Bar hoppers

[kjgreg]

Ok. you have a good size rotation 25 + and you kotice one of your singers is hopping over to another bar to sing. Maybe their in the bar for their turn or their at another bar drinking it up. what would you do.

I am going to start pulling them out of rotation. It is more of a hassle for me to get the song set only to find them not here. When the come back I will then put them at the back on the rotaion.

[wiseguy]

This is a situation that I run into way too often. I always handle it the same way. If someone has a song request in and I cue up the song, call their name, and find that they have left the bar, I will immediately remove their request from the rotation. If they return later on I will not add their request back into the rotation until they ask me to. Then it will be placed at the very bottom of the rotation. If they repeat this action a second time during the same show they will not be permitted to sing again that night.

[PaleRider]

I have run shows for years at various States and I have to agree with Wiseguy. What I do is when I find that they aren't there - the slip gets "FIled 13". If they come back and want to sing "their" song, then I tell them that I called their name, they weren't there, and I had to move on. They would need to either fill out another slip, or take the next song that they "may" have up... I wouldn't "not" allow them to sing the rest of the night because they went somewhere else, as I would want to pull them into the bar that I am doing Karaoke.... more business for the bar means more business for me.

[Full House Entertainment]

I agree with wiseguy & PaleRider. Typically we can match a face with a name on the slip (unless of course they are new) and if they leave we can pull their slips. If we don't know them, or it's such a large crowd we can't tell if they are here or not, when they are called up and are not there, that slip, and all the others, get put in file 13... When they come back they can complete new song slips and get put in at the end of the rotation.

We don't really have a limit as to how many times this can be done but if there are 25 - 30 singers it's not going to happen to many times!

Susie

[karyoker]

In the first place I welcome bar hoppers because i've found through the years they are the ones that bring in singers from other bars (word of mouth)

It took all of the discipline I have but I no longer go by the slips for keeping the rotation straight.. Once I establish rotation (Roxbox) new singers are added right above the current singer. If a singer has apparently left I'll just double click their cue which puts them at the bottom again.. if they come back in their spot in rotation is still there (they might get a call on their cell phone and go outside to talk) I now am in the habit if a singer ignores me after 2 calls they go to the bottom. If they complain I just smile and say I called you twice.. They either get with it or they are bumped altogether...

[PaleRider]

I have been to alot of karaoke bars (as a singer) and after I sing a song, I may want to go somewhere (i.e. store) so I ask the karaoke jockey how many more are there up before I go next - and if there are more then 5 then I know that I have time. I do believe that the singers if they go somewhere they can let the karaoke jockey know if they plan to return.

[SongDragon]

After I've gone through my first rotation of the night, I add new singers in alternating slots with "old" singers (singers who have already been up). As for bar-hoppers, I see alot of that toward the end of the night. Frequently, these are singers who have (1) been singing most of the night at another venue, (2) know that venue's rotation is too long to allow them up again, and (3) go to another venue hoping to get in at least one more song as a "new" singer. I have a rule that if these known (or suspected) "one-more-bar-hoppers" show up with a song reqest within the last 30 minutes of a show, their reqest ALWAYS goes to the very bottom of the rotation (even if there are no current "new" singers in the remainder of the rotation). If I get to them, great! If I don't... oh well, MY rotation was ALSO too long for them. I'd MUCH RATHER have my last song of the night performed by a singer who has been spending their time and money with me and my venue all night as opposed to someone who has just rushed in to "sing one more song as a new singer".

[Full House Entertainment]

If I get to them, great! If I don't... oh well, MY rotation was ALSO too long for them. I'd MUCH RATHER have my last song of the night performed by a singer who has been spending their time and money with me and my venue all night as opposed to someone who has just rushed in to "sing one more song as a new singer".

Amen!

Susie

[karaoke guy]

I simply don't add "new" singers into my rotation. Everyone gets the same attention. It doesn't matter if you just walked in or if you've been there all night. My guests get listed as they sign up. They only get one song per rotation and it seems to work pretty well. I do give special consideration to members of the media. I have had several stories written about my show and I'm happy to payback the publicity with advancement in the rotation. It seems to work out alright but I'm open to suggestion. I've been doing karaoke for 15 years but I've only owned my company for 2 years.

[Full House Entertainment]

karaokeguy,

I think I've seen the same system on a write-on, wipe-off board. The singer cannot list a new song until they have sung the one currently in rotation.

Do your singers hand you their slips when they come up to sing? I suppose you announce the rotatation a couple of singers in advance so everyone knows who they follow in that "rotation".

