rate of pay around the country.

Let me start off by saying that the 75.00 karaoke "cheepies" don't last long in a club mainly cause of their selection and inablity to motavate people. They are basically their because the owner has agreed to let them drink themselves silly. Now with that said let me say this any one who has been in this business for any length of time remembers when laserdisc came out and when karaoke was just becoming popular in the United States. You could basically book a club at 300-400.00 a night and be sucessful with it. Now the market has become so saturated with wanna be kj's that that price has become hard to impossible to get. I once wrote an article titled "What Are You Worth?". In there it explains how to sell yourself and your experience.

You as the emcee are 1. the band 2. the dj 3. the host for the entire evening 4 the person who can motivate people to do things they would not normally do at a club like sing in front of an audience. The job of a kj is to break in at least 3 new "virgin" karaoke singers a night at each of your clubs that you do.

What i am about to say may offend a few but it needs to be said. The karaoke show that you do is not about you. If you sing more than one song a night then you have an ego problem. Your job as stated before is to motivate people to get up and sing and have FUN doing it. I have been in this business since 1989 and have come up thru the ranks from learning from others. I started out as a roadie for 3 years learning how to motivate people from someone who was and still is as far as I am concerned "The Best" at what he does.

You need to be able to convince the the owner of a club that 1. you are about to enter into a "marriage" with the owner to increase his profits. 2. You have a following that will be there. not all at the same time every week.
but you can provide the club with your expertise. Your sound gear you MUST know inside and out how to set up a quality sound system that will have your singers saying "God was that me?" not just call up a person insert a disc then go talk to some hot girl in the audience. Which by the way i have seen Way too much of in night clubs around the country.

YOU NEED TO BE ALBE TO DIAL A SINGER IN EVERYTIME THEY GET UP! now you going to ask what does he mean dial a singer up? 1. set the efx for that singer. 2.set the balance between high's mids and lows so that singer sounds as best as possible even if they are tone def.

Ok what if i have no singers you may ask. then here is what you do 1. Play some dj music then go into the audience and introduce yourself strike up a conversation and gain the confidence of people that don't know you. watch what will happen before you know it you have singers.

Now with that all said and done "What Are You Worth"

[alanross]

Originally Posted by StudioPro

...If you sing more than one song a night then you have an ego problem. Your job as stated before is to motivate people to get up and sing and have FUN doing it.

...Ok what if i have no singers you may ask. then here is what you do 1. Play some dj music then go into the audience and introduce yourself strike up a conversation and gain the confidence of people that don't know you.

Great advice for most areas, but there are exceptions to every rule and I get a little irked when anyone talks in absolutes...

It's not an ego problem for the host to have the same opportunity to sing as those for whom he is working. By all means a host should not sing more than once in a rotation, but they should sing at the top of each rotation. There is no reason why the host, who is doing all the work, should be given less of a chance to sing than the patron in the bar. Being fair, why should the host be required to sacrifice when they are doing all the work? That's not an ego problem, that's basic fairness. Why should he/she have to become a martyr?

After working in the DJ/KJ business for over 26 years (1979 - Present) I've learned a lot about audiences and while there are similarities in all audiences, every situation is unique. Not all rules work for all places. For example, in a tourism dominant market, such as the beach resort area in which we perform, audiences are more interested in being entertained than being the entertainers. Simply playing DJ music is boring, the audience can go anywhere and see that. When you have no singers, your audiences will respond much quicker to the void if the host continues to sing until someone stops them by turning in a request. I don't care how good a vocalist you are - if you are the host and you sing a couple of songs, back to back, to fill a "no singer's" void, someone's gonna turn in a request. There are two main reasons someone will turn in a request if the host keeps singing, 1) To stop the host from singing another song or 2) To take advantage of the lull in singers and get more songs in for themselves.

