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 Post subject: Karaoke really is dying-
PostPosted: Sun Nov 05, 2017 9:50 am 
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As sort of a side note to the question that was posted earlier (Whoever said, "karaoke is dying").

Well, for me it just died last night. Dead and buried. After almost 14 years of hosting, and 17 years of being a part of the venue, karaoke came to an abrupt end last night. There will be no more hosting karaoke for me anymore at all. I can't say that I am sad either.

Now a little insight into what has been going on for quite some time. Here is a chronological list of what has gone on for the last 17 years that in my opinion has been some defining moments of either the success or downfall of the bar.

Year 2000: I started to attend the venue as a singer. The host was a friend of mine. She was the very first karaoke host in the entire state of Utah. She has contually hosted since 1991, somewhere in the state (except for during a period of when she had been in a car accident) At this point in time, she was hosting usually every other Saturday.

2001: I started to help the same host set up and tear down at her shows. Plus I started to be her driver because her vehicles were very unreliable. Besides, she would get drunk often and her show would suffer for it. She still hosts every other Saturday. But on occasion, she would flake out and not show up. The owner would get quite frustrated with the situation. This would continue until her accident in the following year.

2002: Summer of this year is when the host had her car accident and was laid up for almost a year. During that time, another one of her friends and I stepped in and took her show over for her, giving her all the income (she needed it more than we did) This went on for almost an entire year, until her return. During this time, I became a very familiar face, and welcomed guest at the venue. Most of the customers really liked the way the other friend and I would run the show. And a huge growth period ensued. Venue was packed every night, (110 capacity), and we usually had 20-24 singers each night of people just having a great time. The venue was almost like a family for most of the patrons.

2003: Her return to the show around fall time. She ran the show like she had always done before, sometimes becoming out of control from her partying still. The owner (Jim) became frustrated again with her and actually fired her. He then asked another hosting company take over at that point. This new host was horrible. First of all his sound was incredibly bad (very harsh on the ears) His selection was tiny, and he also was quite short fused with the customers. He was there from the fall of 2003 til March of 2004.

March 2004: I took over. Jim hired me to host the show. By now, I had my own gear and had started collecting my early discs. I had amassed only around 7000 songs at this point, but it did the trick nicely. When I took over, immediately the bar filled to capacity again. My schedule was just as the other hosts tho,,,,every other Saturday, but usually only one Saturday in July (slowed month of the year). But even summertime was still quite busy for the bar. This was also my first year of hosting a New Years Eve party, which was extremely busy.

January 2005: I was asked to host a wedding reception at the bar for a couple that was and still is frequent patrons of the bar. All I was asked to do was dance music, which was no problem at all (no karaoke). The reception was not totally packed, but the dance floor was full all night long. Great night. It was shortly after that that Jim asked me if I could just host every Saturday night instead of every other week. Great idea honestly. The bar was packed every single week, including the slower summers. For the next 2+ years, the bar had it's "Hey-Day".

2005-2007: Busy, busy, busy!!!! Great times and awesome fun. I had replaced my first gear with a much needed upgrade to a much better sound system. I had increased my selection of songs to about 17,000 songs at that time (including quite a few duplicate songs) I had set out to become known as the host who had the most complete selection, the best sound, run the most fair show possible, and had the most fun of any hosts that I knew of in Utah. Added lighting when I upgraded the sound system too. I was not worried about making money from the shows. Almost every dime made was put right back into improving the show, (better mics, more songs, better gear, etc) I had added other shows at other places too and became very sought after and very busy. I still worked a full time day job and hosted 5 nights per week at various locations. I also went digital in August of 2007.

