rate of pay around the country.

[gotrich]

150 on a weekday 200 on a fri or sat
private parties are double a bar gig
weddings are minimum of 600 for the night little extras like movie projectors and extra tear don or set up more wedding run from 6-12 any more or less is extra

some bar gigs in lager not run of the mill bars where they pull in3-7000 a night is 10% of teh take in capped off at 350$ ther are ay to many so called DJ or KJ out here that will work for 50 $ a night its unreal. I am in the NW corner of IN near chicago so I am working ok ..plenty of bars to go around

[bryant]

I see. Nice little set up and plan you have.
Mine are somewhat similar:

Sunday: 8:30-12:30 $150 Bar take: approx. 1000

Wed. : 9:30 - 1 $150 Bar take: approx: 5-600

Fri. : 8 - 12 $175 Bar take: approx. 600

Sat. : 8 -12 $150 Bar take: approx. 6-700.

All places within a mile from house and a mile from each other. I use equip. at one, and have setup at other two. My G/F does these while I do the weddings.

Sometimes I fill in on Tues. and Fridays elsewhere as well for 150 and 175, while my G/F goes where I'm supposed to be.

Weddings: Charge minimum of 450 for five hours within 20 miles. No extra's, just plain DJ work and hosting.
Anniversaries and Birthdays: $300

It's really tough getting more than 150 dollars even on a weekend. There are many more willing to work for 75 - 100.

[kilith]

Well in the world of karaoke it is so easy to go out and buy one system. Burn all the CD's buy a cheepy second system and then charge at both shows much less. Most bars around Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa all will pay 250-300 a night.

Anyway I charge anywhere from $200-300 a night depending on the size of the place I am working at and how many hours I play.

I agree that yes some bars can not pull in the people. However I work in a town of less then 300 people once a month in a small town in Wisconsin. They pay me $300.00 each time I do it there. New Years Eve I will be making about $450-600 because the bars in Wisconsin do not close except for 2 hours on New Years Day which they do somewhere at like 10AM. Last year I played from 9PM to 5:30AM I was dead tired but it was well worth the fun and money that was made that night.

What people need to start doing is busting these people burning or copying CDG's. I do not know how many of you out there can say they have a PURE legal systems. (that means no burned copies of your CDG's and no copied computers of your CDG's running Hoster or other karaoke software.) However these people are a lot of the problem out there. They might have paid what $1000 for a few cheep speakers, power amp, and a $100.00 DVD player that can play CDG's. They invested very little for 3 or 4 systems and did it illegally and then undersell the quality sounding systems with the money in the music library. When you have these type of systems out there only charging from $75-150 a night there is no way a legal system can make it. I have a system that is over 12 years old. Now there are systems all computerized (I am now as well with Hoster) but it is even cheeper to buy a few cheep laptops copy all the files over and even just use Winamp or some other free karaoke hosting software.

So now is there anyone out there that still busts these type of systems? I know of a few in Minnesota with 6 to 8 systems running around that have burned CDG's in their systems.

[bryant]

Kil,
Are you saying that on a slow weekday evening in Minnesota and Wisconsin that they pay 300 dollars.

The only reason why bars in Maine have karaoke during the week is that they wouldn't be able to stay open for a few people stopping in at night to buy a beer or two, so they carry SOME entertainment just to get a few more people in so they won't have to close. So they have karaoke and hope to make a little more than the 150-175 they pay. Otherwise they would be better off closing down during the week.

For example, the bar I play for on Wednesday night said he used to pay his karaoke guy 75 bucks because they already had a good crowd and he would need to make 3 or 4 more hundred to pay a karaoke guy 200 - 300. So he found a guy for 75 bucks.

Several years later, (NOW), he approached me and asked how much I charged for a Wed. Knowing all the above, I told him 150. He said he would try it because he is now getting nobody on Wed. and getting a few more would most likely turn a slight profit.

On weekends, he pays his DJ's , 60 bucks, he makes 1000's, and a better or REAL DJ for 2-300 can't bring in any more anyway.

[kilith]

No most bars do not do weekday karaoke. Most bars have Dart Leagues, Pool Leagues, Shuffle Board Leagues, or other events that go on during the weekdays. Most bars run from Thursday to Sunday if they do Karaoke. On Sunday I was doing it for $150 but I should have changed more then I was there because every Sunday it was packed. Thursday you can get $200 Min Friday and Saturday $300 Min. I will if the bar is smaller and can only bring in a small crowd because of the size charge less.

The problem though in Karaoke and making money that DJ's do is the problem of people doing tons of Illegal things with their systems and running quality karaoke systems out of bars by charging less then $175 a night. There is one company in Minnesota that has 6 systems and I think only one or two of their systems are legal systems. The other systems are copies. They charge from $75 a night to $150 a night. The reason they can is because they are able to make more money using more systems and driving quality out for cheeper money.

[gotrich]

that for each sysem it has its own bought cds? I have 3 systems pc wise and I have 1 set of disc, that I bought legally. I own every song I have but coppied my legal files ove to the 2nd system

[bryant]

I have three setups. Setups being the speakers and mixers and TV sets. I carry around one Shuttle PC for karaoke. We usually do our karaoke shows together, except when I DJ music somewhere while she karaoke's, then I take all the music cd's and leave her only a couple for in between music if there is a lack of singers, but there never has been at our shows.

[kilith]

Originally Posted by gotrich

that for each sysem it has its own bought cds? I have 3 systems pc wise and I have 1 set of disc, that I bought legally. I own every song I have but coppied my legal files ove to the 2nd system

You are in fact to have 1 set of CDG's for every system. You are to have 1 set of CDG's for every computer that you run karaoke off of as well. You have the legal right to have a back up system and to have back up CDG's (or orginals for backup and run burned CDG's to protect your orginals)

Every system you run MUST have it's own set of CDG's to be legal. Even MTU states that as well. If you want to take the chance of running more then 1 system off of 1 set of CDG's many things could happen. Another KDJ could take you to court and file illegal competition suits against the parties using copied discs, a bar owner who knowingly uses a contractor that is in violation of the law risks sanctions including the loss of their liquor license. So if that is something you want to risk you can.

Yes it is expensive to buy all them CDG's for every one of your systems. If you do not have to pay for every set you can charge way less. So you now know why I charge from $200 to $300 a night. It is just like a DJ they had to pay for everyone of their records or CD's that use in their shows. Now there are ways of doing it in the digital world from download companies (I am not talking about Kazaa, Limewire, or Bearshare thoese are P2P clients) Dj's cost from $500-$1200 a night. They also hold more music then a normal KJ does so they have paid much more for their music.