"Ummm", Danny, Why do people write and sell so many books..... it's because people prefer books. Smartphones are not the "go to" for everything. Secondly you must live in a rat hole society if nowhere, that has karaoke, has a stage to sing from. What fun would that be? I truly feel sorry for you I can't think of a single place I've been to in the last 20 years that didn't have a dedicated stage/spot for the singer to sing from.

Eyebrow raising moment from sc email of 6/12/2018

"In a four-hour show, you can only play about 60 songs, so you don't need to have tens of thousands of songs - you just need the RIGHT songs! And the GEM Series includes 99% of the songs you need.

Having physical songbooks is great for those still living in the flip phone age or before that but the phone apps allow those who have smartphones to free up the books for singers who don't have smartphones. Books are in limited quantities whereas most carry smartphones. Not everyone but a vast majority of them have smartphones and in this age of lazyness, I have worked at or been to shows where some singers have chosen to sing from their seat, I have not been to places in this century that actually had a stage area for the singers, with the exception of a short lived gig at a place where the owners couldn't make up their minds on anything.

Hardly a show goes by I don't have someone run up pointing at my book saying "Oh my god, you have THIS song?! I've never seen that at any show anywhere! Can I sing it please?". And this is all the more surprising to people because my book is only a tenth as large as the guys down the street with 100,000 songs. I go to those competitors shows myself sometimes, the ones with enormous lists, and can't find anything I want to sing myself. But I'll never run out of things to try in my own book, even if I never bought another song.

I see these lists KJ's post every year or so of the most overdone songs at their shows, the ones everyone is sick of, and I go, huh, I rarely hear most of them more that a couple times a year (and I do 2 to 3 shows a week). Some of them, not even once a year. Stats like "Give Me One Reason" done 100 times, or "Bohemian Rhapsody" done 300 times boggle my mind. My customers only pick those songs a couple times a month, because they find so much more in my books, even though they aren't the largest books by any means.

Alan is correct, it's not how many you have, it's WHAT you have that makes all the difference. When I took my first weekly bar gig 12 years ago, I only had 4800 songs, and I wasn't adding many new songs the first few years because I was broke, and it was still a smashing success. I'll be content to never exceed 12,000, because I just won't need more.

It's the book itself that is most important. People won't realize what you have unless you put out physical books. Customers love to browse the things, and they will discover new stuff they want to try. Instead of staring at their phones, everyone at a given table is passing a book back and forth showing their friends what they've found or what they want someone else to try. Karaoke is first and foremost a social experience, and books facilitate that in ways kiosks and smartphone apps never will. I'm tired of hearing it called "old fashioned". The smartest way to do something isn't always the newest way. Computerizing a process makes some things better, but it also makes some things worse.

I'd love to see the size of the Book of one of those pirates with 400,000 songs in their computer.

Yeah have to strongly disagree, books are still a nice plus for most kj's that offer them - young or old crowds alike, mine are younger and very 'tech' savvy and most still prefer books over using their phone to look up songs. Oh and we still have a stage! Very few do not utilize it, but the majority do.
Books for karaoke are becoming obsolete for the simple fact it's the KJ'S that are lazy and cheap and don't want to take the time to pay for and put them together - period! People actually get surprised when they ask me for songs and I show them a physical book (while giving them the phone app info too), they tend to choose the book more often than not.

1. 400,000 songs...No Problem.

2. Cutting out the Dups...No Problem.

3. Laughing at other KJs who use Books...No Problem.

4. Singers having a PROBLEM reading those "Books" in the LOW LIGHT...No Problem.

5. Singer only has a "Book" listed by either the Artist or SongTitle, but NOT Both because it cost YOU too much to make enough so that EACH Singer can have BOTH; that list your 400,000 songs, of course...No Problem.

6. A typo...No Problem.

7. Sorting MOST USED Songs...No Problem.

8. Hate looking out at the audience from the STAGE and thinking, "Am I in a Library?"...No Problem.

9. What, can't search for a WORD or String of WORDS with a BOOK...No Problem.

10. What, your BOOK doesn't list LANGUAGES...No Problem.

See, I use a thing called a Kiosk that is a Computer with Song Finding Software that singers use to locate their songs where ALL those previously mentioned PROBLEMS DISAPPEAR. And, it gets Singers UP off their A#ses where they meet other Singers, if but only to ASK how the Software Works.