If you are running your shows right, there should be very few nights that a host should have to sing more than once each rotation. Your shows will be packed and there will be a waiting list before you even start the show. One of our shows has been in the same nightclub for over ten years - seven nights a week - and we still have people turning in request slips before the show starts. During the summer, we have more people than you can imagine here on the beach and of course the shows are packed. But during the off-season, when the beach becomes a ghost town, our shows still draw in all the locals.

Even during the off-season, it's extremely rare our hosts have to sing more than once at the beginning of the night to get things started, then it's off to the races. During any given year, there are maybe 6 nights out of 364 when the host would have to sing more than one song to fill a void.

The overall entertainment value of the show is directly dependent upon the personality of the host, selection of music, quality of the sound and quality of the vocalists that come to your shows. The host is most important because they can either excite, motivate or alienate a crowd. The trick is finding the balance for your area and your audiences.

If the formula for successsful shows was based on very black and white principles that could be repeated consistently, then everyone would have a great show all the time. The problem with absolutes is that we live in a world full of colors and black and white absolutes will always fail.

I'd be willing to bet that more than anything else, the host StudioPro felt was "the best" was extremely talented at reading his audience and knowing how to play to them. For DJs, the subtle difference between playing "Brown Eyed Girl" after "Turn The Page" and playing it before is lost on inexperienced DJs. Hosts who have mastered these subtleties are much more in demand because although the audiences may not be able to explain why, they just know which hosts have "the touch" and which don't. Being able to read your crowd makes all the difference and you can't write that down as an absolute.

[MimiLee]

Well said Alan. I too work in a beach area and have songs lined up before the show begins. What a problem, eh?

One area where we differ in our show is that I do not sing each rotation. I start the show and end with Happy Trails with singers waiting to get a mike to help me end the show.

Our regulars know if there is something they want to hear me sing they will put in a request slip and I'll place that in rotation.

[wackyquack]

Very well put Alan. I haven't been in business nearly as long as you but I couldn't agree more. I sing at the top of every rotation unless the rotation is ten or more singers. Then I only do requests (solo or duets). My shows average 20-25 singers each show. Always starts a little slow but by 10:30 pm things are hoppin'

You are absoultely correct, every audience and show is different and there are no absoultes.

[Monolith]

I am just starting in this area (South Jersey) and I miss the clientel I had when I was in South Carolina.

I base all of my decisions for rotation on who has been waiting the longest. I do not condone impatient patrons even so far as to remove their name from the song list or even ban them from my shows. Every name goes at the end of the rotation and does not get moved up.....because the name at the top has always been waiting the longest. I used to do the 2 old, 1 or 2 new thing but it was just too big a headache when you got flooded with people.

Having the singing order in front of the crowd makes life substantially easier (probably my favorite feature in Hoster 3.10). When somone asks when they get to sing I just point to the screen.

New singers don't really concern me too much. I let them know that the wait is pretty long and recommend that they get themselves some food or drink and arrive sooner the next time so they can get more songs in.

I have the ability to get more per night than I do but without a name and reputation to back that up it can be rather difficult or even impossible to get more than $175 for a 4 hour show, even on a Friday or Saturday. This is not a serious concern for me at the moment because I have another job which covers my bills and I know that I can slowly raise my prices. Don't be afraid to start off at a lower price than you think you are worth. Just set your amount based on what the bar's current estimated income is. If you do a quality show then the people will come and there will be more money for everyone. Also, book as many nights as you can manage. Even at a lower price you will still make money and you will build a clientel that will come to more of your other shows and build them up.

One thing I have learned over the years is how to scout a show. If there is a place you are interested in working, go there and just have a drink (don't get hammered there) or something to eat. Strike up a conversation with the staff so they know you are a person not just some guy off the streets with a 50 song library and a Radio Shack microphone trying to make a quick buck. Find out if they already have a Karaoke night and, if so, when it is. Try to show up again on that night and do some research on the person running the show. If you both do about the same things have a conversation with that person and be sure to give them a business card or two. Networking will go a long way. If they don't have a karaoke night finish your drink or food and leave. Come back again in about a week or so. You may have to do this a few times before you get a chance to actually pop the question. If you have presented yourself well over the last few visits then you will have a much better time trying to book and negotiate prices for your show.

