Karaoke Forums

In my town, we had what I will call the Pioneers of karaoke. These were the people who basically started karaoke in my town. Oddly enough, none of the old timers exist anymore. The last I saw of them, they were still running Pioneer Laser Karaoke and had nothing from this century. They just could not understand that as the competition emerged and later evolved, so was karaoke in general. Today, if you want to have a successful karaoke show, chances are you are gonna have to have a great host, superior sound and a vast library of music, with the latest hits in the books as soon as they come out.

Sound Choice is a lot like the antiquated KJ of yesterday. They did not see the evolution of karaoke coming. They decided to stay with the status quo. Why change anything? It worked 10 years ago! You see, at some point around the turn of the century, manus quit making old music and concentrated on the hits of THIS month while predicting the hits of NEXT month. Manus like CB and PHM did an excellent job in doing this. I get people who come in and ask if I have a particular song yet, and I say "I've had it for at least a couple months now". SC was many months behind. If you wanted Redneck Woman when it hit the charts, you got it from CB or PHM, or waited 6 months hoping SC would come out with it.

Today, SC no longer puts out anything new, and haven't done so in several years. I read a press release at one time stating that their latest release only sold a few hundred copies. DUH! Because everyone already owned those songs!

Now, the GEM series is available. For the low, low price (HA!) of nearly $5,000, you can RENT 6,000 of SC's most popular songs. You must also pay a convenience fee of somewhere around 10%. But, I have one major problem with the GEM series. It is at least 5 years behind (I can hear SC's reaction, just like the KJ of yesteryear - "You don't need new songs, there's plenty of songs here to sing - and these are SC quality tracks!")

If SC was smart (and history has shown that they are not), they would get back to making music. They should concentrate on covering the songs that they have missed with their broken business model over the last 5 or so years and concentrate on the hits of the month.

I am literally amazed at SC and what they have done to their once thriving business. While I appreciate their anti-piracy efforts, its kind of sad that they have been forced into making it about selling music and making pirates legal instead of punishing those who took money from their and our pockets.

And, I do mean SAD. Just like the old school KJ who sits at an empty show almost nightly. They just don't get it!

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I'm not a cheerleader, but I paid for my pom poms with my own money!

Troy,

I would say you were right but you are wrong!

There are still plenty of "old songs" that have not been made to karaoke and need to be.

PHM has always done only "new music".

Chartbuster is still producing but I guess you haven't noticed the slow down in releases. And even they are looking at cutting production the same way SC has done.

Sound Choice's last release only sold a few copies, but if you look around you will notice that it is on just about every pirates hard drive.

There is a reason these lawsuits are being done by the manus and that reason is piracy, and if it isn't brought under control all of the manus are going to stop producing and start policing.

$4480 / 6000 tracks = .75 a track. That is a bargain for the best back catalog in the biz! I paid quite a bit less due to the introductory pricing.



It's a perpetual license and after five years you must only pay $33 a year to re-license (if they even enforce it. I'll let you know in four years!). Businesses license and lease things all the time, this is nothing to fear. In the end, there is no difference versus purchasing them (assuming you hold up your end of the bargain and don't pirate them of course). You have USE of the songs for as long as you like, which is what it's all about. You can also transfer the license (sell your right to use) to anyone you choose.

Not sure what this 10% fee is you speak of...I paid no such fee.



I agree 100%! I would love to see them get back in the game.

Corporations complain about not wanting to
update the standard business model.. You know, the one that worked so well for so many years..

Then they wonder why business has fallen off 75%.

Today, artists are complaining that they no longer are receiving the CD fees setup to compensate artists for the CD copying that goes on.
(The added tax on blank music CDs. Did you get yours? If not, why?)

The truth is, CDs and blank CDs are not being sold as much, iTunes and like has taken that business model and killed it.

Just like the Internet killed pr0n, and the VCR killed 8mm film...

It's called the digital revolution..

The guys I know that are legal, (Yes, legal) spend as much time polishing their CDs as they do running the show.. CD+G Karaoke CDs are too hard to replace..

