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Great advice from Pat . . . so the only thing I will ad is that you don't want your gig to turn into a "karaoke" gig. It is your show so don't (in a nice way of course) let your show be taken over by audience members who want you to back them as like in karaoke.




Danny,

When you perform with your backing tracks, are you saying that people from the audience approach you and ask if they can sing along (hoping to use you as their karaoke machine?)

If so, how do you decline gracefully without making them feel slighted?

This only happens if the venue is also currently booking karaoke dj's or has in the past as from time to time one of the karaoke patrons might come up and ask, "do you have such and such by and names the artist?" That is your opportunity to tell them that unlike the karaoke dj you do not have a trailer full of cds containing tracks stripped of the original vocals, instead all you have are the backing tracks that you have arranged using BIAB for your show, in a nice way of course.

Hey, maybe you could turn it into a profit center... let it be known that for just $20 a pop, anybody in the audience can sing along on one song. You might end up making more money that way than you made for the gig!$20 is low enough that most people will be carrying that much, and its high enough to discourage the casual pests.

That is a can of worms I prefer to leave closed as I am already getting paid for the gig, and do receive tips for request. In fact that is one of the main reasons I do not play weddings, I guess I am getting too old and just don't have the patience to put up with the drunks who think they do a wonderful rendition of New York New York. Or even worse you get the guy/gal who sings karaoke in bars they are used to "exact" copy backing tracks and with BIAB and especially when we alter arrangements as to not to sound "exactly" like the original it throws them . . . then the conversation turns to "hey dude that is not how the song goes". The other factor involved with guest singers, and it is a big one, they are not prepared, they have to find a song they want to do, test the key etc. etc. and this will take way too much of the time your boss is paying you to perform. The occasional cat who wants to sing, knows the song and his/her key is fine, but the average karaoke singer who wants to go through your playlist to find something will kill your gig.

With this said I love the old adage, if you are not in show business get your feet off of my stage!

Danny C.
www.dannycampo.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Danny-Campo/379776252109306?skip_nax_wizard=true

The More You Drink The Better I Sound