I selectively use the new technology to my advantage...first and foremost I take alot of pictures ofmy singers and have become pretty good at it. Ipost albums of my shows on my on facebook page after first posting them on my clubs' pages, which I am andministrator of. If you are close toyour club mgt. they will have noproblem adding you as an admin, as the publicity only makes their pages look better.
Laziness still - and always will - separate the succesful from the failed. Most KJs simply wont take the time to snap and post pics. I also save my slips (yes, i still use slips, and if they dont give me one, i write one up). Then I add a THANK YOU message to my phot album using the slips to remember everyone's name. The payoff is my singers will share out the albums to their friends, multiplying my reach. I don't, however, do any "tagging." I let them figure that out for themselves.
Smartphones can work to your advantage if you email them your songbooks as I have done. They can then look up songs on their phones, saving table space, and making your own books go further and last longer.
Supply and demand is the rule even in a good economy....if all the illegal KJs were to disappear (and pending lawsuits will scare ALOT of them off and bankrupt many others) the legal KJs would get more business (less competing shows) more work (greater aggregate demand) and more money.
This is going to happen...Sound Choice's case against 4 operations (and a total of 45 KJs in NC) is a very good one and will resonate with clubowners once a decsiojn is reached. (see my post elsewhere on this forum in BigDog's Chartbuster lawsuit thread) Chartbuster si actually holding back on much of its legal action pending precedent fromthe Sound Choice suits, but they need money to get back into the recording game and these lawsuits will help.
So....hang in there legal KJs, youwill get your due and the bootleggers will eventually crawl back under the rocks like roaches (albeit much poorer roachews! };=D ) as the very technology that has hurt us evolves to bite these johnny-come-cheaplies right in the arse!
UNITED WE ROCK!
The End Of Live Entertainment???
PS...my thedjbeline.com is no more ($20 per month too much topay for) my new site is meetup.com/wamclub which costs me only $12 per month and includes automatic search engine optimization (near the top of google results when you google wilmington and karaoke together for example) and stands for "Wilmington Arts & Music Club" Check it out, there is a calendar on there, listing my karaoke shows and a few favored events like open mics, art shows, etc.
Visit my page on FB....Karaoke Karolina. Check out my store/studio/art gallery AXXTACY GUITARS & GEAR M-F 2PM-7PM, 5285 Main, Shallotte, NC. 910-795-9083
Had another dismal night..
Last night I had a conversation with one of my bar owners.
We both agree these "Connected Kids" don't really care what is going on entertainment wise in any bar just as long as there are other people there.
He is getting real close to just using XM radio on every night of the week...
No Djs, No bands, and no karaoke...if nobody really cares and they just want to sit and text and watch the telephone entertain them all night...what does it matter...
I have to agree with him.
Now he has had some people ask for Name That Tune or Trivia Night..and bike nights...right now he's not interested.
But I just found out tonight from one of his employees...that the employee worked tonight for one of my competition doing karaoke/trivia/name that Tune..in a different bar...
maybe the employee is training or learning how to do it for...Some reason..
Whatever happens he is going to be evaluating costs over bottom lines for all of his entertainment and I expect big changes if people don't start to show up.
He closed the bar early (1AM) on saturday DJ night because of low attendance...
I talked to a singer tonight that said it not just me...things are dead all over...
The karaoke pay scale is becoming lower by the week. For those that want to continue to work.
It's not because of PIRATES....it's the economy stupid...
And a big upturn in hand held entertainment.
Last night I had a conversation with one of my bar owners.
We both agree these "Connected Kids" don't really care what is going on entertainment wise in any bar just as long as there are other people there.
He is getting real close to just using XM radio on every night of the week...
No Djs, No bands, and no karaoke...if nobody really cares and they just want to sit and text and watch the telephone entertain them all night...what does it matter...
I have to agree with him.
Now he has had some people ask for Name That Tune or Trivia Night..and bike nights...right now he's not interested.
But I just found out tonight from one of his employees...that the employee worked tonight for one of my competition doing karaoke/trivia/name that Tune..in a different bar...
maybe the employee is training or learning how to do it for...Some reason..
Whatever happens he is going to be evaluating costs over bottom lines for all of his entertainment and I expect big changes if people don't start to show up.
He closed the bar early (1AM) on saturday DJ night because of low attendance...
I talked to a singer tonight that said it not just me...things are dead all over...
The karaoke pay scale is becoming lower by the week. For those that want to continue to work.
It's not because of PIRATES....it's the economy stupid...