Early 2008: Still going strong. But this is the year of big change for me. I had to ask someone to actually take over for some of my shows. She would do some of shows that I was doubled booked on nights with. It seemed like a good idea, I was sadly mistaken. I was overwhelmed with how busy I was. I actually had to split my gear into two set-ups. At that time, I will be honest with you all here too. I made a copy of my ripped discs that were now on my hard drive and let the other host use a copy of the hard drive.(yeah, I know, illegal,,, but I really honestly didn't see the harm, I know different now tho - but that is another story for another thread) At that time, it seemed like a good idea to let her run some of my shows. I wasn't prepared for the fallout tho. I didn't know she was going behind my back to undermine what I had started. She was the worst idea that I ever had made. She ruined my reputation as me wanting to become the best host out there. She even made copies of my hard drive (I had no clue until it was too late) I actually trusted her, and she took advantage of my trust. I was really shaken to the core on how things went down. I fired her and stopped hosting at one of the venues, and even tried to take one back from her that I had let her have. That place went from a rotation of 34-38 while I was hosting, down to a rotation of 4 within 3 months with her hosting. But the owner of that venue liked her boobs and fired me, hired her back and consequently the place totally died after her return. I have never set foot in that club since. My motivation was now shaken, and I will be honest with you, my heart was no longer in it. I just kept up a good front for the patrons, but I just went through the motions.

This is also the year of the big downturn of the economy. In the fall of 2008, business and growth had tapered off in a big way. By the end of the year, the bar was no longer as busy as it was up to this point. The bar was only about half as busy as before, but we had faith that in would return by the end of the busier winter ahead. But that didn't happen. Again, that winter was only about half as busy as the previous winters. Rotations went from 24-28 on average, down to about 14-16. The only time the bar was packed was on the typical busy weekends that you would expect it to be busy (Halloween, New Years Eve, Valentines Day, St. Patricks Day)

2009: Smoking ban in Utah in clubs and bars. My rotation went from 14-16 consistently, down to 10-12 immediatly following the smoking ban. Between the smoking ban and some other new laws and regulations in Utah, many bars would close their doors forever, unable to weather the change. But we kept plugging away, and slowly brought the numbers up to about the same as during the economic downturn. We were only bringing in about 60-80 people on karaoke nights. Not great, but still profitable for the bar. Jim the owner still had faith that things would turn around.

2010: The bars main bartenders health failed her, and she had to quit the bar after working there for 29 years. Jim was forced to hire people who, in my opinion, were the eventual dowfall of growth. Many of the bartenders didn't like karaoke, and were fairly vocal about it. Also many of the old timer patrons had now moved on, and we had a much more rowdy group of young customers. Jim even had a huge list of about 40 or so "86'd" (banned) customers. But we continued doing karaoke as normal. But nothing changed for the next 4 or so years. Rotations remained at an average of 12-14, sometimes reaching 18 on rare occasions.

2010-2015. Same ole, same ole. I had lost interest in being part of a business that the bartenders were horrible, and nothing seemed to change for the better. So, in August of 2015, I decided to sell most of my gear, and walk away from karaoke. At this time, I was down to only hosting 2 shows per week. The other venues that I did had already closed by now. (I bought a Honda Goldwing with the sale of my gear and found the open road was just what I needed, GREAT decision :) ) I had quit totally both shows, but hooked both of them up with new hosts. But both of them quickly found that without me as a host, that karaoke was basically doomed. The one venue actually got their own gear and tried it themselves, but failed miserably. They no longer have any steady entertainment at all. But the show we are talking about went on with the new host for about 4 months. During that time also, the owner (Jim) had a major stroke, and is no longer able to run his own bar. The bartenders stepped in and took over and became a free-for-all of , drinking behind the bar, inconsistent drinks and pricing, gouging the customers, theft from the till,,,, basically the worst things you can imagine that will affect the success of a bar. At this time, the owners sister stepped into the picture. She has no business experience at all and is absolutely clueless into how bars actually function. She took control over the bartenders, and no money was spent on the running of the business. They even ran out of many of their normal ingredients for the bartenders to make drinks.

