Karaoke Forums

Alright, hang with me here.

I'm slowly getting frustruated with the karaoke scene here in my area.  I have only had a total of 15 shows all year so far.  I am barely keeping up with equipment upgrades plus new discs.  It's not over competition, there's only a couple other active KJ's here and they have just one or two bars they do.

I'm considering to stop spending the money on advertising (radio, newspaper, flyers) and just keep the couple ot steady venues I have, slow down the amount of CD+G's I buy to maybe a couple discs a month, and go back to my first love.

I've been a drummer for about ten years now.  For the past three years I just practice at home, don't really play pro anymore.  I'm considering spending the money to get an electronic kit (the Yamaha DTXpress3 looks particularly nice), doing what shows I have, only advertise with business cards, and start to form a band.  The PA system and lighting I have would also give the band a good setup right out of the door.

Decisions decisions.......

I was the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for a band for a little under 2 years from 2001-2003. In fact, I got into karaoke BECAUSE I had a ton of PA equipment and nothing to do with it once our band broke up.

Anyway, now that I make about $22,000 a year doing karaoke, on top of my real job, I will never look back. Right after my band broke up, I tried to hook up with 3 other projects. All three consisted of weeks and weeks of practice only to have someone drop out and break things up before we ever played out.

Even when I was in my band, I usually made between $50-100 a show, with most coming on the $50 end.

Point being that financially, you can't beat this karaoke gig, especially when the money is getting chopped ONE way.

On the flip side, my days in my band were the best days of my life. More fun than I've ever had doing anything, though I should probably be dead from half the stuff we did after shows.

Anyway, just wanted to share my experiences. I think the world of live music is 100X more competitive and a harder job than the karaoke world, at least here in Tampa Bay, FL.

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C Mc
KJ, FL