How many songs make a decent collection?

Just talk about kJams stuff with each other, describe things you did that worked, talk about your setup, anything that doesn't fit into the other forums!
DrVideo
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri Oct 20, 2006 11:24 pm

How many songs make a decent collection?

Post by DrVideo »

I have collected 1,940 Karaoke Tracks. And have a put together a pretty decent catalog using cut & paste into Apple's numbers database.
A little heavy on 70's & 80's but hey that's what I like to sing/listen to.

What do the rest of you have in your collection? I would like to do general audience karaoke (kids - adults) What are the 100 must have popular tracks?


Thanks,

DrVideo 8)
Jam on it!

ChurchCat
Posts: 210
Joined: Wed Dec 06, 2006 5:30 am
Location: The Catbasket - England

Re: How many songs make a decent collection?

Post by ChurchCat »

DrVideo wrote:I have collected 1,940 Karaoke Tracks. And have a put together a pretty decent catalog using cut & paste into Apple's numbers database.
A little heavy on 70's & 80's but hey that's what I like to sing/listen to.

What do the rest of you have in your collection? I would like to do general audience karaoke (kids - adults) What are the 100 must have popular tracks?


Thanks,

DrVideo 8)
Numbers? :shock:

It is rubbish for large spreadsheets.

As for how many, it is quality that counts over quantity. Also who is your target audience? The wider the audience the larger the collection needs to be.

I don't do karaoke now but I ran a specialist karaoke for show music fans with a collection half the size of yours very successfully.


CC
Every forum needs it's own cat.

jfbiii
Posts: 179
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2008 3:22 pm

Post by jfbiii »

I'd echo churchcat on the quality over quantity. My catalog is 3678 uniques out of 4235 total. I'm also heavy on 70s and 80s, with a good selection of oldies, motown, 90s, and alternative. I generally avoid country, although I have some from bigger collections and a set that I got for a specific short-term gig.

Ultimately, what you build in terms of a catalog should depend on your goals. My goals are more personal, since I do my show as a serious hobby more than a second job or first business. If karaoke is your full-time gig, then 2000 songs probably isn't going to cut it long term. The right 2000 songs, though, could support any given gig if they're the right 2000 songs. You still would have to add more music, but you could be very judicious about it and buy just the stuff that people wanted through tricerasoft. That said, here's how I go about deciding when and what to add to my catalog.

First off, I aim for stuff that I like. I am my shows target audience: I like to sing karaoke; I prefer to drink and sing at a bar rather than at home; I'm irreverent (no sacred cows, ever); I want an outlet for a week of stress at work; and I like hanging out with similar people. I have no interest whatsoever in doing a show dominated by ballads or people old enough to have a bunch of real responsibilities that keep them from getting drunk and cutting up every week. I buy very little country simply because I'm the only show you can go to within 100 miles and NOT find all the country you can take. It's not personal, it's just a differentiator. It also helps to pull in the audience that I'm trying to attract: college and twenty somethings that like to spend money and drink and have fun.

Second, I ask the people most important to my show what THEY want that I don't have. These aren't the people who sing most often necessarily, they're the people who are, let's say, opinion leaders. They know everyone, they're well-liked, they get into it when they sing, they participate in theme nights (costumes or kazoos or whatever). They're people that people who don't sing like to hear. I want those folks to be happy.

Third, I aim for 3 or 4 major catalog updates a year. Frequency is important...it tells people that you care about keeping up with current stuff and that you care about providing an improving service. Adding 200–300 songs every 3 to 4 months accomplishes that for me without necessarily breaking the bank. People like to spend time pouring over new song lists as much as they like singing them. It gives them hope that some song they really want is going to show up (even though some of them don't understand that not every song is available for karaoke).

Fourth, I spend a lot of time picking new stuff. I go through multiple websites looking for new releases, looking for songs that I know are popular that I don't have, and comparing the discs that I find against one another to find the best mix of new material, fewest duplicates, and best quality for a reasonable price. I keep a running list of discs that I think will be a good fit overall.

Fifth, I look for deals on those discs. My favorite supplier is Phong Le out of Houston (previously they were in suburban new orleans where I used to live. They usually have good prices, and I've dealt with them for a long time. My next favorite place is Swingtime Karaoke. Larry usually has a big collection of used discs for sale at very good rates. He's meticulous about providing conditions of the discs that you ask for in advance and he sells what he advertises, which is important to me.

Hope that helps.

Brendan
Posts: 424
Joined: Sun Dec 30, 2007 1:05 pm
Location: Vacaville, CA.

Post by Brendan »

I am not a KJ, but i throw karaoke parties. I have just over 2000 songs and it seems i have a good mix, at least that is what i am told. If i do need a song that someone requests and i do not have it, i just download it through Kjams. It takes seconds if you set it up right. Freinds are amazed.

randyj
Posts: 88
Joined: Sun Sep 02, 2007 9:19 pm
Location: Seattle area

Post by randyj »

jfbiii seems like he's got a good gig. I agree with what was said, with the addition of:

some venues are mostly country, some are mostly hip-hop & rap, some are mostly 50s 60s 70s

karaoke venues are kinda like radio stations, but more flexible. You'll get some variety mixed in with the main genres for that particular venue.