So after the new host took over from me, he lasted only from mid August til Halloween of 2015. He had no interest in the success of his show, and the rotations went from 12-14 down to 4. He decided to walk away right after the Halloween show. So from November til the first week of February of 2016, the bar had no entertainment at all. Except they begged me to host the New Years Eve night. I was asked to only do a dance night, but it was evident that they wanted karaoke again. We quickly switchef from doing only a dance night for New Years Eve, to karaoke and had a rotation of 18 singers. It was very evident that I was missed. The headbartender begged me to come back and host again. So I agreed to host but only on a limited basis. We agreed that I would host on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of each month (and the 5th Saturday of the month of there was one). We built a set of gear that was a combination of the bars gear, and the missing pieces of what I had kept for my own personal use. That seemed to work. I also added some basic lighting back to the dance floor.

February 2016 to the present: I began to host again on the agreed limited basis. My heart was truly not into karoake anymore honestly, and I basically just put it on cruise control. I never added books, or rarely added new songs to my list. Rotations started to dwindle down to 10-12, and the bar would only attract maybe 30-40 patrons total.

Last week for Halloween we only did a dance night, no karaoke at all. Many of the patrons left because there was no karaoke. Plus the bar didn't even decorate for Halloween either. Customers took note of that and mentioned it to head bartender who just basically said, "Oh well, not my problem. Talk to the owners sister about that". Many of the customers didn't have a good experience at all, and probably won't return.

Now, last night. Saturday, November 4th, 2017. Pretty dead night. Only 30+ paying customers. Rotation of 6. The night dragged badly, it it was quite noticeable that people were not really having fun, especially the non-karaoke ones. After the night, the head bartender told me that they are "postponing" karaoke for the next couple of months, probably including New Years Eve. There is a band next week (first band in ages to play there). But after that, they will decide on what direction they want to go with the bar. In my opinion, the best thing would be for the owner to take the loss, sell the club for whatever someone will pay, and let the new owner decide what to do. Again, my opinion, if that were to happen, the new owner should fire the entire staff and start off totally fresh with a whole new business model and concept. But that is just my opinion.

As far as karaoke dying,,, I will be honest. Maybe I am part of the reason it's where it is. But I am only a small part of one of many reasons for it's demise. The bar life in Utah is very fragile as it is. And that is true at almost every club or bar in the entire state. There is very few "quality" shows left anywhere to be found. Bar owners are their own worst enemies, and the customers are wanting and demanding more from the types of entertainment they attend. Your mileage may differ tho.

I will not miss the drama, nor the heartaches from what bar life is like here. I am a non-smoker, non-drinker and my lifestyle will focus on my new family (new girlfriend has 7 kids ) I had started over 2 years ago after my split from my wife at the age of 54). I will go retrieve my remaining gear sometime this week and I will be done. I wish everyone warm thoughts and positive vibes.

My apologies for the very long post.


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PostPosted: Sun Nov 05, 2017 11:59 am 
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mrscott wrote:
My apologies for the very long post.

No apology necessary. Sometimes it's helpful to vent and let it all out. Besides, it was interesting reading about your situation.

However, I do disagree that karaoke is "dead". It may not be as popular in your part of the country (Utah) but it's far from dead.

It's still considered one of the best forms of entertainment a venue can provide. A lot of us are running successful weekly shows with a consistent rotation of 20 to 30 people or more. I think that your situation is an isolated incident and it may have been a completely different story if you were in another location. It also didn't help any that someone you trusted ruined your reputation.

But none of that matters anymore since you are officially retired from karaoke. I wish you happiness and luck in your future endeavors.

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PostPosted: Sun Nov 05, 2017 1:41 pm 
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Alan B wrote:
mrscott wrote:
My apologies for the very long post.

No apology necessary. Sometimes it's helpful to vent and let it all out. Besides, it was interesting reading about your situation.

However, I do disagree that karaoke is "dead". It may not be as popular in your part of the country (Utah) but it's far from dead.