I make it a point to never try to overtake someone else's shows unless they give me reason to. I also recommend that you make a note of anyone who does this to you and put them on your "people to bankrupt" list. No one likes being undercut.

Sorry for hi-jacking this thread but I figured the scouting stuff might be useful to someone. I hope this can all be of use to someone.

Happy Thanksgiving to all and to all a deep turkey induced coma!!

Jon
Monolith Entertainment

[alanross]

Monolith, I am usually loath to contradict any posts on these forums, but I must take a moment to dissuade anyone who may have been influenced by your post to follow your lead. I have no personal bias towards you and mean you no offense, however, I strongly disagree with your methods.

First - Not taking the time to integrate new vocalists into your rotation will alienate people. No matter what else you think, please remember that your business relies on people wanting to come to your shows. The biggest draw that I've found, and I've been a DJ/KJ for over 26 years, is fair and respectful treatment of your audience. Karaoke audiences are growing more sophisticated and are less tolerant than in years past. Understanding that other shows competing with you may pull your crowds away by presenting a more positive response to people and a less "monolithic" style will increase your draw. Increasing your draw means increasing the revenue for the establishments in which you play. Increasing their revenue puts you in a very good position to negotiate a higher rate of pay. It's the way the cycle works.

For anyone who wishes to follow Monolith's example, good luck, bon chance, I wish you the best. And I sincerely mean that. I wish every one good shows, because if everyone is doing better shows, the overall image of Karaoke will improve and all of us can demand bettter pay rates.

However, I know those of you who wish to treat your vocalists fairly, provide a good venue for them and maintain a generally positive attitude, will have great success.

- Alan

[nreel]

Not disagreeing or agreeing...just what I do.

First, when I used to use Request Slips, I remember what it was like trying to shuffle/move them in order to INSERT New Singers. What a Royal Pain, especially, when you run out of room on your Table where the Request Slips are laid out.

To me, this was the only rational for a KJ to NOT work in New Singers and simply put the New Singers at the END.

But, taking the EASY way is not always the Best Way.

New Singers are buying customers and shouldn't have to wait an exceptionally long time to get a turn to Sing.

Any Karaoke Show that I've seen where Singers are not worked-in have small turn outs and do not grow. It's the same KJ "PET" Singers that show up on a weekly basis.

Current Singers DO NOT mind waiting if they are having a GOOD time and the Venue is aesthetically pleasing and easy to move about. But, the MAIN thing is that they are having a GOOD Time.

That is your JOB, and I say JOB, to make sure they are having a GOOD Time. All too often KJs treat Karaoke like a Part-Time job. The SHOW Suffers, and, Karaoke, as a whole, Suffers.

As the KJ, you may ask what you can do to inject FUN into your Show. Well, NEW Singers are the PERFECT source to do just that.

Say you have several BALLAD songs cued for the upcoming CURRENT Singers. Looking at the List of submitted Songs from NEW Singers gives you the opportunity to INSERT UPBEAT Songs, thereby, changing the mood of the Audience. Many times, this will cause CURRENT Singers to CHANGE their Songs to more UPBEAT Songs...something about Competition and wanting to OUTSHINE the NEW Arrivals...whatever it takes.

The list goes on and on with respect to how NEW Arrivals can help a KJ in achieving a memorable SHOW where Patrons are commenting to the KJ, on the way out after the Show, that they had the BEST time and that they will be back.

I have, no less than, 40 Singers every Friday night. At 4 minutes/Song, the CURRENT SINGERS...Singers who were at the Venue when the Karaoke Started (9:00pm)...will wait until, almost, 12 Midnight for me to START the 2nd Rotation. And, why are they waiting? Because I'm working in NEW Singers as the night goes on. And, why are they NOT Leaving? Because I'm using the NEW Singers to INJECT life into Mix, which causes everyone to have a GOOD Time.