Karaoke Forums

At your shows does anyone out there provide either a section in the main songbooks or a separate songbook that is a listing of all the DJ/Dance/Background music songs you have on hand so that people can look thorugh it and then request favorite background songs they may like to just listen to or dance to. I started typing up just this kind of thing and will insert it in a new chapter in my song books:

"Do you wanna dance? Dont feel like singing? Then request the DJ to play your favorite song just to listen to!" WE TAKE REQUESTS!!"

Im always getting asked can you play this or than. So now I can say just look it up and give me a request slip. They can do it right at their tables or at my DJ stand. No more hunting around.

I look at it as a "Value Added" service for my custies(not JUST the singers) and an added selling point to the owners--providing something to choose from for EVERYONE in the room--non-singers included. Ive only come across one DJ/KJ that has done this. But his custies WERE USING THE REQUEST book and putting up dance requst slips. But Im going to do so for now on and in fact am typing songs in right now on EXCELL.

Opinions????

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"You know that I sing the Blues and I do not suffer fools. When I'm on that silver mic, it's gonna cut ya, just like a knife"-The SWINGCAT

Keep us posted on the reaction.   I'm reserving judgement till I hear.    But I will say this.    Does that still make it a karaoke night?

To my mind if karaoke is being sung then its a karaoke night. But if you have some dancing too its all good--and why not make it easy for the custies to pic the dance and background music. Dont matter if its Djing or KJing or whatever you want to call it--its provideing a service that enhances the custie haveing a good time. And its a feature that might set you apart from the next guy down the road. you gotta have an  edge, gotta have somthing more with competition as it is.

Music request list is just one more selling point and added value attraction for the custies.

And you never know........it might just be that one little extra feature in your sales presenation package that sets you apart from the other applicants and gets you the gig.

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"You know that I sing the Blues and I do not suffer fools. When I'm on that silver mic, it's gonna cut ya, just like a knife"-The SWINGCAT

How about a wet t-shirt contest for intermission?    :drool:    Then back to Karaoke

That ALWAYS works too!

Theres one place on Sundays nights that has karaoke with a live STRIPPER Dancing on stage while you sing. Its up on the strippers stage and shell be spinning around and climbing on the dancers pole while your singing or coming up and slithering around in front of or right next to you while your trying to sing. Shes fun to flirt with and sing at too. She also has a real funny and twisted sense of humor--some times shell come out and dance WEARING A GAS MASK---just combat boots and a GAS MASK while spining on the dancer pole. NOW TRY KEEPING A STRAIGHT FACE AND YOUR PLACE IN THE SONG WHILE WHATCHING THAT!!

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"You know that I sing the Blues and I do not suffer fools. When I'm on that silver mic, it's gonna cut ya, just like a knife"-The SWINGCAT

too funny!  LOL

That is way toooooo much going on!  I don't think my places of business would have for that!  Sure the guys would of loved it, but what did they do when the women were singing.  YUK!
Used to have a lot of dancing on Karaoke nights while singers sang.  But as we all have talked about before, the crazy bar owners filled the floor with games, pool tables, what have you.  Killed the dancing.  It was really nice to see people who didn't sing, still be able to have a great time dancing.  
But--- Those were the good ole days!

Well................maybe we can get them to bring back combat boots and GAS MASKS!

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"You know that I sing the Blues and I do not suffer fools. When I'm on that silver mic, it's gonna cut ya, just like a knife"-The SWINGCAT

Well................maybe we can get them to bring back combat boots and GAS MASKS!

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"You know that I sing the Blues and I do not suffer fools. When I'm on that silver mic, it's gonna cut ya, just like a knife"-The SWINGCAT

99% of the karaoke singers I know, don't want dance music taking up their singing time.    Doing what you want would have to be advertised as such.   And not just as karaoke.   That way the singers could make up their mind and find an all singing place, if they wanted.   To me karaoke means karaoke, period.   Throwing other stuff in the mix changes it, drastically.    Everyone knows that karaoke means singing.   But that if you want you could still dance.    It doesn't mean all dancing and no singing, it doesn't mean strippers in gas masks or anything else.    It might bring in some different people, but I'm willing to bet it chases away some singers.

