Wish me luck tonight

For a $200 American Legion Karaoke gig, I would say you are bringing well above expectation for equipment. TWO flat Screens is well above their money's worth for the event. Also, don't bring too much in lighting. These older folks (65+) don't care about the light show, and prefer little to no light effects. Four light sticks should be pretty subtle.

Good luck. I hope they keep you doing this on a regular basis. Have fun tonight. To the DJ who said 65+ people won't care about lightning. Don't just assume it will be a bunch of old people showing up for karaoke. It could be a nice mixture of people.

Wow. All that for $200? What are you hoping to get out of this?

I used to rent karaoke for $243.75 and all I did was deliver it and pick it up end of night or the next day. Not unusual to get 3 rentals on the same night in the same area. For $175 they could pick it up and return it the next day - which appealled to a LOT of consumers and even DJs who wanted to add karaoke to their own gigs. All the options grew a base of regular repeat customers, and about an extra $25k of annual income . . . and I didn't have to listen to anyone sing

• PC running karaoke (self-serve) software, mic/line mixer, compressor limiter, 3 cabled mics, songbooks, video to 19" TV on a stand for the singers, plus a single JBL 15" 2-way active speaker! Easy setup, 5 min. learning curve and they are off to the races.

That's all it takes to serve a crowd up to 75 people or less. If it's a bigger group: option to add a second 15" 2-way speaker.

My theory about over-producing small events is that it undermines our credibility and creates a ceiling on future sales.

The key take away from the karaoke rental example above is that it's bare simplicity leaves the door open to all kinds of expansive ideas. In other words: You don't get lighting, but you can add lighting. There is no KJ but you can hire a KJ. It's not full event production but you can hire any of our other services.

One such example, a referred prospect called about karaoke rental. The prospect was Gillette, Human Resource Dept. What they really wanted to do with karaoke was to have a Gillette's Got Talent show contest. So, I emcee/hosted a 1 hour karaoke talent show in their cafeteria during lunch each week, for six weeks, 4 years in a row, at $600 each appearance. That's $3,600 instead of $243.75 and this is the ONLY reason (save for charity) that small money gig make any sense. Don't be fooled into thinking they are "demos." They are fishing expeditions - so have a hook.

Where do you want this to lead?
or What do you get personally out if it?

rickryan.com said:

View attachment 55486
Good gig. They asked me start taking every Wednesday and Friday.

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What about the venue you own? Friday's might be tough. What about a client having their event in your venue and it on a Friday night? You should easily make more than $200 in profit from an event at your venue.

sawdust123 said:

Rick, I think the colored lights are overkill. Lighting the singer singer is important but the colored lights drown their face out. Also, I have found that having a monitor facing the crowd really enhances audience engagement. Many non-singers like to see the lyrics. Others will just sing along from their chairs. You could get a cheap video splitter and a short throw projector to put the image on the wall behind you. Projectors are easier to carry around than a large display.

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In his original post he said he was having a 42" facing the crowd. Guess it never made it out there.

Also agree with the comment about the lights. Facing the crowd at that height is more blinding than anything to the audience. If anything have the lights face the singer from the corners so it lights them up without blinding them.

As far as the pay. I'm also questioning what is the reward here? If it's an extra $200 here or there... perhaps this is one way to do it. Not sure if anyone is looking but you could probably make a few calls to other dj's or production teams in the area and roadie/assist a few gigs as well for that much money w/ less responsibility.

While I know nothing of Rick’s financial situation, there have been times in my life where an extra $200 made a huge difference or in this case it would now be $1600 a month

Let’s do some math 2 3 hour gigs per with set up tear down and travel let’s say he has 10 hours a week invested, minimal overhead costs
$20,000 divided by 520 hours is just a hair over $38 per hour, not terrible, I had a lot of really solid years booked 3 to 4 nights a week at these steady gigs, you get your setup so you can typically be set up or tear down in 15 min or so. If your in a rural area with very very little opportunity for corporate work during the week it ends up being pretty easy enjoyable income

tunes4046 said:

Let’s do some math 2 3 hour gigs per with set up tear down and travel let’s say he has 10 hours a week invested, minimal overhead costs
$20,000 divided by 520 hours is just a hair over $38 per hour, not terrible, I had a lot of really solid years booked 3 to 4 nights a week at these steady gigs, you get your setup so you can typically be set up or tear down in 15 min or so. If your in a rural area with very very little opportunity for corporate work during the week it ends up being pretty easy enjoyable income

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If he's doing this for his own leisure then none of this discussion matters. Happy is priceless.

As a business/profit choice:
It's 3 hours, and he often ends up staying late. 15 minute setup is bull* because no customer wants to see us blow in the door like a tornado 15 minutes before the start. It's a 45 minute drive away from home, and he undoubtedly spends some time preparing for these gigs, such as shopping for new mics and resolving HDMI issues. The true impact on his time is more likely to be 20 hours a week - making it an effective $19 /hr BEFORE expenses and taxes.

One reality is that this is likely well below the cost to have someone cover for him either at this gig, or one at his own venue. If he could get $200 twice a week from regular meetings or groups using his venue - he'd make all of that money without having to leave home while simultaneously promoting and expanding his venue business.

Working 45 minutes away might not have a realistic impact on his own local bookings, and if it generates new business that too, might involve travel; which increases both time committed and the expense of that time.

What is $400 minus the cost of the dual mic system, HDMI extender, Transportation Fuel, meals out, etc? Net: $________ week one.

He is 'donating' two 65" TVs (value: ~ $700 retail). Are these a gift? . . or will he haul them back and forth to use elsewhere and at his own venue? If so, is he prepared to buy a new TV if one gets damaged in this process?

Compare: I charge $700 for two 70" TVs with stands to local venues here on a one event basis. Each TV (without stand) has a replacement cost of $700. As a matter of risk management - the fee covers the damage of at least one TV should it get damaged during setup/strike. This has happened once in the last 4 years in a fleet of 10 screens. The risk is very real even when we have some of the bests safety and performance standards.

The risk of being personally present for an event like karaoke is that you now become personally at risk for liabilities owing to your performance. So, now there's a new cost associated with liability insurance (if that matters to us.)

Conclusion: Rick's not really doing this for the money. I assume that's also his guitar sitting on stage?