Jon,
I appreciate your post and you're welcome to visit our shows anytime. I, too, love meeting other professionals in our field. Feel free to check out our web site at
www.alanrosskaraoke.com
I'm a person who appreciates positive feedback and constructive criticism, so I tend to give it, sometimes unwanted. I appreciate people who can accept it in the spirit it's given. I'm always trying to make things better.
I would good on, but this thread is really about rate of pay - for which, I should mention, now that we're getting into the Christmas party season, for private parties, pricing is very important.
This area, as most around the country, has a more than sufficient number of DJ systems available. Most are really, Really,
REALLY average. Yet the competition is what sets the price range so, for DJs in this area, most get $100/hr. The DJs I have in our Corporation also make $100/hr. As the owner, and face of the corporation, I get $200.00/hr. (I'm like the Gerber baby of Karaoke in this area - If it's not Alan Ross, it's not the best... {marketing is everything}) This is usually enough incentive to send semi-interested people in the direction of one of my staff, but serious businesses and overly eager wedding couples will often shell out the extra to have me personally at their show - I think they're nuts, but God love 'em.
For anyone who is doing Karaoke as a hobby and not to support themselves, really hold out for the better money. Set your price higher than anyone else in the area and tell people that they get what they pay for and they should pay you more to get the best. You'll definitely get fewer bookings - so really don't do this unless you can afford to, but if you really do have a good product, word spreads and people will eventually pay the big money to get it.
Because we've been in this area for over 10 years - most everyone knows my name and has seen my work and will pay the premium to have me there personally. But it takes a long time to build up a reputation and it's equally difficult to keep that reputation and remain on top. But once word of mouth spreads that you're worth the money, every gig you do will be worth the effort, instead of feeling underappreciated for the amount of work you're doing.
- Alan
PS- It is indeed the Cat's Meow in New Orleans, G-Force, and I was intrigued by their advertising of the "Best Karaoke Bar in the World", so one of my show hosts and I booked a flight and headed down to check it out. It
is really fun for Bourbon Street, but like you said, it wouldn't work in most other venues. We have over 11,000 songs (without duplicates) and people still come up and ask, "Do you have such and such by so and so?" I can't imagine trying to run a Karaoke show on the few hundred songs the Cat's Meow has.