KJKILLER
I'd love to see the size of the Book of one of those pirates with 400,000 songs in their computer.

1. 400,000 songs...No Problem.
Anyone with 400K tracks isn't legal anyway and don't care if they have a book or not as they would 'think' they have everything anyway.

3. Laughing at other KJs who use Books...No Problem.
Stupid statement.

4. Singers having a PROBLEM reading those "Books" in the LOW LIGHT...No Problem.
I've always offered little flashlights back in the day and today almost everyone has a phone with a flashlight built in so no problem.

6. A typo...No Problem.
Typos happen, if it's typed wrong in your hosting software you aren't going to find it either. This is just something that kj's should go through - especially when buying new music to make sure you match the artist listing to previous artists and titles.

10. What, your BOOK doesn't list LANGUAGES...No Problem.
I don't denote anything by language anyway - so yep no problem.

See I have this thing called 'options'. They can look in physical books, electronic phone apps or they can simply ask me. I used kiosks for a while, took them out when I got the phone apps, no one really used it anyway.

Lonnie nailed it. Put out a book full of those "deep album" cuts, and they get sung. I concentrated on obscure music from the very start, when I began buying my first discs in 1998, and it's always set me apart from the other hosts in Chicago (which was the goal all along). Hardly a show goes by I don't have someone run up pointing at my book saying "Oh my god, you have THIS song?! I've never seen that at any show anywhere! Can I sing it please?". And this is all the more surprising to people because my book is only a tenth as large as the guys down the street with 100,000 songs. I go to those competitors shows myself sometimes, the ones with enormous lists, and can't find anything I want to sing myself. But I'll never run out of things to try in my own book, even if I never bought another song.

I see these lists KJ's post every year or so of the most overdone songs at their shows, the ones everyone is sick of, and I go, huh, I rarely hear most of them more that a couple times a year (and I do 2 to 3 shows a week). Some of them, not even once a year. Stats like "Give Me One Reason" done 100 times, or "Bohemian Rhapsody" done 300 times boggle my mind. My customers only pick those songs a couple times a month, because they find so much more in my books, even though they aren't the largest books by any means.

Alan is correct, it's not how many you have, it's WHAT you have that makes all the difference. When I took my first weekly bar gig 12 years ago, I only had 4800 songs, and I wasn't adding many new songs the first few years because I was broke, and it was still a smashing success. I'll be content to never exceed 12,000, because I just won't need more.

It's the book itself that is most important. People won't realize what you have unless you put out physical books. Customers love to browse the things, and they will discover new stuff they want to try. Instead of staring at their phones, everyone at a given table is passing a book back and forth showing their friends what they've found or what they want someone else to try. Karaoke is first and foremost a social experience, and books facilitate that in ways kiosks and smartphone apps never will. I'm tired of hearing it called "old fashioned". The smartest way to do something isn't always the newest way. Computerizing a process makes some things better, but it also makes some things worse.

Kiosks are great - but you can't take one to your table to peruse at your own leisure. Drink proof or not. Now if you were offering the kiosk on portable devices that they can take to their table - that's different.

I have TWO $45 tablets that says you can take it to your table.... in addition to a full-size stand up kiosk with a 15" touchscreen that becomes a socializing point for singers.

And yes, you can "browse" on a kiosk.

I have TWO $45 tablets that says you can take it to your table.... in addition to a full-size stand up kiosk with a 15" touchscreen that becomes a socializing point for singers.

And yes, you can "browse" on a kiosk.

There you go.
And browsing on a kiosk or phone is not the same as a physical book sitting on your table you can take your time to go through. Can someone take the table and keep it at their table all night or is there some kind of limit?

I hate the Books period. Will never use them again. A pain to keep up and to keep up with. I've had a few come up missing. All get sticky somewhere in it from drinks being spilled. Then just how many times have they been opened up or dropped on the floor and the alphabetizing is now out of order?