Myself, if there were NO Music between singing ever, jsut dead airtime silence, I wouldnt be staying. Dead air is dead air and that is silence. Been to places that were like that and cant deal with the dead air silence or just the DJ continually talking to take up the dead air. As to advertising it--the signs out front are very clear---KARAOKE AND DANCING big bold letters and obnoxious loud bright colors. And people have sent up requests for dance tunes out of the list. Some were singers and some not--But it was there availbe for them if they wanted. So to me some dance music is integral to the nights entertainment. Plus it gets them up moving around getting sweaty and makes them more thirsty--and needing to BUY MORE DRINKS!  So what I do may not be "orthodox" or a strict regimen of rigid karaoke only. But for MY CUSTIES it responding to what THEY ASK FOR and NOT WHAT I DICTATE. And not only the custies but the bar mgr are quite happy with the mix. The next step will be catering to our latin customers--that means breakijng out the Salsa, Regaeton, Merenque, Cumbia, Cubano and Cha Cha Cha dance music along with beginning to build a Latin Karaoke assortment. They are a HUGE untapped and overlooked pool of custies. So gotta make the effort to invite them into the mix. Might even go find me a a pair of used conga drums to have set up if someone wants to play along to the salsa beat! And hear's a secrret too---the non-latin listeners like the latin music too!! They get caught up in the sound and some get up and try to dance a salsa step or two! Its not unusual for a custie to come up and ask me to show them how!!

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"You know that I sing the Blues and I do not suffer fools. When I'm on that silver mic, it's gonna cut ya, just like a knife"-The SWINGCAT

I don't see anything wrong in taking request for NON karaoke songs. It all depends on the venue and type of night it is. Personally my reg Saturday  gig wouldn't survive on JUST karaoke.  I have my set regulars who come to my show
and have a great time singing and also don't mind a FEW dance  or REGULAR music thrown in once in awhile.   If my night consisted of 25-30 singers and packed with singers and their friends I wouldn't have time or reason to play FILLER MUSIC.
So it all depends on your individual gigs.  

Adding any value services to your non singers can't be wrong .... as long as it doesn't effect the service to you SINGERS

this isn't what i thought it was going to be about!  wet t-shirts?  gas masks?  what's going on here?!


i have a section in my book for folks to request songs that i don't have.  and most make use of it.  as for folks requesting non-karaoke songs at a karaoke venue....at least where i've KJ'd that wouldn't fly very well.  it's go over like a lead balloon.  i  mean it's be about as welcome as a procupine at a nudist colony.  folks would be about as happy with that idea as using roofing tar for salad dressing.  i guess the point i'm going for here, is that the folks i know wouldn't like it very much.  i think most folks like the idea of having something or someone to entertain them while they're there - not just music playing.  let us know how it turns out for you.

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All work and no play make Homer something something

Ive considered making DJ books as our shows (mainly private parties) are a combination of DJ or KJ. The ratio of which depends on the ratio of singers to non-singers. We have found out the DJ requests which we take verbally and do a quick search does not need to be a particular song. They are satisfied by playing a song by artist. Dance requests are mainly by genre. We have concentrated our efforts into developing a Wlan and will soon be using song stations or terminals for song searches.

Appying old rules to parties no longer work The format is determined by the crowd and as above the ratio of singers to non. Successful gigs (determined by the till and bartenders tips) have proven to be when a dynamic Dj or Kj structure is in a constant change and the ability to read the crowd is a must. Success is not directly proportional to the number of singers as it once was. The hard core singers tend to go where there are very few singers because their addiction screams for being the spotlight every ten minutes. They are the ones that try o cheat on rotation are constantly bugging the host when am I up next. They will do almost anything to sing before they leave to go to another bar. Id just as soon they would stay there A good night is with about 10-20 singers and all their frinds and spouses there. They turn in a few songs at the start and then are busy partying (which includes dancing) and are not chomping at the bit to get up on the stage.