It's still considered one of the best forms of entertainment a venue can provide. A lot of us are running successful weekly shows with a consistent rotation of 20 to 30 people or more. I think that your situation is an isolated incident and it may have been a completely different story if you were in another location. It also didn't help any that someone you trusted ruined your reputation.

But none of that matters anymore since you are officially retired from karaoke. I wish you happiness and luck in your future endeavors.


Thank you Alan for your input and response. I really don't think karaoke is truly dead, nor dying,, but only changing and adapting to new concepts and a new age group. A group that has totally different likes and needs than that of the older generation. In order for a karaoke host to be successful at their shows, they must be able to adapt to the needs of the ever changing crowds. I was not willing to put money nor effort into something that was really never going to be able to pay itself back. The sad part of Utah and the nightlife that is available at bars/clubs has dwindled to next to nothing. Within a 60 mile radius of where I live, there are a grand total of 2 bars. And if you expand that to 80 miles, there are only about 8 bars. That includes the most of Utah County that has a population of around 125,000 people just in Provo alone. Alcohol sales at the state ran liquor stores is soring, yet the bars are disappearing at an alarming rate. It's what has happened because of laws that make it almost impossible to be profitable at a bar that serves hard liquor. You cannot buy any alcoholic drinks above 4% alcohol content in the grocery stores or convenience stores. Liquor is only sold in the state operated and owned liquor stores. Beer (less than 4% alcohol) and wine coolers are the only booze you can get in privately ran stores. Advertising for the bars is even illegal for the drinks themselves, meaning no signs showing outside advertising prices or hard liquor, only can hang the lighted beer signs (Budweiser, Coors, Miller, etc.) outside to be seen through the windows, but now outside the windows. Stupid law really. A bar can only advertise the events that are scheduled. There is also no daily specials, nor happy hours at all. Anything to entice customers to over indulge is against the law.

Utah is a different animal for sure. I would like to see an owner who can do it right here. They are almost impossible to find around here. I don't wish that headache on anyone.

I will pop in from time to time on here, just to poke fun at some of the drama that ensues from some of the posts :) If karaoke wasn't so entertaining all around, I guess I wouldn't have done it in the first place, right :) haha


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 06, 2017 6:00 am 
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2009: Smoking ban in Utah in clubs and bars. My rotation went from 14-16 consistently, down to 10-12 immediatly following the smoking ban. Between the smoking ban and some other new laws and regulations in Utah, many bars would close their doors forever, unable to weather the change. But we kept plugging away, and slowly brought the numbers up to about the same as during the economic downturn. We were only bringing in about 60-80 people on karaoke nights. Not great, but still profitable for the bar. Jim the owner still had faith that things would turn around.

I agree that the smoking ban is a real problem. I used to love the days when I went on stage with my girlfriend to sing and she could hold her cigarette while singing and have a puff between verses.


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 06, 2017 6:50 am 
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singsong wrote:
I agree that the smoking ban is a real problem. I used to love the days when I went on stage with my girlfriend to sing and she could hold her cigarette while singing and have a puff between verses.

The smoking ban is not the problem, it's the people's way of thinking. THAT'S the problem.

Seriously, you really need to come up on stage with a cigarette? You can't wait 3 minutes? If you want to smoke, go outside. But why disrespect the bar and other patrons who don't smoke because of your selfish attitude.

Just like the singer who has to bring his or her drink up on stage with them and then moving around and spilling it all over the place. I mean, c'mon... you can't leave it at the table and be without it for 3 minutes. Again, no respect.

So, the problem is not with the ban, it's with the peoples stupid, selfish mentality. Me, me, me.

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PostPosted: Mon Nov 06, 2017 7:07 am 
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My girlfriend used to smoke on stage because she felt she sang better if she was smoking and it helped ease her nervousness getting up to sing. It never bothered me and it didn't affect my singing.


