Those That Will Not Fill Out Song Request Forms

karaoke george · Post by **karaoke george** » Fri May 26, 2006 12:58 pm

I have been a KJ since the mid 80's. And have played guitar or pedal steel guitar on several CD+G projects as well. But to this day, i can't seem to get some people to fill out the request forms! I hear " i can't find this song in the book", or "do you have this song". Now i don't mind helping some look up a title. But i am just too busy to look for everyones song, write it down, pull it, put it in the rotation. Seems once you start doing it, you are expected to do it. I have been at the same club for going on five years. And these folks keep coming back, and i appreciate it. But it's starting to be too much. Any suggestions, how do you handle this situation, I put a note in every song book "You must fill out a song request slip" ....i guess no one can read these days......

Post by **wiseguy** » Fri May 26, 2006 2:06 pm

Seems like we've both been in the karaoke business for about the same amount of time. Some people are just too lazy to look up a song themselves. They will take advantage of you if you allow it. The solution is simple. Tell them to either look up the song and turn in a request form or they don't sing. I have always taken this position and have lost very few (if any) of my singers.

Liara · Post by **Liara** » Sat May 27, 2006 9:26 am

One bar around here has an interesting idea...They have a computer set up for people to use and they have put their song listing on that so folks who don't want to spend the time looking for a particular song can just do a quick search on the computer.

I know it sounds like a waste, the computer isn't just for the karaoke though, it allows people to view the bars own website, use the discussion form and whatever, pretty much an internet cafe type of idea.

But don't forget to make allowances for folks who have trouble reading...a lot of people either can't read period or aren't very good at it, haven't taken their reading glasses or can't see with the lighting.

Full House Entertainment · Sun May 28, 2006 7:36 pm

We don't fill out slip for people either. When we started one show a guy calls me over and tells me the name of the song he wanted to do and told me to look it up for him, fill it out and turn it in for him. I told him that while I am with the karaoke we do not provide that service. He then grabbed a book and started to look up his own song, got my attention later and said he couldn't find the song in the book. I told him that I knew we had that particular song and suggested he try the artist listing (which is a duplicate of the song listing only arranged by artists) and he called me a liar, again telling me we don't have the song. I told, I guess we don't have the song then and walked off.... Guess what song he sang?

He still comes in, just not frequently, thank goodness.

If they tell me they're to drunk to look up the song and complete the slip I tell them they're to drunk to hold my mic....

I'm not sure why some people think we are secretaries or able to memorize our songbooks but usually I can get it across to them nicely that I don't remember all the songs, much less all the discs and their #'s and let them know that slips and pencils are in the front of the book.... Most people like looking through the books anyway

Susie

TradeMarkMusic · Post by **TradeMarkMusic** » Fri Dec 29, 2006 3:27 pm

I have a laptop system, 2 external hard drives full of tracks, 45'000 + tracks and its not fast .... i dont have time to look up songs, but a god send is that i have a hard copy of EVERYTHING I have (thankgod) in order of song. This book is MASSIVE, i carry it everywhere so its not to bad but we just dont have time to be looking up other people' songs but sometimes we need to, to get a good reputation

Bigdog · Post by **Bigdog** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 3:39 am

I have a pornogra...Photographic memory.

I have the same singers that request the same songs...so I look like a genius whenever I can just write the song numbers down.

One is a bar owner that wants me to work for him in the worst way. He thinks he should sing whenever he wants, so I don't really want to work for him.

I usually know the song number so it's no big deal. It takes up a little time to look up the songs. I have 4 hours to find it.

You could tell them that if you have to look it up, you don't know when they will be singing it. It might make them look it up.

letitrip · Post by **letitrip** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 3:09 pm

I have no problems looking up a song for someone. Our book is small compared to some KJ's out there and even at that it's still a pain to search and I know that the indexing is less then perfect. We've got our entire song list in a searchable format on our computer. It takes all of 3 seconds to enter a song name and see if we have it. Better still, now that we've added our song list to our website, some of the clubs are able to let the guests search our list online. Works great.