And a big upturn in hand held entertainment.
There is one bar I know of that has tried something radical. They have placed a "No Cell Phones" sign on the entrance door and they mean it. They believe they defeat the purpose of the bar which is supposed to be a place where people gather to interact personally. They're right of course. It doesn't appear that it has hurt their business to date.
Maybe more bars need to take this approach.
Maybe more bars need to take this approach.
Personally, I'd like to see all cell phones switched off for a day just to see the panic caused by sad people being unable to contact someone else evry single minute of the day.wiseguy wrote:There is one bar I know of that has tried something radical. They have placed a "No Cell Phones" sign on the entrance door and they mean it. They believe they defeat the purpose of the bar which is supposed to be a place where people gather to interact personally. They're right of course. It doesn't appear that it has hurt their business to date.
Maybe more bars need to take this approach.
I really do not understand the fascination of contacting a friend about each and evry piece of trivia that enters my head.
Give me a real face to face conversation any time.
Sandy.
I couldn't agree more Sandy.mnementh wrote:Personally, I'd like to see all cell phones switched off for a day just to see the panic caused by sad people being unable to contact someone else evry single minute of the day.wiseguy wrote:There is one bar I know of that has tried something radical. They have placed a "No Cell Phones" sign on the entrance door and they mean it. They believe they defeat the purpose of the bar which is supposed to be a place where people gather to interact personally. They're right of course. It doesn't appear that it has hurt their business to date.
Maybe more bars need to take this approach.
I really do not understand the fascination of contacting a friend about each and evry piece of trivia that enters my head.
Give me a real face to face conversation any time.
Sandy.
this is like smoking verses nonsmoking..wiseguy wrote:There is one bar I know of that has tried something radical. They have placed a "No Cell Phones" sign on the entrance door and they mean it. They believe they defeat the purpose of the bar which is supposed to be a place where people gather to interact personally. They're right of course. It doesn't appear that it has hurt their business to date.
Maybe more bars need to take this approach.
some will be OK with it and some will stop coming...
OK tonight which is one of my off nights..I went to see a band play at the place I KJ in 2 nights a week...
The owner told me one of his employees band was playing. He is usually at my karaoke show so I told the owner I would be there.
I helped them fix a sound problem and they sounded really good.
Now the owner happens to tell me they are playing for drinks..
and there is also the DJ from the other night playing in between sets...which was kinda neat.
But the DJ is the $50 a night guy.
So he had a free band and a $50 DJ...THE PLACE WAS PACKED...
Do you think he is reevaluating the $200 KJ nights? I DO and I would if I were him...based on the lack of karaoke singers lately.
People were having a really good time. Now some of the crowd were actually other employees and owners family members..These other employees make up a good portion of my karaoke crowd...
I understand the band was getting free drinks..and they were probably just doing it for the experience of playing out in front of a real crowd...but still.
Free band and $50 DJ...and he is $50 on the other nights he plays here.
Let's review, shall we
Free bands..
Free XM radio...
$50 DJ
and $200 KJ
Which one of these things doesn't belong with the others?
The owner told me one of his employees band was playing. He is usually at my karaoke show so I told the owner I would be there.
I helped them fix a sound problem and they sounded really good.
Now the owner happens to tell me they are playing for drinks..
and there is also the DJ from the other night playing in between sets...which was kinda neat.
But the DJ is the $50 a night guy.
So he had a free band and a $50 DJ...THE PLACE WAS PACKED...
Do you think he is reevaluating the $200 KJ nights? I DO and I would if I were him...based on the lack of karaoke singers lately.
People were having a really good time. Now some of the crowd were actually other employees and owners family members..These other employees make up a good portion of my karaoke crowd...
I understand the band was getting free drinks..and they were probably just doing it for the experience of playing out in front of a real crowd...but still.
Free band and $50 DJ...and he is $50 on the other nights he plays here.
Let's review, shall we
Free bands..
Free XM radio...
$50 DJ
and $200 KJ
Which one of these things doesn't belong with the others?
That's true, but if enough bars would start doing this it could become the norm and they would all benefit.Bigdog wrote:this is like smoking verses nonsmoking..wiseguy wrote:There is one bar I know of that has tried something radical. They have placed a "No Cell Phones" sign on the entrance door and they mean it. They believe they defeat the purpose of the bar which is supposed to be a place where people gather to interact personally. They're right of course. It doesn't appear that it has hurt their business to date.
Maybe more bars need to take this approach.
some will be OK with it and some will stop coming...
