a good way to risk getting them all smashed. Since I'm retired karaoke only accounts for about a third of my income. I did not quit my day job while hosting, and now hosting is all I do for at least the next 2 to 3 years. These are very difficult times financially to run a business, and it takes planning and a good business model to be successful. After all over 90% of small business's fail in the first 10 years, it is probably even worse now since we are going through the worst economic era since the Great Depression.

It's always been more of a hobby to me, however in a couple years it will be all I do after retirement. Maybe more, we shall see!

I'm tired (again) of the late nights, the drunks, the maintenance, and all of the other BS that comes with "karaoke night".

I so much agree with you on this. Doing a "professional" karaoke show where it is obvious how much time and money you have invested, is A LOT OF WORK. Fortunately I don't have any drunks, and late nights, but I do have the BS from management and special singers (anyway they think they are special).

Last night I did my "once a month" show at a beautiful country club and in the first 15 minutes I was told to turn down the music 4 times, and at the same time had other people tell me that it wasn't loud enough. To top that we were informed (indirectly) that we are not scheduled for any of winter months this year. We got them through all the tough months from May to November, by bringing in 40 to 60, non-club members, who ate and drank. We even had a wedding party for two people that met each other at our show and that party had more than 100 people.

My pay there is $275 for 3 hours (6-9 PM) so the pay and hours are great, but the attitude really sucks. I bring in my own 46" tv that I have professionally mounted on a speaker stand, and last night the manager told me that some of the customers on the other side of the bar were complaining that they didn't have a tv on their side of the bar to watch. Can you believe that!!! She thinks that I should bring in another tv for the other side too! This falls into the category of "no good deed goes unpunished".

Still cueball the total profit margin is down because the price charged to do a gig is down, because of the pirates cutting their prices, and this forces everyone to take less, right?

Why jump to the assumption that because a KJ chooses to compete on price he's a pirate? In any business there must be a unique selling proposition to approach potential clients. You can be the oldest (experience), you can be the best (subjective), you can have the largest library, or you can have an avid group of followers. If you can't be any of these you can be the cheapest, the easiest route that anybody can take. In my trivia business, I can approach the venue with a sliding scale of pricing, starting at 1/4 of my rate and increasing it every two weeks until I'm at my full rate. It's a marketing strategy, and it gets me in the door of venues that might not talk to me otherwise.

I've used that strategy to go from zero market share to being the largest provider of bar/restaurant entertainment in my four county market in less than two years, including karaoke providers that have been in business for 20 years. So don't assume a pricing strategy is a sign of illegal activity, might just be somebody smarter than you.

Lone Ranger, I am a full time KJ (no trivia no Dj just karaoke) not retired and no "day job" so some do exsist

I don't have any other job - haven't for 20 years (ok there was a 2 year stint I was a office asst in a trucker broker company between 01-02). Karaoke takes up my full day, doing research on songs, advertising, making contacts, website updates, book updates/proofreading, etc. among other things

Not counting the time you spend on the forums, right Lonman?