how to set up a contest

[oncall]

ok, i've sung in contests, but never organized one.
what are different methods you've used to set up a karaoke contest, something fair and not really bias based on who has largest crowd of family members or drunks there cheering for them??

thanks for input in advance.

Randy
On Call Karaoke

[Lonman]

DO NOT use audience response or participation for a judging criteria. Get at least 3-5 judges preferably not associated with the bar, but have at least some kind of music knowledge. If it's a big contest, I will try to get local radio personalities, vocal trainers, recording engineers/producers from local studios, local 'karaoke friendly' musicians - yes they do exist. Make sure your judge understand how to judge & what is being looked for & to ignore large crowd applause for any one person. We judge more on vocal ability including timing & tone, stage performance & appearance over anything else.
We've used the nightly contest - in which is usually small prizes & in house judges not sitting with contestants. And we've used the qualifying rounds in which people will sign up. You'll have an inhouse contest for the night with either outside judges or in house not sitting with contestants. They will sing & be judged. The winner (s) will come back at a later date to compete in the finals. You can actually go into longer contest doing quarterly, then semifinals then finals - but this takes more work & tracking of all contestants although sometimes better for bar business for the duration. I prefer qualify then finals. You finals is when you'll want the complete outside judging. Always allow contestants to see final judging sheets - hidden sheets looks like it's rigged (not that you won't get these people anyway that will think it if they don't win). Offer the outside judges at least a meal & drink either during or after. If you have a large contestant base, you may need to take a break halfway through. Our biggest contest we had 42 contestants competing for $1000 cash, $500 2nd & $250 3rd. Had to start the contest at 7:00 just to be done by 11.

[TKaraoke]

?

[TKaraoke]

Why not take let's say 5 people in the finals, give each of them a piece of paper with their name at the top. Then they can vote for one of any of the other 4 finalists, but not themselves. They won't vote for the worst, because they may figure that person would win, they are more objective in their decision. Was at an American Legion, when they were running a contest, the fella that won was not very good (worse there) and many people complained, there was a $100.00 prize. His brother ran the bar, contest, and he had lot of people he knew there. The following month they did the same thing, the brother who was bartending and running it that night asked me what I would do, he knew I did shows, the above is what I told him. At the end of the night there were no complaints, everyone was happy, and even the bartender and contestants commented on how fair it was. You can get the 5 finalists however you want. Seems the fairest way for me!

[Lonman]

I've tried this, it was a larger scale - had 15 finalists. It was the worst catastrophy that I had ever put on. Everyone rated everyone else on a lower scale. Some of the contestants had ill feelings toward some of the others & rated them lower than anyone else even though they probably were the better singer. Never again, live & learn.

[TKaraoke]

I can see where with 15 singers things could get ugly, It really worked great with the 5 finanlists, it seemed you had to be honest about who you voted for. When everyone there went and told the bartender they really liked what he did that night he told them I gave hoim the idea, 4 or 5 people came up and just said they thought it was the fairest contest they had been at. I guess I've never been a contest person because it should be who's the better singer, not who has more people there, or who knows the Bartender, or.......You get the picture. That is why they make Chevy's & Fords!

[Lonman]

Originally Posted by TKaraoke

I can see where with 15 singers things could get ugly, It really worked great with the 5 finanlists, it seemed you had to be honest about who you voted for. When everyone there went and told the bartender they really liked what he did that night he told them I gave hoim the idea, 4 or 5 people came up and just said they thought it was the fairest contest they had been at. I guess I've never been a contest person because it should be who's the better singer, not who has more people there, or who knows the Bartender, or.......You get the picture. That is why they make Chevy's & Fords!

Oh I completely agree which is why audience response or participation is not ever one of my judges criteria & my judges (for big contests) are not associated with the bar or contestants in any way.

[TKaraoke]

What part of the country are you in?

[Lonman]

Tacoma, wa

[TKaraoke]

I'm in a sw suburb of Chicago, I stopped doing shows other than private parties, weddings, etc., got tired of dealing with bar owners, managers, entertaainment directors, etc, who have no clue as to whats going on in there own establishment. They try karaoke "once", and if it doesn't bring in 100 people in the first night doesn't work, or like a place I was at for 8 years, it started once a month, then to every other week, then to every week, great for 6 1/2 years, could literally not get a seat most nights from 9-2. All of a suuden they weren't making any money the mgr said, so she was cutting it back to every other week. Why have it at all if you're losing money!!!! She said she had to change dates constantly so she wouldn't lose a karaoke night, then after changing things around and confusing all the customers on when we were there or not, she stopped working Sat nights altogether. Always said when I stopped having fun, I'd stopped doing it! Times up!

[Lonman]

Yeah I been at one club since 92, it's still fun most nights - other nights it's a job, but the fun still outweigh the bad. We do get our slow periods & downright dead nights where it's literally me & the bartender, but over the years know when those slow periods will happen & can guage & plan something for those weeks to bring people in.

[TKaraoke]

How's the competition in Tacoma? In the Chicago area guys will do it for literally $100.00 plus their drinks. I've never dropped to compete, to much money invetsed, and when they try someone else, they eventually call you back, because they know what they got for less $$$.