Do the members of the media get special treatment every time they come or just when doing an article about you? If it's every time they come, are they regulars?

Susie

[karaoke guy]

The members of the media who come in don't come in often so it's no sweat to move them up the list as it only happens every once in a while.

I use roxbox (soon to switch to compuhost) so there is no need for sign up slips. They just tell me what they want to sing and I put them on the list. With compuhost the singers can give me multiple songs and the software will automatically place them back in the rotation with their next song. It also automatically controls the rotation so I let people on the list twice until we get over ten singers then it goes to one song per singer per rotation.

[Full House Entertainment]

We have a popular radio DJ that comes in periodically but she doesn't like people to know who she is as it makes it to hard for her to party. Other than that we have a lady who has a section in the Friday paper but she has never asked to be bumped. When you do bump them up do you announce what their job is or do you just slip them in? LOL - can you tell that our rotation is strictly based on when you turn in your slip?

I'm not sure I'd like people coming up to me and telling me what they want to sing. For me I think it would take away from the attention I try to give the singer and the time spent chattting with people and answering any questions they might have. Do you ever have a line of people to turn in songs and/or ask questions?

I like the rotation functions on computers but we are still using a player and discs, use slips and keep our singer list on a small legal pad. Maybe one day we will use the fantastic technology that's out there...

I've been to one place where you sang two songs in a row. It was different as I'm not accustomed to it and I had to make sure I didn't put a difficult song as the first of the two. I'll bet your singers love the opportunity to sing two at a time - kind of a bonus for being there at the beginning!

Susie

[karaoke guy]

Actually, i'm considering going back to slips. It does take away from the attention I should be giving to the singer. The singers don't actually get to sing two songs in a row, although I've been to places where some singers get to sing three in a row. What i mean is, your name can be on the list more than once. I don't let people sing back to back because the list just gets too long for that.

I have an engineer who actually runs the computer and the board. My only job is to announce the singer and mingle with the guests and make them feel welcome at the venue.

When media personalities come in I don't announce them. I just shake their hand, ask them what they would like to sing and slip them into the "fake" (that's a bogus name used as a place holder for big tippers and media). The computer transition isn't really hard to do. I used roxbox to rip all the discs and it took a very, very long time but the program itself was relatively inexpensive. I've made upgrades since then and I'm about to change hosting software because I like playing short video clips and roxbox doesn't have the ability to integrate the video seemlessly.

[wiseguy]

When media personalities come in I don't announce them. I just shake their hand, ask them what they would like to sing and slip them into the "fake" (that's a bogus name used as a place holder for big tippers and media).

Big tippers and media... who else do you give special consideration to? Your family, friends, the sexy looking girl that smiles at you? You definitely have an unfair singer rotation system. In my area, you'd be the loneliest KJ in town. Having a fair "rules of rotation" is the number one factor in building a good following of singers. I've been a KJ for over 15 years and have never strayed from my strict rotation rules. This has allowed me to build up a large and loyal following of singers that assures that I will never have a problem securing gigs.

The basics of my rotation rules:

Try to allow every person, that turns in a request, to sing at least once. This means placing new singer requests near the top of rotation.

No singer will EVER see another singer sing twice before their turn comes up again. Not even as part of a duet.

Never show favoritism to ANYONE, including the media, my family and friends, the owner of the place, or the guy who tries to slip me 20 bucks to bump him up in line.

[karaoke guy]

Thanks for the tip. By the way, when was the last time you came to my show? I sure wish you would have said hello. It would have been nice to know who's coming in telling me my rotation is unfair.... or maybe you just think you know all about my rotation based on what you read in these few posts. I appreciate the assistance but I can do without the insults. As a matter of fact, my rotation works so well that my show is the best show in a 100 mile radius. In fact, it was so successful, I sold it to my best friend and opened another karaoke show. Yes, I do accept a $20 bill in exchange for moving someone up. Yes, I do show consideration to the media. No, I don't move the owners up. No, I don't move family up because neither the owners, nor my family expect to be moved up. Maybe you're guests expect too much. My friends and my family and bar owners are extraordinarily happy with my show.

If someone wants to sing so badly that they are willing to pay for it, then I guess I can give them a little consideration. The media has written several very good stories about entertainment in our community and my companies always seem to be in the forefront of these articles so if they want to sing, they will receive a little bump as a token of my appreciation.

NOBODY sings twice before a new singer unless they are in a duet. I'm not going to penalize a new singer just because the person they are singing with has already sang.

I appreciate what you're trying to do but don't insult me by telling me i'd be the loneliest kj in town. Your system works for you and my system works for me. I'm not putting you down so don't you put me down.