This format caters to everybody there and its not a formal one where we have to do this or we have to do it this way. Those  are boring and after a few years (or here lately less than that) burns out the enthusiasm. At a teenagers party the bass is turned up and there is absolutely no pause between karaoke and fill. At a fifieth wedding anniversary you are not playing loud music with no breaks in between I have done $500 gigs where nothing was played unless it was requested. That is total crowd control. But the crowd always dictates the format and when the bar owner/mgr and the host figures this out then the till will go up..

At my age and as long as Ive been in karaoke its hard to change and keep up with the trends but it is a must. And a lot less stressful .........

I think it totally has to do with your venue. If you are giving your audience
what they want - good for you . Part of being good at what we do is reading the crowd.

I wouldn't assume every place you do a gig would
prefer this though. If you do a hard core karaoke gig people will be mad they aren't
singing more.

I would just be careful you aren't backing yourself in a corner. When I start a new gig
I may have only a few singers. As time goes by you build a karaoke crowd and they will eat you alive if your playing music when they could be singing. You might want to
add a disclaimer, something like: Music requests will only be taken if time allows. karaoke takes precedence.  

I know if I go to a karaoke club and I have to wait 2 hours to sing because the KJ is
playing music breaks - I'm never coming back. If your crowd is mostly dancers and not singers I'm sure this isn't a problem. You have to do what works for you.

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[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

  How much do I have to pay "THEM" to work there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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ROBDOG *WOOF WOOF*

No dance music here either.  As a past karaoke singer junkie etc.  No way would I patronize a a place to sing karaoke if they were going to waste time also doing dance music.  That's just based on the karaoke people I know.  Besides, there isn't enough time at my shows to play dance music inbetween karaoke songs.  It would be more like the old game show, "Name That Tune." Because you wouldn't hear enough of it to know what the heck it was.

My crowd knows if you want to sing you better be ready to go.  I always let them know who's on deck.  And you have to make a few announcements once in a while.

Most musicians I know who go out on their free time will also tell you they would rather listen to a bad live band, then to listen to the jukebox.  Karoke as we all know sometimes gives us a taste of both worlds.

Also most of the succesful clubs that I know of, don't try to mix up the entertainment.  Everyone knows what to expect depending on what night they are there.  They do their best to cater to many different groups but not all on the same night.  I feel that is what helps keep my nights succesful after all this time is because the public knows it's karaoke night.

But,...to each their own.  Do what works best for YOU.

Kelly

It really depend on the reputation of the KJ; some are karaoke only, some are KJ/DJ mix.

But for me I will prefer to go to strick karaoke kj. If some one want to dance then some one need to sing songs that is danceable.

Try go to a DJ/Disco club and request that you sing a karaoke song and see what the dj reaction be. In most case they will not even want the customer to decide what music to play.

But thats me, If you decide, that the costumers decide for you and it works, then thats all what matters.

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

I have always attracted a more serious, more talented karaoke crowd.  No filler music or dead air or a lot of unnecessary, uncalled for, meaningless yaking by me ever, never ever....    ;-)   I hate it and they would kill me or quit coming, which ever happened first....

I have only ever mixed both types on a non advertised, nonkaraoke fill in night. (or wedding or party.   If  you don't mix them here, they will kill you.)   People were coming for a band that canceled.   So I mixed both.   But I really hate to just DJ.      Will never happen.      I was doing the owner a favor by filling in.    I refuse to carry anything, but karaoke music.    

I'm not saying it won't work or shouldn't be done.    You have to do what puts bread on the table.    For my that's AAAAAALLLLLLLLL karaoke, period.    :dancin:

hey kurt.. i never heard of that but what a fantastic idea.... im gonna be doing the same.. a brilliant way to cater for those who dont like to sing but love to enjoy music.. bravo buddy