Today we ask that
imposing question, "How many songs are enough?"
Doc k a well known
KJ responds. Of course if you have to hear the words "Man,
you've got the biggest book I've ever seen" or "Where the
H... did you ever get so many songs", maybe you do. The search
for size is a sickness, it's called megalomania.
I think a form of
megalomania infects many kj's. They want more, they have to be
bigger, they have to have the most, and go far too far in their
search for every song they can possibly get. It becomes their
"raison d'etra" (reason to be) and quality suffers as
quantity becomes their prime concern.
Let's all face it,
we're not only entertainers, we're sound people, we're singers, we're
business people, we're entrepreneurs. We are the jack of all trades
of the entertainment industry. We provide a way for the little lady
down the street to feel like a star, if only for a moment. The way
you care for your customers is far more important than having 20,000
songs to chose from.
As a singer, I
find that I regularly sing a great variety of songs, probably 2 or 3
hundred, but if a venue doesn't have the particular song I happen to
be looking for, I'll try another song. I would far rather go to a
venue where the sound was managed by an attentive kj, who had only
200 songs but knew how to make his singers sound good than one that
had thousands of songs and a kj who didn't know how to adjust the
sound or make me feel welcome.
As a kj, I've
"retired", I only do private parties. I've cut back to
about 2,000 songs and still do just fine, thank you.
Rodney, gives us a
different perspective. I think it has a lot to do with how you want
your show. I think for me, I have more songs than most KJ's down here
in Orange County, but I believe that my selections are geared more
towards what my clientele wants, for example, one location is
predominately latino, so I have a large library of Spanish and Oldies
but Goodies, another location loves Rock-n-Roll, while all the other
locations love the Standards and Pop hits. By that same token I do
not wear belt buckles bigger than the "Fiesta Platter" at
El Toritos, meaning I don't do much Country, but I still have just
enough to please the newcomers. That brings me to the next phase,
When I have regulars who have given their support to the shows, I
will ask if there are songs they would like to sing, and if the disc
in which that song may come in, meets my standards of approval, ie;
manufacture, types of songs, limited repeats, and so on, then I get
it for them. One of the biggest problems we as KJ's face, is the
marketing strategies that these Disc Manufacturers adhere to, and
that is to give us limited amount of fresh stuff and more of the
repeats or songs that an alley cat would not sing !!!!!! Thus brings
us to the problem of having 16,000 songs but only 1,000 songs
actually wanted and with no duplicate songs....I still think the Disc
Manufacturers should actually do an honest poll and come up with 18
songs on a disc that actually reflects what people want to sing, for
that particular style, and maybe label these discs as KJ's Starter
set instead of some of the sets that are out there today.
KJ Ed gives his
input. I think the right 2000 to 2500 can easily support a show. I
admit we carry about 20000(cuts, not songs) on a night with a single
show. I do list my duplicates but I use the manufacturers #'s because
most singers at our venues are "regulars" at various shows
and know whos cuts they like to sing. When we have 2 or more shows on
the same night I have A, B, and a C set of books. My A split is full
set pioneer and (almost) full set of sound choice with about 15 misc
disks. The B split is dk 1-99, pioneer set, country and pop monthlies
from 96 to present and most of the misc music maestro, pioneer dvd,
dangerous, all hits , etc. C is a 1500 song party pack based around
pioneer cd+g. I prefer the SC and Pioneer set, our regulars prefer
the b set with the monthlies and they really don't care what
"core" is there. What amuses me is how many people praise
the party pack with a set of pioneer cd+g and about 20 misc disks
(all hits and a few pop / country compilations) that we use only for
combo dj/kj jobs and rentals . I could probably add a set of
monthlies to this, have 3000 songs with virtually no dupes and keep
just about everyone happy. I am not saying pioneer was great but it
does make a great core up through 1998.
The KJ guru Harry
sums it up. Take one of your old books and highlight every song that
has been sung. I would maintain that if every KJ took a database of
the songs in their karaoke library and deleted the songs that have
never been sung, you would find a core of probably 1500 of the same
songs on every list. Someone who has 20,000 songs must have a
wonderful collection to choose from, but the majority of karaoke
singers pigeonhole themselves into the same standard tunes. New
releases such as Pop Hits, etc... add current songs that lose their
appeal with time, while the classic songs will always be sung as they
remain timeless. Having a lot of songs that never get or are rarely
sung is not a bad thing, as it is always nice for a singer to find a
chestnut that he or she cant believe that you actually have on
karaoke. But a bigger library of unpopular or unsung songs does not
make a show better that a well thought out catalog of 2000 or 3000
songs that maintain their popularity and entertainment appeal.
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