I cater to the age 30-50 crowd... have about 2000 songs, no rap or hip-hop. A mix of 50s thru 80s Pop, Country, and Rock.

I continuously ask singers to suggest songs to buy. You'll get a TON of verbal requests. They may or may not actually get sung. But ask them to write it down... that helps filter out the noise.

I like Tricerasoft OK, but the tracks I've seen so far are only 128 kbps (iPod quality, not Pro sound). Looking forward to both Sound Choice store AND 160+ kbps downloads

jfbiii
Posts: 179
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2008 3:22 pm

Post by jfbiii »

Good radio station point. I'm rural enough that all the "stations" here are country. I have seen that in New Orleans to some extent, but even there it seems like your choices were country and less country. :)

I've been ok with the tricerasoft quality. I'm definitely looking forward to a bigger variety of sources in the store section.

leo-magic
Posts: 83
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 7:41 am

Post by leo-magic »

jfbiii wrote:I'm definitely looking forward to a bigger variety of sources in the store section.
That would be great... When is SoundChoice comming?

Léo

dave
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:)

Post by dave »

"very soon"

that's all i know. my guess is on the order of weeks rather than months.

HouseOfSound
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2009 5:03 pm

Re: How many songs make a decent collection?

Post by HouseOfSound »

I am constantly receiving updates and now have more than 120,000 songs. yes there are song duplicates because some singers prefer a specific version of the song. :D

jfbiii
Posts: 179
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2008 3:22 pm

Re: How many songs make a decent collection?

Post by jfbiii »

I've taken to stripping out the duplicates in my catalog. I usually have a pretty good grasp of which version is better, and I personally like books without half a page of the same song. Plus, I hate making books and putting paper into sheet protectors.

Recently (since New Year's) I've had an early crowd of mostly high school kids that have gone through most of my rap/hip-hop catalog. I even know some of the songs, now. :) They're a fun group, and it's been interesting watching them figure out what they can and can't do. And they've turned out to be good entertainers...they aren't shy about dancing behind each other and they end up in groups a lot. The regular early crowd has been mixed in their reaction, but I think they're starting to come around. Anyway, where I was going with this is that my catalog is bigger than I thought in the rap/hip-hop category. Most of the rap/hip-hop disks I buy only have one song on them that I know is popular and actually recognize, but very few of them have been sung until now. I ended up having more than I thought. But of course they're going to standardize on the dozen or so songs that they do well and that the crowd likes and run them into the ground. Still, I'll probably throw in a couple extra rap/hip-hop titles my next purchasing binge now that there's a group into singing them.
From he to whom much liquor is given...much singing is expected.

Ron Larrivee
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2009 8:54 am

Re: How many songs make a decent collection?

Post by Ron Larrivee »

Hey DrK,

I've got about the same number of tunes in kJams library - I believe that's more than enough. However, if you want to do current sweet sixteen and teeny bopper parties then you should probably download or purchase cdg's w/ Jonas Bros, Miley Cirus, High School Musical type stuff for them; possibly keep up with what's going on in pop & country w/ one of the "monthly" options available or just reload yearly with song paks from Chartbuster and others.

Take care,
Ron L.

natblend
Posts: 52
Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 10:35 pm

Re: How many songs make a decent collection?

Post by natblend »

I used kJams for the first time a few weeks ago. No problems at all.
It sucks that after 40 years in bands, KJ'ing pays better.
I'm up to 6,000 songs in a few short weeks. We own the Chartbuster disks. In the Sunfly stuff the levels are lower, I may try to clean that up with IVolume.
Will That work?

I have the disks for Karaoke Chartbuster Essentials CBE4 but no drive that will read them, anyone know how?

Love this forum. I've read most of the posts, which is why I had No problems doing a 5 hour session at the local Hotel lounge when I started.

dave
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Re: How many songs make a decent collection?

Post by dave »

I don't know about iVolume, does anyone else? eventually (perhaps soon if i get a flood of requests *wink*) i'll add the ability to remember the volume for each song individually.

i think the CBE4 series has "MediaCloq" can you confirm? it sez that in tiny type on the disc itself. If so, you could try the Sharpie Magic Marker trick™, YMMV.

-dave

leo-magic
Posts: 83
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 7:41 am

Re: :)

Post by leo-magic »

dave wrote:"very soon"

that's all i know. my guess is on the order of weeks rather than months.
Hi Dave!

Are there new informations to the introduction of new stores? SoundeChoice?

bye! leo

dave
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Re: How many songs make a decent collection?

Post by dave »

sadly they keep saying "we'll let you know", that's all i know.

so IMHO, it ain't gonna happen.

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