Karaoke Song Books and Request Forms


    Don't underestimate the importance of having neat, well organized, and easy to read song books. The easier it is for your audience to find their songs, the less time you will spend looking up the songs for them. There was a time when I categorized my song titles by genre (country, pop, rock, etc.). I eventually came to the conclusion that this wasn't working out well. I spent too much time repeating phases like "that's a country song, did you look in the country section?".

    My song titles now are all under one category "Karaoke Songs". Some KJ's have their songs listed alphabetically by song title and then again by artist. This can make for large, bulky, and heavy song books if you have a lot of song titles in your collection.

    My experience has been that most people look for songs by title and not by artist. I do keep one book with me listed by artist for my own use and for anyone who wants to look at it.

    There are three basic ways to create your song books. You can use a software program like KJ Pro or Pilot Song Book Creator. Subscribe to an online service like KaraokeBooks Online. Create your own with a spreadsheet program such as Excel. The software programs are the easiest way to go as they access their own database of discs which saves a lot of typing. They also provide several different page layout and printing options.

    The down side is the price of updating the database which can be rather steep. I have had no experience with the online song book services although it does seem to be an interesting concept. This leaves creating the books by hand with a spreadsheet program. I created my first song books this way for the simple reason that there was no alternative at that time. I don't suggest that you opt for this method unless you really love to type.

    No matter which method you choose to create your song books be sure to make them easy to read. Use bold black text on white paper. I stress this because I have seen some people use colored paper and it didn't work out well. Keep in mind that many of the locations where you will be performing your shows will be dimly lit.

    The two ways to sign up your singers are a signup sheet or request forms. I strongly suggest that you opt for the request forms especially if you will be running shows alone. If you personalize your request forms, with your logo and contact information, they double as a business card. I have received many job offers this way.

    There is a very nice freeware program called Request Slip Generator.


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