Karaoke Forums

to me, a 'shut out' is a night when you get absolutely zero singers all night long, no matter who is to blame: be it the venue, promotions, your hosting abilities, screw ups, lack of folks at the venue, etc

how many shuts out have you pitched? and do you have any remedies or suggestions on avoiding 'shut outs' that you want to share?

as an 8-year karaoke DJ vet, I've pitched only 1 shut-out that I can remember. Zero singers all night long.

I feel that even if you get 1 singer for the whole night, it's a victory nonetheless. you avoided a 'shut out'. Or do folks consider 1 singer all night as still a shut out?

Despite the fact that I am a legend in my own mind, I have to plead guilty to a singleton shut-out ( not too awful for a few decades in the biz) .

However, I do think I may have a legit excuse. The president touched down a mile away in his helicopter for a town meeting in Cresskill, NJ. Big happening in a tiny town...... Not a soul or car on the streets nearby..

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

I have never had a 'shut out' in 20+ years of hosting. However I have had nights where I either don't have any singers until later (maybe around 11 PM), or it's me & 1 or 2 others until later in the evening. Have never ever had a no singer night!

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I had one Wednesday a couple years ago when I had ZERO singers. The funny thing was that the bar was not particularly dead; there were at least 35-40 people hanging around that were digging my DJ sets. No matter how much coercing I did over the mic, though, there just were not any singers that night.

That was my only shutout in my 1200+ show history. I've definitely had dozens that just avoided the shutout. Some of the most fun I've had as a host have been Wednesday nights with 5-6 singers where everyone had a great time and was able to sing 10+ times each.

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C Mc
KJ, FL

Never a shut out, but some slow starts. The downtown area I am in can be finicky during certain times of year, events, or weather patterns. I have had a 1/2 dozen or more nights where I am the only singer for the first 1-2 hours. Usually a winter occurrence.

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-Chris

Almost every Nov. I don't know why I start so early each year. The snowbirds are arriving latter and latter every year any more. Even the bar gig I just started we may only get about 15 locals and only 3 or 4 will sing. The rest just what to get out of the 110 deg heat and have a cold beer. Thank god Dec. brings the snowbirds.

About 6 years ago I had a gig in this tiny little mountain town about 10 miles from any other civilization.

I never pitched a shut-out because I brought a friend/singer/assistant with me every time. I always had at least one other singer.

That venue was very isolated and even offered free shuttle-van service to the spectacular restaurant and live music stage.

Sometimes we'd get groups of 30-50 that would just show up and have no awareness that is was karaoke night. Sometimes we'd simply get the dozen or so locals who would lurk and occasionally, reluctantly sing a song or two.

If we could have translocated the entire building and brought it down to the Vail/Beaver Creek area, that show would probably still be ongoing and wildly successful. Location, location, location.

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Never the same show twice!

In over 20 years not a single " shut out" we have had some slow show starts with 4 singers for the first hour to hour and a half

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"Integrity is choosing your thoughts, words and actions based on your principles and values rather than for your personal gain."
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"if a man has integrity, nothing else matters, If a man has no integrity, nothing else matters."
Lee McGuffey

Never had a shut out. What an uncomfortable thought. I've had a few four singer nights at new bars, which were pure torture for the most part, thought.

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Birdofsong

First starting out, I was trying to get my karaoke show going anywhere I could. Had some extremely show nights starting out, but never a shut out...

...until 2 weeks ago.

At the casino where I host, they decided to have karaoke on a Thurs night from 5-10pm to celebrate their 13th anniversary. It was also the same night our local professional basketball team (The Thunder) was playing. We normally have karaoke there on Fri nights starting at 9pm.

I started karaoke at 5 as requested. No singers and almost no people around at all. 2 hours go by, not a single singer. Then the big game starts and people started showing up. They tell me to forget about karaoke for the rest of the night because the people want to watch the game. I was still paid in full.

Had a good kj friend ask me to fill in for him awhile back and couldn't believe how slow it was. He told me to be prepared because they had moved him outside (tiki bar) from inside the restaurant and it was too damn hot. WOW!! was he right. There was no moving air! It was hotter than hell and except for a few diehard smokers, stayed relatively empty. I did get a fan from my vehicle to make it somewhat bearable.
I sang about ten times and made about 20 bucks in tips the first few hours and decided to use that money to attract singers. Announced that any person willing to sing a karaoke song would receive "cash". Took about 10 minutes and finally got a few people to sing. Had about 5 people sing the rest of the night and gave away all my tips.
One of the longest karaoke nights of my life. Between the heat and boredom, I was dog tired when I got home.

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Sound Choice and Chartbuster Certified

Never a shutout but I did sing myself one night for 1 1/2 hours before a singer came. I threw in a few DJ songs while I picked more songs to sing. On a typical night, I usually only sing the first song since I remove myself from the rotation once I have 6 singers.

Sort of.

One New Year's Eve, my favorite bar decided to retain my services for the night. I do their weekly karaoke gig and any other events they need, so it was a no-brainer, and I wanted to get booked for a bar I liked before I had to pick up work at some terrible frat bar.

Only problem is, they decided to pull the trigger too late, and people had solidified their plans long ago. I had a couple of beers with the owner before we realized no one was showing up. The owner and the two bartenders were both avid karaoke fans and would have sung, so I don't know if it counts as a true shut-out, plus I never actually set up. We sat at the bar, those three, myself, and my wife, and played card games until the next year.

Honestly, it was one of the nicest New Year's Eves I've had since being a KJ. Didn't get paid a dime, but I had a lovely time hanging out, and since I didn't hold them to my fee, they didn't lose money. My weekly show there remains one of the city's best.

Yep. Had a night subbing for a friend at a dive bar. The crickets were deafening.

I had the closest thing I have ever had to a shut out this past Tuesday.

I was contacted by a bar on Friday that wanted to start karaoke the following Tuesday. I normally request 3 weeks (2 weeks bare minimum) before a show so I can properly promote and get the word out. I only had 4 days to promote this one.

We had 6 individual singers for the entire night and only 10 people in the entire bar.

On the upside, they liked what I did enough that they asked me to start up a Saturday night ASAP.

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-Chris

revisiting this thread

since i've pitched this thread, i think i've had at least 2-3 more shut-outs of 0 singers for the night

i'm not embarrassed by them

Product 19, are you making an effort to get names, emails, phone numbers, etc from the people who do show up and contacting them to invite them to your shows?

I have never had anything close to a "shut out". As BigJer stated do you have a contact list of your most loyal singers/listeners. When I first started out around 15 years ago, when I was doing only a hand full of shows a year, I would send out an email blast and dozens would show up.

Now I do the same thing except 2 to 3 times more people show up. I take tons of photos and send them to all the new singers and listeners. Sometimes I am not able to get their email addresses for one reason or another, so what I do now is stream on my scroller "Give Me An Email Address For Tonight's Pictures"

You're a genius!

When I first started out many years ago I pitched 3 shutouts in a row. On my fourth attempt I was thinking about quitting. It was just me and my friend the bartender, this was on a Saturday the black hole night for this particular venue. I told myself if I could make this work then I would know I could make anything work. We were just about to close up when in wandered this lone guy. He was about mid 40's looked like a cowboy. He told me he used to be a KJ in Alaska and was down visiting friends. He bought a few drinks and sang a couple of songs, and told me that he would be back next week with friends. I never saw that guy again, but after his visit people did start coming in. I don't know to this day what his name was, but he must have been the patron saint for KJ's. I never pitched another shutout in over 19 years.