Karaoke Forums

I have started a New Contest Format.

The Average Joe Karaoke Contest.

Not all singers are created Equal. Therefore I needed something that everyone wanted to participate, and anyone can win.

Every week a format is chosen.

So far I have done:
Reverse Gender Guys sing Girl songs, Girls sing Guys
80's Hair Bands Was Last Night
Next week is Grunge

I plan to do: pick from the list, Classic Alternative, Bubble Gum 80's, 70's Rock Legends and many more in the upcoming weeks.

Everytime a singer does a song from the catagory the receive a ticket. I use a roll of 50/50 type tickets.

At the end of the night I draw a winner (must be present) and the winner gets a $25 bar gift card. It brings them back next week, and gets my singers to sing different stuff.


Everyone is really into it. MySpace has helped greatly in promoting. My singers slowly but surely are being added to my friends on my myspace and I send out bulitins on a daily basis to inform my regulars what is going on.

KJ's if you don't have a MySpace make one.

Great idea....question, are you funding the $25 certificate yourself or does the bar sponcer it/split it with you?

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C Mc
KJ, FL

The bar owner puts up the gift card every week he figure the actual cost is around $11 if used for liquor. About $13 if used for food.

He lets me purchase Gift cards at a discounted rate if I would like to do extra prizes. Most of the time he gives me more than I can give away. We get all kindas of free stuff from the beer companies.

I been trying to get him to do a give away on his old neons. I understand it has to be approved by the beer reps though.

I'm consider myself lucky if I get my regular pay for a night let alone asking them to put out something extra to help build their business.

Why do you recommend MySpace?  I already have a website, so I'm curious as to what extra benefits MySpace could give me.

How about some more ideas...

You need an acappella night, (ala American Idol Tryouts)...
No TV Karaoke night (do it without the words!)
and a screw your neighbor night... (contestant will pick the next singer's song.)

just some ideas...

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---wallyd

Now I like THESE ideas the best.  BUt over all a GREAT idea.  NO hurt feelings or pissed of singers say "I was better than he/she was...." and on and on.  Everyone that participates can win, no mater how sucky you are!

I have only ran "ticket" contests since 93.  i ran a judged contest in 92 and even though it was highly successful, and the person who won shoulda won, there were still singers who never came back to the club because THEY thought they shoulda won.  A judged contest, unless you are a glutton for punishment, is a losing proposition.  The temporary business increase is not worth the long term damage to your show or the venue.  With ticket contests, where the singer gets a ticket for every song they sing, it takes the ego out of the equation.  The more they sing, the more chances they get.  Prizes can be aquired from the alcohol vendors for free.  Everything from posters, t-shirts, hats, golf balls, promotional drink glasses and more can be arranged as prizes.  Draw a couple of tickets at the top of each hour.  If you start at 9pm then first drawing is at 10PM etc.  Save the bigger prizes for the midnight or 1am drawing to give incentive for singers to stick around.  It should only take a few minutes to run the promotion each hour and it gives you a chance to get everyone's attention focused on the drawing.  It is also an excellent spot to promote other events in the bar, drink specials, specialty nights etc while they are all focused on the drawing....

I also do Karaoke Bingo....

It is a 4x4 gridded card that is randomly generated with artist names on them.  You get a card at the beginning of the night.  Then when you sing a song by an artist, you get to cross that one off you card (with my initals).  THen when you get 4 in a row across, up/down or diognals, you get a prize....usualy a free pichter of beer or mixed drink.

If you don't finish the card in the one night,m you can keep it and bring it back the next time we are at the bar.  

It has gone over great, and there have been some ReALLY funny combonations of singers/songs.  Kinda like a kamakize karaoke.

The myspace thing is different than a website. Yes, it is another webpage. but your singers can be added as friends. Weekly or how often you like you can send a bulitin to everyone on your friend list, reminding them where you are that evening. Myspace will hit them with a email in their regular email box with your message. I find it alot easier that the old traditional email list.

Quote:
You need an acappella night, (ala American Idol Tryouts)...
No TV Karaoke night (do it without the words!)
and a screw your neighbor night... (contestant will pick the next singer's song.)

These 3 would just wee wee off my singers and wouldn't work, but they may work and are good ides for others.

Also a benefit to myspace, your events are searchable for anyone who's not your friend. Say someone wants to find karaoke shows in sacramento for that weekend. They can search the events on myspace for karaoke shows, contests, etc. And as a karaoke host, you're able to send out polls to regulars asking specifically what nights they would be most interested in, what current songs they would like to see in your books, etc.

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Most of the singers I talk to don't want to be in contests.  They just want to sing and have fun.   Contests take the fun out of it and brings in a lot of unwanted tension.   It also alienates the singers that don't feel good enough to compete.  And it eats up time they could have been singing.  They are still spending money IF they stay.   Giving stuff away so everyone in the bar has equal opportunity to win is much better.    The majority of your crowd are nonsingers.   If it's a good night they average 3-5 nonsingers to 1 singer.    Who is paying for you to be there?   The nonsingers.   Bud and the rest spend millions of dollars on promotional stuff.   Trying to get anything off of the reps is like swimming with sharks.   The bar owners don't want to give anything away that they have to pay for.   I just try to keep as many people happy and in the bar as I can, without hoping for miracles from the outside.