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 06, 2017 7:11 am 
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Smoking is becoming less and less socially acceptable, so the smoking ban has less and less relevance.

Per the Center for Disease control, in 1990 50.1% of adults in the US smoked. In 2000, 34%, in 2009, 20.4%, in 2015, 15%.

So when only 15% of the adult population smokes, you can't reasonably blame a smoking ban for lack of bar business. If anything, the smoking ban would be good for business, opening your bar up to attract the 85% of the population instead of the 15%.

Well, then overall bar business is down? Wrong again.

In 1992, the bar and tavern industry had revenues of 12.28 billion. In 2000, 15.53 billion. 2006-2010, the down economy? Not in the bar industry, where revenue went from 19.33 billion to 20.2 billion. And it's up to 24.1 billion as of 2016. People still drink in down economies.

Anyway, point being, make all the excuses, and maybe it's true for your particular bar or town, but the overall trend is less smokers, and more $$ than ever being spent in bars.

Karaoke just went from being a new, emerging service/market with a relative handful of hosts to being something tons of bars have with tens of thousands of hosts. Simple supply and demand economics. Not many shows, not many KJs = packed shows and high KJ wages. Tons of shows to choose from and tons of KJs to choose from = less attendance and lower KJ wages. It's not dying. It's still wildly popular, and a multi-billion dollar industry, but it is now a matured market and demand (attendance) and KJ wages have stabilized to the true market value in a saturated market. Not any more complicated than that.

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PostPosted: Mon Nov 06, 2017 7:34 am 
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TopherM wrote:
Smoking is becoming less and less socially acceptable, so the smoking ban has less and less relevance.

Per the Center for Disease control, in 1990 50.1% of adults in the US smoked. In 2000, 34%, in 2009, 20.4%, in 2015, 15%.

So when only 15% of the adult population smokes, you can't reasonably blame a smoking ban for lack of bar business. If anything, the smoking ban would be good for business, opening your bar up to attract the 85% of the population instead of the 15%.

Well, then overall bar business is down? Wrong again.

In 1992, the bar and tavern industry had revenues of 12.28 billion. In 2000, 15.53 billion. 2006-2010, the down economy? Not in the bar industry, where revenue went from 19.33 billion to 20.2 billion. And it's up to 24.1 billion as of 2016. People still drink in down economies.

Anyway, point being, make all the excuses, and maybe it's true for your particular bar or town, but the overall trend is less smokers, and more $$ than ever being spent in bars.

Karaoke just went from being a new, emerging service/market with a relative handful of hosts to being something tons of bars have with tens of thousands of hosts. Simple supply and demand economics. Not many shows, not many KJs = packed shows and high KJ wages. Tons of shows to choose from and tons of KJs to choose from = less attendance and lower KJ wages. It's not dying. It's still wildly popular, and a multi-billion dollar industry, but it is now a matured market and demand (attendance) and KJ wages have stabilized to the true market value in a saturated market. Not any more complicated than that.


Topher, I agree with the notion that the smoking ban is not as much to blame as people would have you believe. Even for those who choose to smoke, still can. They just have to adapt their habits to the new laws and smoke in other areas. But I will only agree to a certain level about the over saturation of the KJ's and abundance of shows. That may be the case in many areas, but it is certainly not the case here in Utah. And especially for my situation. Hence I am the ONLY karaoke host (now unemployed host,, haha) within 60 miles of where I live. That just so happens to coincide with exactly how many bars there are in that same radius. As of Saturday night, there is exactly zero karaoke shows for me to attend as a singer, unless I want to travel as much as a hundred miles. Even if I lived in the more populated areas of Salt Lake, Provo, Ogden, St. George, etc.... I would still have a problem of finding quality karaoke on any given night of the week. Even IF I could find karaoke at all, it would not be a show that is highly attended by many customers. This may not be the norm for most parts of the country, but it is most assuredly the case here.


