How Do You List ARTISTS In Your Songbooks?

[RIKKI TIKKI]

I have been asked several times by my singers; "Why do you list ARTISTS by Last Name-First Name ( Strait, George ) instead of First Name-Last Name ( George Strait ) order?"

I tell them that is how I started, and have not wanted to change my books to First Name-Last Name... they say "OH", and walk away satisfied, thinking it is hard to make that change... or that I'm too lazy! ( which is probably more correct! lol )

So I will poll my peers, and ask; "How Do You List ARTISTS In YOUR Songbooks"?

Last Name-First Name or First Name-Last Name ???

[Roy Dennis]

Hosters songbook does not actually alphabetize by first name, if you select first name in the setup it prints it as first name last name but still alphabetizes on the last name , which to my mind is stupid.

So if you followed the recommended name importing convention you would have a lot of work making it print in first name order.

It's like a phone directory, the trouble is sometimes your not sure if a name is the bands name in which case it would be listed as first name.

[KenKelley]

I use 2 different books for my singers one "By Artist" and one "By Song" and let them choose which to use.

For the "By Artist" book I list the artist name Last Name First. (That is how music is alphebetized in any store I go into looking for CDs)

For the "By Song" book I list with "A" or "The" last and have the artist Last Name First.

I occasionally folks ask me why or the say they can't find the artist when they have seen it before (I've never changed how I list ). Doesn't happen very often. I handle it like you do and they just say "Oh" and walk away not having any more problems.

[Lonman]

I used to list my books First Name - Last Name just like Hoster currently does, alphabetizing by last name - this is how DK & Pioneer originally listed their books & what I originally modeled my books by in 94. This was never really an issue until maybe 10 years ago when computer databases really became the norm. Then everyone would print Last Name - First Name. When they'd get to my show they would always look confused saying my book is totally out of order telling me George Strait is listed under S. Um, yeah! I know!!!! Just like you'd look up a last name in a library or a record store. You don't go to Tower Records and lookng for George Strait in the G's, you look in the S's.
Well after a year of morons repeatidly telling me my books were out of order, I succumbed & now list them last name, first name.

[bryant]

However, there are exceptions to the last name. First name rule; Zac Brown Band is under Z. But, David Cox and the Hosters would be under C. For example, Cox, David & the Hosters. And duets such as Kenny Rogers and Dolly Pardon is listed like; Rogers, Kenny & Dolly Pardon. The "&" sign is only used in artists, with the word " And " used always in titles. Also, my mp3 songs are all written out as Alan Jackson - Chatahoochie in my mp3 databases.

[RIKKI TIKKI]

Originally Posted by bryant

However, there are exceptions to the last name. First name rule; Zac Brown Band is under Z. But, David Cox and the Hosters would be under C. For example, Cox, David & the Hosters. And duets such as Kenny Rogers and Dolly Pardon is listed like; Rogers, Kenny & Dolly Pardon. The "&" sign is only used in artists, with the word " And " used always in titles. Also, my mp3 songs are all written out as Alan Jackson - Chatahoochie in my mp3 databases.

Exceptions noted! I do the same for those ocurrances, but mainly the poll is for the option that you selected to use for the 97% of your regular artist section of your songbook, and not necessarily the duets section/selections, or the bands that have the leaders name used as the bands name ( ie. Zac Brown, as an example Zac Brown Band ).

[karaokebud]

I use last name first unless its a group like Rolling Stones or Perry band. I never use "A" or "the" just my thing I guess. People will get confused anyways most of the time they are jacked up on drinks . And they always think you should have every song even if it's not in karaoke

[Musicman51]

I still use the old KJ Pro data base, a throw back from my disc years. So how ever they throw them out, is how i list'em. I to, have two books, one by artist, one by song title. However, with Hoster, most times i won't even ask you for a song slip. And with hoster, if i have the song, and you wanna sing it, CLICK! it's a done deal...forget the books, song slip, and the hassle.

[EmilioM]

I have 6 binders, 3 with titles, last name first, first name second, and 3 with artist using the same format; last name first, first name second. The thing is I stopped using them about a year ago. Just about all my singers found out a long time ago that all they need to do is come up and ask me for a song and it's there in an instance. Mostly all my singers never even use the binders. Plus they also know that I keep a singer's database, so if they're trying to remember a song, all I have to do is bring up their name and all their songs are listed.

JRMerc
Memories & More

[Lonman]

Originally Posted by EmilioM

I have 6 binders, 3 with titles, last name first, first name second, and 3 with artist using the same format; last name first, first name second. The thing is I stopped using them about a year ago. Just about all my singers found out a long time ago that all they need to do is come up and ask me for a song and it's there in an instance. Mostly all my singers never even use the binders. Plus they also know that I keep a singer's database, so if they're trying to remember a song, all I have to do is bring up their name and all their songs are listed.

JRMerc
Memories & More

Yeah they do that with me too.
It's almost to the point that technology has actually hurt, how does anyone figure out new songs anymore? Looking through a book is part of the experience imo and sometimes will see something listed that I normally wouldn't have thought of otherwise. These people now rely on their memories & our singer history - I don't even have people tell me what THEY want to sing anymore, they just say put me in with something from my list. That's not karaoke to me!

[EmilioM]

Originally Posted by Lonman

Yeah they do that with me too.
It's almost to the point that technology has actually hurt, how does anyone figure out new songs anymore? Looking through a book is part of the experience imo and sometimes will see something listed that I normally wouldn't have thought of otherwise. These people now rely on their memories & our singer history - I don't even have people tell me what THEY want to sing anymore, they just say put me in with something from my list. That's not karaoke to me!

I don't mind it so much. Most of my singers listen to music quite a bit, so alot of times they come to me and say, "I heard this in the radio today and I want to try it". Just last night a girl asked for something she had never done before that she heard on the radio. I was glad to put it on her list. By the way, she did a great job with it. Some of them listen to the radio all week and write down songs they want to try and bring the list with them to my gigs.

JRMerc
Memories & More