I understand the frustration of people asking non-stop, but I haven't run into that slippery slope scenario. We're there to provide a service and we'll do it to the best degree we can even if it means helping people search our list.

Marlena · Post by **Marlena** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 1:09 am

i spoil my clients. since I have added slowly to my books over the years. I can pretty much tell you exactly where 85% of the songs are off the top of my head. I go even further, when a singer walks through the door that i know, i pick his/her first song and add it to rotation, without their feedback. They think i'm a genius but half the time i can't remember my own first name LOL..

As for others i will just quote the number off the top of my head for them or just write it at the top of my book for them to sing when it's their turn.

if they are drunk, it's a "can't read - can't sing" rule. Filters out those that are going to stand on stage screaming and swearing. those that can't walk or are going to cause damage to my equipment.

Marlena

DanG2006 · Post by **DanG2006** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 6:36 pm

Liara wrote:One bar around here has an interesting idea...They have a computer set up for people to use and they have put their song listing on that so folks who don't want to spend the time looking for a particular song can just do a quick search on the computer.

I know it sounds like a waste, the computer isn't just for the karaoke though, it allows people to view the bars own website, use the discussion form and whatever, pretty much an internet cafe type of idea.

But don't forget to make allowances for folks who have trouble reading...a lot of people either can't read period or aren't very good at it, haven't taken their reading glasses or can't see with the lighting.

Could take this a step further. Have the computer networked into the show computer and allow the singers to sign them up via that method.
If you set it up so that that is the only way to enque songs then they have no choice but to do so if they want to sing. With one version of this type of setup, one would get a slip that has a barcode on it and that allows the singer to enter only one song at a time so they don't hog the computer all night to enter enough songs to lock the rotation with just their requests.

mwadeson · Post by **mwadeson** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 3:45 pm

I also agree that looking up songs is a pain, but in our small bar that we play at every week we have gotten use to it. What i hate is when you get a singer in there who puts in ten songs and can not sing. All he does is make a a$$ of himself. So then when some one comes up and want me to look up a song i am more than happy to. I have noticed that some of the worst for wanting you to look up songs is past and present kj's that and they are always telling you how to run your show. All I do is say well when you are here you can run it that way.

mwadeson · Post by **mwadeson** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 3:48 pm

We have also started a notebook with the most popular songs and our repeat singers songs in it to save some time and we just keep it with our board. And if we get some other songs we just add to it.

Superstar · Post by **Superstar** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 3:33 pm

I won't look through the songbooks for anyone but about 1/2 of our singers come up, tell Chad what song they want without filling out a slip, if we're too busy then he gives them a slip & asks them to fill it out, if we're not then he waits until I have a free moment & tells me what they're wanting to sing. I quickly add it to our laptop and move them into the rotation. I find it easier sometimes to not have so many songslips to search through, easier for me to keep up with the rotation on the laptop.

Bigdog · Post by **Bigdog** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 5:08 pm

Since I have gone laptop, it's just a matter of typing a few words that you would have to type anyway with or without a slip. So I just do it and get it over with. Everyone thinks I'm a genius and they like the fact that I can enter their song so fast...it also makes my head swell....

letitrip · Post by **letitrip** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 3:53 pm

Bigdog wrote:Since I have gone laptop, it's just a matter of typing a few words that you would have to type anyway with or without a slip. So I just do it and get it over with. Everyone thinks I'm a genius and they like the fact that I can enter their song so fast...it also makes my head swell....

Absolutely. I guess this is why I don't have a problem with it. As long as they're patient if I'm in the middle of adjusting the mix or something, it's all good. Only takes me about 3-4 seconds to find their song and get them entered in the rotation. I actually tell people at the beginning of the show that if they'd prefer to not fill out slips they can just come tell me what they want to sing and I'll find it. I offer both options because many people are just more comfortable filling out the slips.

Bigdog · Post by **Bigdog** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 4:07 am

I would rather they at least fill out a slip. I just don't want a crowd of people hanging around my table. I have to run microphones during songs, (it's that continuous non stop karaoke music thing I do) so too many hanging out waiting for me to look up their songs kinda gets in the way. Give me a slip and go sit down...I'm tyring to work here...