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 06, 2017 8:23 am 
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8) Like it or not from what I have read karaoke hit it's peak in 2003 and has been slowing down ever since. I'm not saying some hosts aren't enjoying good crowds, and I would say that many of the more experienced successful hosts post on this forum. That might not be the norm for all hosts. There are so many variables going into making a great show, it is almost a perfect storm situation when it happens. Sometimes it is luck, sometimes skill, sometimes hard work, or a combination of everything, going right. In some cases a host can do everything wrong and still succeed, the god of karaoke is indeed fickle.

I do know that most of the manus have gone out of business, and there are fewer sources of basic material than there used to be, as far as music is concerned. I made the decision a couple of years ago to retire, it seemed right for me at the time. I would rather go out on top than to have to struggle in today's hosting environment. I do like my free time, although I will still do a show here and there to help out fellow hosts and charities I support. I don't miss doing shows six days a week for 10 months at a stretch, sometimes two shows a day. I don't think I could work that way today. A good friend of mine, a great host recently died and he was younger than me, it makes you think about what is important.

P.S. Here are some of the raw numbers I have found on the internet:

Annual sales of Karaoke equipment and software has plunged 80% from 2003 when 200 million dollars in sales was recorded to 40 million dollars today. It might even be less since the data is a couple of years old.

The industry is in a "protracted decline" said trade group NAMM aka National Assn. of Music Merchants.

Latest industry info I could find www.prweb.com/releases/2014/prweb9427899.htm


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 06, 2017 9:51 am 
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The Lone Ranger wrote:
The industry is in a "protracted decline" said trade group NAMM aka National Assn. of Music Merchants.

Latest industry info I could find http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/prweb9427899.htm

Good reading, great info. Thanks for sharing.

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Sorry to say but "Karaoke will never die" It's popularity keeps growing and growing.

As long as there is new releases coming out in the music world, there will always be room for karaoke in the public performance world.


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 06, 2017 12:12 pm 
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Smoking ban hit us as well, except in the opposite that you would think - people aren't coming in as much because we are STILL a smoking club (tribal).

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PostPosted: Mon Nov 06, 2017 12:56 pm 
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karaokeniagarafalls wrote:
Sorry to say but "Karaoke will never die" It's popularity keeps growing and growing.

As long as there is new releases coming out in the music world, there will always be room for karaoke in the public performance world.



8) Is that an opinion or do you have some data to back up your claim karaoenigarafalls? I'm not saying that karaoke isn't part of the entertainment mix, I'm just saying it has passed it's zenith point and isn't as dominant as it once was. It is as has been stated before a mature business based largely on supply and demand. Some areas and host continue to beat the trend but overall things are not as robust as they once were. Like the article pointed out you have lower consumption of spirits and more people staying home these days, with friends if they party. Also less disposable income. The industry as a whole is in decline as far as it's business life cycle is concerned.


Last edited by The Lone Ranger on Mon Nov 06, 2017 1:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Mon Nov 06, 2017 1:03 pm 
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Lonman wrote:
Smoking ban hit us as well, except in the opposite that you would think - people aren't coming in as much because we are STILL a smoking club (tribal).



8) Like has been pointed out Lonnie only 15% of the patrons are die hard smokers today. At least we can score a victory on the side of better health for all. :angel: :angel: :angel:


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Of all the factors that can make or break a prosperous venue and/or successful karaoke show, I would say the the smoking ban was just a small percentage of what can happen, either way.

Here is how I see it, feel free to add any other factors than can actually affect how successful a karaoke show can be.

Night of the week
Location and/or accessibility/parking of/at the venue
Drink/food quality and consistency
Drink/food prices
Cleanliness
Smoking vs non smoking
Feeling welcome and safe
Treated fairly and honestly (not being made to feel like you are ripped off)
Age/involvement of crowd
Quality/volume of sound system
Library/song selection
Fairness of rotation
Friendliness of host
Wait staff attitude towards karaoke
Wait staff performance
Owner involvement/attitude towards karaoke
Advertising of events
Level of law enforcement involvement/relationship to bar

These are just what comes to my mind as I am sitting here typing this message. There are others. Some of these factors are obviously more crucial than others. But any and all of them can and will affect on whether or not a show will succeed or flounder. In my case, just about everything bad that can happen to bring a show to an end, happened to me.