The economy sux, and nobody is spending the cash like they did a few years ago..

I don't have any answers, I just have a lot of questions.. (And, I'm not in charge)

Is is sad that Sound Choice is not producing music at all and that Chartbuster has slowed down - but I do know this - if there is demand for product, SOMEBODY will produce it and folks will buy it, licensed or not, great quality or not.

If it's one company or several that produce karaoke and then change their name or goes out of business after the production run, selling on ebay, Amazon.com or Craig's List, or dozens of sites where the zipped content can be downloaded there will be product available to run a karaoke business.

You can also bet that if no one in the US does it, Russia, Poland, China or some other enterprising country will take the ball and run with it.

There IS a demand for "Hits of the Month"! But, SC never effectively entered this market. They were so late with their releases that by the time they came out with THEIR "latest" hits, CB, PHM & THM had already put them out and satisfied much of the market.

I've said it before - SC's library is becoming more and more obsolete with every passing day. 10 years from now, its going to be today's 15 year olds that make up the bulk of tomorrow's karaoke crowd.

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I'm not a cheerleader, but I paid for my pom poms with my own money!

[quote="TroyVnd27"pThere IS a demand for "Hits of the Month"! But, SC never effectively entered this market. They were so late with their releases that by the time they came out with THEIR "latest" hits, CB, PHM & THM had already put them out and satisfied much of the market.

I've said it before - SC's library is becoming more and more obsolete with every passing day. 10 years from now, its going to be today's 15 year olds that make up the bulk of tomorrow's karaoke crowd.[/quote]


Yes but, (there is always a but somewhere in the way) I am sure there are others like me who even though they purchased those songs on PHM also went out and purchased the same one on SC when they came out, not simply because the quality was a little better (and it was) but because along with the "hit song" they also produced some of the "B"sides as well.

I think the demand for 'hits of the month' are still a smaller niche than something say a few years old or older. I get the new releases every month, but our crowds (20's-30's avg age) primarily sing stuff from the 80's-maybe 2010. New stuff is rare but does get sung on occasion. It doesn't drive the show though. When SC would put out their monthlies, it would be perfect, better quality the the PHM and CB usually and came at a time when at least our singers started to want to sing them.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

[quote="TroyVnd27"]In my town, we had what I will call the Pioneers of karaoke. These were the people who basically started karaoke in my town. Oddly enough, none of the old timers exist anymore. The last I saw of them, they were still running Pioneer Laser Karaoke and had nothing from this century. They just could not understand that as the competition emerged and later evolved, so was karaoke in general. Today, if you want to have a successful karaoke show, chances are you are gonna have to have a great host, superior sound and a vast library of music, with the latest hits in the books as soon as they come out.

I hope by a great host you mean one who is sober, treats his customers with the respect they deserve, great equipment and a reliable library. How vast does a library have to be when the most you are going to play is 90 to 120 songs in an evening. The trick has always been to have the songs the customers want to sing. It is also important the you are very careful about the target market you are going after. I don't require that much new music since my target market are the baby boomers. The egg going through the snake, the largest single demographic group, and the one that has the largest disposable income. For the last 2 years I have been able to do the show without any Sound Choice in my books, even though I own many of their disks. I do this in personal protest of the company and their current business model. It all depends on the skill and experience of the host if they are able to bring off a good show, the tools are of but a minor concern, speaking of course in my situation.

So let me get this straight you are going to be nearly 60 years old and playing to a crowd of 25 year olds! The baby boomers will not be dead by that time and demographically they are still the single largest segment of any market. They also as a group they have the largest disposable income available. I would would say that market will stay the same for a least another 20 years. Also you won't have to be up grading your library as often. I do have one guy in his 80's that brings his own disc and does some Will Smith. Just something to think about.

