ericlater said:
I've been giving more and more consideration to Joe C's theory and that has caused me to wonder how many karaoke hosts are leaving the karaoke bar venue business altogether because of the newbies driving rates downward?
MHO? We all should be looking for ways to develop additional sources of income from our rigs.
Not a bad thought. I have been known to provide music and sound for single singer shows. It's not big pay, but it's not big work either...:triwink:
I will say that there is another part of my theory, also witnessed over the years- karaoke cycles.
I know this is a repeat, but bear with me.
Starting at the beginning, karaoke is at a low popularity point, with few shows in a given area. Then the good shows start pushing the popularity up. The good shows start getting VERY long rotations. Newbies note the popularity, and hope to bleed off the excess singers who are looking for more air time- and they do. This continues to a point where everybody and their mother is doing karaoke.
This, of course, means that there is now a large amount of crappy shows.
These crappy shows, along with market saturation and lack of novelty, have a negative effect on the karaoke business in general. Popularity starts to fade.
Shows start to fade as well. The crappiest first, then up the ladder.
We hit another low, but the best hosts hang in there. The cycle begins again.
So to summarize this part of my theory: If you work hard enough, are business savvy,
use common sense, and are a good and popular host, you will probably end up OK, no matter what.