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I am not new to the Karaoke scene that is for sure been doing this for years now. Right now I am in a position that I am doing in house. My boss came to me the other night and said that they wanted to start having a Karaoke contest up there. Now grant it this was my suggestion months ago to help pick up business a bit.  We have decided that we are going to go ahead and follow threw with it they wanted me to start putting together a plan this week and present it to them on how we were going to do it. I suggested that we have the contest every week but pick finalist every week and then the last thursday of the month have the main event. I told her that would keep them comming back but the issue at hand here is they want me to figure out a judging system how they are going  to be judged and who is going to do the judgeing. I told them that I personally did not want to be the only judge and that It would put me in an okward position . people claiming favortism ect. and that I did not think that a crowd voting would work to well either now this is just the ideas that I am having right now. I have talked to the band leader out there and asked him if they  would be interested in judging. that is up  in the air right now I allso happen to be good friends with the morning guys at the local radio station I may be able to get them out there to do it plus it would be a good source of advertising. I am open to suggestions here all imput will be appreciated.

Designate a few different people from either the singers or the non-singers to act as judges.  Keeps an element of randomness to the judging...just my  :2cents:

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I Use 3 Judges and run a contest for 4 weeks on the 5th week there is a finals.

Here are my rules:

Each week a winner and a runner-up will be chosen:

1.                            The weekly winner will receive a $25 gift certificate good for food and drinks at Todd’s By The Bridge and advance to the 5th week finals.

2.                            The weekly runner-up will not receive a prize but will advance to the 5th week finals.



Final 5th Week Prizes will be:

           1st        $100.00 Cash

           2nd        $50.00 Cash

           3rd        $25.00 Cash



Weekly contest will be judged by three judges and the audience.  The maximum points will be 200 which breaks down to a maximum from the judges of 180 points and a maximum from the audience of 20 points.



Judging - singers will be judged on the following point system bye each judge (maximum to be 180 points):

1.      STAGE PRESENCE (20 POINTS)



a.       How comfortable did you seem on stage?

b.      Were you looking up at the ceiling or down at the floor the whole time?

c.       Did you sing to the entire audience?

d.      Did you know the songs you were singing?

e.       Did you dress to impress?

f.        Did you have to look at the words?



2.      AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION (15 POINTS)

a.       Did the audience like you?

b.      Did you put on a good show?

c.       Did they get into it and clap when you were done?

d.      Were they paying attention to you?





3.      VOCAL PERFORMANCE (25 POINTS)

a.       How well did you sound?

b.      Did you sound like the person whose song you were doing?

c.       Did you make the song yours?



Audience vote – a slip of paper will be passed out to each bar patron and they can write the name of the person that they feel gave the best overall performance.  Prizes to be as followed (maximum to be 20 points):

1.      Most votes – 10 points.

2.       2nd most votes – 5 points.



Wild Card Singers:  On the 4th week, two wild card singers will be chosen to advance to the 5th week finals.  The selections will be based on best weekly scores that did not qualify for a winner or runner-up selection.  Bonus points will be added to the weekly score to determine the two wild card singers.

I do similarly to  LyquidDye except I would NEVER use audience participation/response.  Someone who comes in by themselves that may be a great singer performer may in fact lose to someone that doesn't do quite as good of a job but has a table or two full of people.

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My Opinion is to NEVER have/host a karaoke contest.  It is next to impossible to judge in a fair way, and can make more enimies of the bar ratyher than loyal patrons (unless you are giving out a lot of $$$$ for prizes).

The only way to have it fair....

1. Have it judged by judges that are total outsiders to the bar and contestants.
2. Have very strict/specific guidelines on what the judges are judgeing on.
3. Make sure that the contestants know what they are being judged on.
4. Have a bouncer ready when somone gets pissed because they did not win (even if they did/din't derserve to win).


I was at a contest once and there was one judge that was totaly insane.  The judged stated that she like one contesant becasue "she look very prety and has a very nice dress on" and for another contestant "I don't like rock music so I don't think he was as good as the previous singer"  (Previous singer sang a country song).

I'm not big on points for audience response either. I used to always brief the judges beforehand to judge the singers on: 1) Vocal ability 2) Stage presence 3) If you HAVE to use Audience Response as a points catagory, I would tell them to keep the scores relatively even for this, to offset singers that bring in a ton of people at their tables... unless somebody really stands out  and the overall crowd just goes nuts.

Make sure you let the judges know that they should judge the SINGERS, NOT the SONGS! Can't stand to see an "o.k." performance of an upbeat song beat out a "jaw-dropping" performance of a slower ballad, etc. Just because a judge likes the song "Old Time Rock & Roll" doesn't mean they should give extra points for it!

Personally, if I never had to run a contest again, I'd be a happy man. If yours goes like any of the contests I've had to deal with, it'll give you a new appreciation for the regular karaoke nights, no matter how smoothly it's run. Some can go reasonably well, however a lot of those nights can be a total pain in the a** IMHO. Hope everything runs smooth for ya', though!

We do not do contest at our club...because they are always very subjective....We do a mystery song.  Though we are not doing it right now there is talk of bringing it back.  The owner randomly picks 7 songs for the week and places each in an envelope with the day and date on it.  At midnite they open the envelope to see what the song is and if anyone sang the song they get the prize.  The prize is $300.00.  It always boost his attendance when he does this.

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Will sing or fish for food!!I'm not quite right!!

I have been truly blessed to have NEVER had to do a contest at any of my shows. I've been at my clubs for over 6 and 7 plus years. I'm sure theres a positive message at some of those contests that are being run.............ummm ok

Be aware of ringers too.  I know a KJ that goes to other towns to enter a contest.  And if it's cash awards he usually comes back with a fatter wallett.   And use a random song too if there's other rounds.   Any person can sing one song to a T but can they do the same to a song that they've rarely sung before?

I don't like contests, but if you must please use other things to judge by other than audience participation. Stage presence, singing ability, choice of song etc...

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I have never personally hosted a contest but I have judged and helped may others doing one.  I let it known to everybody that I am a KJ and cannot participate in the contest because I am a professional. (Most know me anyway) It would just create animosity between potential customers and the real reason that I am there. Any KJ that would participate creates the animosity and contest failures that I read about on this forum...

One of the first karaoke hosts I met was Debbie who opened many big acts at Vegas She couldnt legally sing at karaoke and wouldnt dream of joining a karaoke contest...

Thanks for all the input. Spoke with owner the other night and she stated that she wanted to do audiance voting she thinks that is going to build up the business. But I got a couple weeks yet to change her mind on it I am going to print out all these wonderful responses and take them to her and show her what other Kjs have to say.  I am leaning more to what lyquiddye have to say I personaly think that is a great idea and will work out well.  Thanks so much yall you have been a big help

Sorry to say it MAY in fact build up business for the short term, but you WILL lose clients over the long term - especially once people get wind all they need to do is bring people in for a night to win the money, NOT a real contest & YOUR reputation & the clubs reputation for fairness will be on the line as well.  I've ran contests at the club I work for the last 14 years & anytime "audience" resonse/participation is involved, it automatically raises questions about the fairness of the judging - which comes down on you & the club!

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I never had time for a contest that ran on the stack the deck method.....it's like those talent search things where they want you to sell tickets and come right out and tell the more you sell the better your chance of winning......all you have really won is a salesmanship prize......judges from as far away from the venue as possible, hopefully that have some knowledge of music, and clear criteria to judge from......and even with all of this there is always someone that will (@$%&#!)...

but none the less I love to compete......and yes it is all about being the best.....when I enter the money is already spent....

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