Karaoke Forums

I was wondering, what is the general opinion of the number of songs a KJ needs to start with before trying to book "gigs". I have about 1,500 songs right now, is that enough start?? Or should I wait and build up more of a song base?

I started my 2nd system with both Sound Choice Foundations & all 5 Bricks. Then I supplemented some of the very current songs with Pop Hits Monthly's. Had about 1,500 (maybe a little more) to start with. I bought more every week with singer requests & have over 3,000 now in 3 months. While I still get numerous requests (with the inevitable well "so & so" down the street has it), i'm getting by for now. I still try to buy new discs every week.
If you start with 1,500 "well chosen & popular" song requests, you shouldn't have any trouble starting out. If you have 1,500 songs of Nu-Tech & Nikkodo & other songs nobody cares about, i'd wait & get some better stuff.

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I'm in the process of building the systems for the New Mexico shows right now.. and In doing my research.. I have decided that I will not go any less that 5,500 songs per unit.. but will be careful which ones they are.. and which media they are on.. based on what the singers of other shows are really singing here in New Mexico. There has been alot of research going into it lately.. I'm guessing that there will be about 30 custom CD+G's in that first unit from my best estimation. I just haven't decided which brands yet.. it's kinda a crapshoot between 3 companies right now.. I'm kinda leaning in 2 directions though.. and about to fall over..

I started with the foundation , bricks 1&3 and a smattering of Dangerous ,
all hits and a couple of pioneer discs.
I think a lot depends on where you plan to work, if it's a small bar
1500 of the RIGHT songs ( a good cross section of musical styles)
should be good enough to get you off and running , but you'll need to reinvest regularly in updating yer product. It also helps to have A good selection and some professional looking song books when you present
yourself to management to bid a gig.

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Gotta' Sing , Gotta' Sing !!!

Sorry Lon,I missed the second half of your post .you pretty much said it allready.

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Gotta' Sing , Gotta' Sing !!!

Buzz:
Many KJ's use "Library Size" as a selling tool to uneducated bar managers and club owners....It just SOUNDS impressive.......An experianced "singer" will know the difference between Quantity and Quality of songs..... Don't get me wrong...It's better to have 10,000 songs versus 1,000 but just starting out you CAN book a gig with 1500
BASE songs and add weekly as suggested. You'll find that once you book a gig generally the clientele will run one way or another...COUNTRY VS HARD ROCK ..or HIP HOP or top 40's ...eventually you WILL need all to stay competetiev..but just starting out build your base and add on requests as they come in ...like mentioned a PROFFESIONAL LOOKING SONGBOOK CONTAINING 1500 SONGS with a good sound system will take you farther than 20,0000 songs in a shoebox with a Walmart sound system...

I started with 186 cd's, mostly SC and DK. That came to about 3000 songs. That was over 8 years ago. I now have aver 450 cd's (9000+ songs) and add the 6 newest THM releases each month. I also distibute Top Hits Monthly cd's and this has basiclly allowed me to add the newest releases to MY library for free or just next to it. My advise to people looking to start their own karaoke business is to go to AS MANY DIFFERENT karaoke shows as possible. ASK the host if he/she will save their song slips for you and collect them at the end of the night. If they won't do that for you, just take a pad and pen with you and write down ALL the songs that are sung at that location that night. Do this at AS MANY DIFFERENT locations as possible so as to get a BROAD range of songs being sung of ALL different genre's. Do this for AT least 1-2 months. Once you have compiled all this information, take it home and do your research. Make a list of the TOP 100 songs that have the MOST occurences of "times sung" These will be the first 100 songs you will need to buy, as they are the MOST popular. Got to KJ pro or Music book deluxe and find all these songs and write down the MNF disk dumbers for those songs. You will find that you can get all 100 songs on about 80 cd's. Getting those first 80 cd's will give you about 1200 songs. Then you will have the "near perfect" BASE selection of songs for yous singers to chose from. You can build from there by just looking at your book: ie "need to buy more Garth, shania, creed etc". All this will take some time to do all the research, building of the library etc., but in the end it will be well worth it. This may take you a couple months to do, but if you want to succeed in this business you have to do it right the FIRST time. The last thing you want to do is walk into a bar/club and not be able to deliver what you "promise". This will give you a bum rap among the karaoke crowd (singers) and this "word of mouth" will travel and eventually get back to other bar/club owners that you may potentially talk to about services at a later time. I don't claim to know everything, but this is how I got my start and I have NEVER been without at least 2 shows a week @ at least $150 p/night. PS: DON'T GET DRUNK AT YOU SHOW AND BE FAIR TO ALL YOUR SINGERS AND YOU WILL MAKE IT!!!

I started with 186 cd's, mostly SC and DK. That came to about 3000 songs. That was over 8 years ago. I now have aver 450 cd's (9000+ songs) and add the 6 newest THM releases each month. I also distibute Top Hits Monthly cd's and this has basiclly allowed me to add the newest releases to MY library for free or just next to it. My advise to people looking to start their own karaoke business is to go to AS MANY DIFFERENT karaoke shows as possible. ASK the host if he/she will save their song slips for you and collect them at the end of the night. If they won't do that for you, just take a pad and pen with you and write down ALL the songs that are sung at that location that night. Do this at AS MANY DIFFERENT locations as possible so as to get a BROAD range of songs being sung of ALL different genre's. Do this for AT least 1-2 months. Once you have compiled all this information, take it home and do your research. Make a list of the TOP 100 songs that have the MOST occurences of "times sung" These will be the first 100 songs you will need to buy, as they are the MOST popular. Got to KJ pro or Music book deluxe and find all these songs and write down the MNF disk dumbers for those songs. You will find that you can get all 100 songs on about 80 cd's. Getting those first 80 cd's will give you about 1200 songs. Then you will have the "near perfect" BASE selection of songs for yous singers to chose from. You can build from there by just looking at your book: ie "need to buy more Garth, shania, creed etc". All this will take some time to do all the research, building of the library etc., but in the end it will be well worth it. This may take you a couple months to do, but if you want to succeed in this business you have to do it right the FIRST time. The last thing you want to do is walk into a bar/club and not be able to deliver what you "promise". This will give you a bum rap among the karaoke crowd (singers) and this "word of mouth" will travel and eventually get back to other bar/club owners that you may potentially talk to about services at a later time. I don't claim to know everything, but this is how I got my start and I have NEVER been without at least 2 shows a week @ at least $150 p/night. PS: DON'T GET DRUNK AT YOU SHOW AND BE FAIR TO ALL YOUR SINGERS AND YOU WILL MAKE IT!!!