Karaoke may not be dying, but it is most definitely taking a huge beating to try and kill it.


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 06, 2017 9:08 pm 
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Lonman wrote:
Smoking ban hit us as well, except in the opposite that you would think - people aren't coming in as much because we are STILL a smoking club (tribal).
I WISH they would ban smoking, here in Florida!! I am an ex-smoker, of 11 years. I HATE the smoke!! Go smoke your damn cigarettes outside!! I do a non-smoking place on Saturdays, and it is AWESOME!

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PostPosted: Tue Nov 07, 2017 2:33 am 
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Smoothedge69 wrote:
Lonman wrote:
Smoking ban hit us as well, except in the opposite that you would think - people aren't coming in as much because we are STILL a smoking club (tribal).
I WISH they would ban smoking, here in Florida!! I am an ex-smoker, of 11 years. I HATE the smoke!! Go smoke your damn cigarettes outside!! I do a non-smoking place on Saturdays, and it is AWESOME!
Well again, statewide it IS banned, tribal has their own government and choosing in this respect. Unfortunately it's driven people away. Even our smokers have complained that it's still smoking and can't bring their non-smoking friends in.

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PostPosted: Tue Nov 07, 2017 3:15 am 
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I've had a bit of a down turn at the place where I do Karaoke. I think it's the time of year, well I hope so. I think people are holding back on coming out to save a bit of money for Christmas. I hope I'm wrong.


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PostPosted: Tue Nov 07, 2017 3:57 am 
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crazyface wrote:
I've had a bit of a down turn at the place where I do Karaoke. I think it's the time of year, well I hope so. I think people are holding back on coming out to save a bit of money for Christmas. I hope I'm wrong.



8) The information I posted was related to the U.S. karaoke market, I would think that different countries would have different trends as far as karaoke is concerned. In Japan where this all started it still seems to be quite popular, maybe you should check if there is a report talking about conditions in England.


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PostPosted: Tue Nov 07, 2017 4:01 am 
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First, the article linked is from 2012 and it is predicting the decline 5 years out.

Second, the article refers to karaoke bars. I believe that is tough to quantify because it seems to ignore the part of the industry that is independent, mobile operators that provide service to regular venues that don't qualify as "karaoke bars".

The Lone Ranger wrote:
Annual sales of Karaoke equipment and software has plunged 80% from 2003 when 200 million dollars in sales was recorded to 40 million dollars today. It might even be less since the data is a couple of years old."


I would like to know what qualifies as karaoke "equipment" and how much of the sales consisted of software. It would seem logical that with the advent of internet karaoke sites and apps (Smule - anyone else getting requests for songs that are available there, but not anywhere else?) that equipment sales have declined.

Pro's don't buy karaoke "equipment" and the consumer can obviously use their own computer.

There's one thing that will always upstage (pun intended) home karaoke and keep people coming out and seeking quality shows.

The one thing that you can't replicate at home is the live audience.

Sure, you can get your friends together in your living room and have a little fun, but that is not the same as performing live, in front of a crowd that truly wants to be entertained.

On the list of factors (mrscott) in a previous post, that one jumped out at me.

I don't believe the study that is linked understands the priority in the mindset of the karaoke singer.

These people want to go out and sing karaoke.

Give them a good show and a consistent experience (considering the aforementioned list of factors) and they will come back.

I have empathy for the OP's situation, but I believe from what I read that there were a number of negative factors that were severe and unpredictable that resulted in this regrettable outcome. I wish you (mrscott) the best as you move into the next chapter...

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