[Lonman]

I still make what I need to make in my club which is above the norm around here. Pretty much the same, $100 a night if you are lucky. I finally sold my mobile systems because no one would pay that would make it worth to pack up in the van. I suppose I could go the route that all the cheap companies do & find the cheapest, most ear splitting tinny sound I could find for under $1000 & do the same, but I prefer a good quality sound myself & won't compromise.
Most of the bars around here are dropping karaoke altogether & reverting back to dj's or doing a combo of karaoke/dj - usually leaning more toward dj. Helps our club out as we are still strictly karaoke 7 nights and have been since 92. So singers are starting to come back our way as some of the 'karaoke' clubs are no longer!

[TKaraoke]

Karaoke is still big in the Chicago area, but we usually see strictly karaoke, not a mix of karaoke/DJ like you see say in northern Wisconsin. I don't go to a DJ to sing, don't go to a Karaoke show to just dance. You can still dance at a karaoke show, but you can't sing at a DJ show. You're right on the mobile stuff, that's what I do, the older you get the harder it is, I've downsized twice now, and still carry way too much stuff, but it's all in the sound for me, if it doesn't sound "great" I don't want it. It's a personal thing I guess, I don't want to just do the karaoke, I always wanted to be "THE" karaoke around, and luckily it worked for me, good people came, good singers, good listeners & drinkers, not hardly any trouble, just good fun for everyone. Got many people to sing that said they couldn't, wouldn't, or whatever. One fella now does shows in the Black River Falls Wisconsin area. He would never sing at all, took a year to get him to sing, then he went crazy on karaoke. That's what it's all about.

[WDEWDAD7]

Originally Posted by Lonman

Yeah I been at one club since 92, it's still fun most nights - other nights it's a job, but the fun still outweigh the bad. We do get our slow periods & downright dead nights where it's literally me & the bartender, but over the years know when those slow periods will happen & can guage & plan something for those weeks to bring people in.

I have a question. I have been at one place in particular for 7 years. When I started there, it was packed, butts & elbows. With other bars adding karaoke now, it has cut in a little bit. And, seems all businesses have slowed down some. What are some of the things you do to keep the interest going and keep people coming in, and getting new singers to start coming? Seems all the other " gimmicks" have been well used up. I have a good, fun and fair show, but, being legite, sometimes hard to keep up with those that don't "buy" there songs. Just curious.

[Lonman]

Just continue doing what you are doing. Gimmicks only bring people in short periods, I think personality, rotation fairness, quality of selection & sound - well & bar atmosphere, drink prices & the crowd in general will go a lot further than gimmicks. We've done everything as well - and I mean EVERYTHING, but nothing has worked for long term. With a lot of the crappy companies going down the tubes & bars changing their format back to dj (at least around here) we are starting to gain alot more singers again on nightly basis.

[swany]

Bar hires the judges and pays the prizes, it is their place and their prize.
Contestant info should be gathered as they enter on paper.
Rules should be printed and handed out to contestants that apply, that way no rules will be called unfair and contestant will understand what they can get points for.

3 judges each night in the semi finals new judges each week, KJ has the right to over ride obvious bias of judges with the Bars representative.

In the finals, no karaoke monitor. Know your songs. Can't sing the same song that got you into the finals, this eliminates one hit wonders.

Judge Contestants and award points, on appearance, showmanship, and of course talent. Give one extra point for not using the monitor this can sometimes bring a person into the finals, it is however available to all. Most of the serious contestants will know their songs anyway.

Finals contestants are awarded a place in the finals by these points. Eliminates a ringer coming in one night and qualifying.

Other things to be considered, you can make it music you have only or allow someone to bring in music you don't have. The latter does sometimes give a new person an edge with a popular new song you don't have.

[TKaraoke]

You probably also require that each contestant bring 20 friends with in order to be eligible to sing in the semi-finals or finals too, only use SC discs, wear dress slacks or dresses, no hats, no gym shoes, no bad smelling cologne..... ! Sounds like a karaoke thing going on around Chicago, they think they are the new American Idol. That's exactly why I hate karaoke contests. I think going into a bar to sing karaoke and have someone hand me a page of rules is just ridiculous. This all started as everyone "suppose to be having fun", now it's like bars and some KJ's want to be the KGB, give it a break, let's all just have some fun. 10 years ago I said when I stopped having fun, I'd stop doing shows. I have "stopped" doing shows after 10 years just because of stuff like this, bar owners, managers, and entertainment directors that have no clue of whats going on in their own establishments, and all the infitesimal bs that we are suppose to put up with. No thank you, if I want to sing, I have the best system around to sing on in my basement, I don't need the hassle, it was fun to do shows and watch all the people have fun every night, that was the good part of KJ'ing. It wasn't even the money for me, it was the satisfaction of doing a good show and people having a good time, period. It's comaparable to those teachers that teach just because they need a job, then go get another job don't teach! Oh well, enough of that or I'll go on all day.

To sum it all up:
Have lot of song choices
Have a good sounding system
Be friendly to people
Get as many people to sing a show as possible
Start on time always
Run a Fair rotation
(Not necessarily all in this order)
IF YOU DO THIS, THEY WILL COME!

[muzicman144]

I do not get involved in Karaoke contest, but have seen quite a few. Never seen one that is completely fair or un-biased. I personally don't believe it is possible because someone (judges, KJ, Bartender, club owner) always has a dog in the fight, no matter the claim of no undo influence. The best way to get a bad name in this business is to have a Contest go wrong even when the kj is free of blame. It will land on your shoulders
muzicman144