Lone Ranger, I too do not depend on any current music to have a successful show. Not everyone wants to sing (or hear) todays music! My show is built for "Boomers" and the spendible dollars they have. My library stops in about 2004 and I have a few 2004-2008 songs. There have been over 400 different singers on my stage a little less than 2 years (200 shows) . If a singer wants to sing something current they bring it in with them. I have an occasional screamer, and I have never been threatened or my equipment damaged. The world does not revolve around drunk 20 somethings.

I don't "depend" on drunken 25-year olds, either. My karaoke shows are all ages. But, to increase the liklihood of sucess, I try to have the older music for the older folks and the newer stuff for the younger ones. Many of my die hards take me up on my request to "sing something from the new additions". I'm pretty good at picking the songs in a key comfortable to my singers and within their range. It is definitely not limited to the younger ones, either. One of my best singers also sings the newest stuff as I get it - and he's gotta be pushing 60.

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I'm not a cheerleader, but I paid for my pom poms with my own money!

I have 2 people that will sing at least something of the 'current' discs, but usually most of those sit for a while. Most of the younger crowds want to dance to the current stuff, singing the current stuff - not so much.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Well here I am almost 60 years old and the largest contingent of my patrons are in their 20's and 30's (there is a reason for this) because most of the "Baby Boomers" (people my age) are not out partying because they got out of that in the 80's.

I do do a retirement party from time to time where the majority are Baby Boomers and then I can fall back on some of the "oldies" (which I use Sound Choice and Chartbuster because that is the majority of what I own and I am proud of that fact) But in that group there are also those who sing songs from Maroon 5, Limp Bizkit, Adele and others so you can't always depend on the "oldies" for any particular age group.

Then there is the fact that out of any night in a "college bar" with nothing but "20 somethings" I may hear, Crazy by Patsy Cline, Crazy by Gnarls Barkley, My Way by Sinatra, Peggy Sue by Buddy Holly, Your Surrender by Neon Trees, L.O.V.E. by Nat King Cole, Fly Me To The Moon by Sinatra, Lost In You by Three Days Grace, along with any assortment of 80's 90's 2000's and 2010 songs in Pop, Country or Hip Hop. I have 50 and 60 year olds who sing Jason Aldean, Chris Young and other new country artist all the time.

The point being nothing is "age" specific except for the fact that the majority of those going out to bars are not grandma and grandpa baby boomer, it is those 20 and 30 somethings.

And yes depending on my health and if I sell my business or not, I will still be playing for those 20 to 30 year olds, for some reason they don't seem to care about my age as much as a bunch of other KJ's.

A side note here, this past Saturday I did a wedding for the youngest daughter of a family that I have done the weddings for everyone of their children 5 in all and many of their extended family 15 in total. Starting 19 years ago with the with the oldest sister. Sarah's oldest now 18 asked me if I would be the DJ for her wedding next June. The age of the DJ just as the age of the KJ doesn't have anything to do with the success of that person only their ability does.

I think that the venue has more to do with determining our target markets than we do...

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I'm not a cheerleader, but I paid for my pom poms with my own money!

Thunder, not so true "dweeb". That would be true if you were only open for business from 10 to 2 AM. That would get you back to your home at 3:30 or 4:00 AM. Even for a very young almost 60 (like yourself) those hours can be draining. BTW my avatare is of me at 60 during a Halloween party at my show. I think I can handle the youngins.

I'm talking about reasonable hours of 7-10~PM. That gets me back home at no later than midnight. There are plenty of Boomers out and about, buying FOOD AND DRINKS to keep a karaoke show going for years to come. Drinking is not the only way to fill a cash register.

Give this man a cigar!

I try not to leave my cave until the sun goes down "it hurts my eyes" and I always try to get into bed as it is coming up!

Nice! I saw the Rolling Stones a few years back in 2005 & Mick Jagger took off his shirt & still had a sixpack! He was 62. Gave me a lot of hope!

But since you do the early shows, don't you miss them girl youngins hitting on you? I know I would!

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"Just Say NO, To Justin Bieber & His Beatle Haircut"

Makes perfect sense.
(Blood-sucking vampires keep the same schedule. )