Frustrated Trying to Get Your Singers to Use the KSR Web-App for Song Requests? Do This!

Credit for this article goes to our friend Keith Windle @ https://www.facebook.com/whatcanising/

Do you think that changing to digital songbooks (the free KSR [Karaoke Singer Request] system for use with DEX 3 or LYRX) might be an uphill climb? Here some things others have done to make the process easy!

ABOUT KSR (Karaoke Singer Request System)

1. Firstly, some people will automatically think it is difficult (when in fact it is actually easier than using a book). So the first trick is to make the books deliberately harder to use. Only supply 2 books. 1 in artist and one in song title order.
2. Don’t update your physical books. Leave notices throughout the book saying you only update the physical book once every 6 months (or “this book was last updated in 1984”). Tell them that you update the app every week. You can even start removing pages. Slowly make your books obsolete.
3. Don’t repair your books. Torn or missing pages will mean that people will eventually not want to use them. If the ink runs because something was spilled on the book, leave it. If your books are in poor condition, people will not ask for them.
4. Print up fliers that you leave on the tables. Add the advantages in using the app – fully up to date, you can scroll or search, you can take the app home with you, you can make a request at the touch of a button, you get a notification to say you are next. (Include the QR Code for ksr.pcdj.com)
5. Make a slide (overlay) to put up on the screens in between singers – “Get the app to see our songbook and make requests”.
6. A customer places a notice on the tables “text phone number (includes his phone number)”. When they text, he replies with a link (ksr.pcdj.com) to the web-app.
7. Tell them you are going to stop taking paper requests. Then don’t leave out slips. Eventually actually stop accepting paper requests.
8. Don’t leave out any pens or pencils. Again, you can start by only leaving out a couple, and each week, you take one away.
9. Prioritize digital requests in your rotation. If you really need to, still accept paper requests but tell people you will do 3 digital requests and then 1 paper one.

Generally speaking, singers who resist will use the excuse that the KSR system is too technical for them. 90% of the time this is not the case. They just think books are easier and are reluctant to change. Here is the critical point – If you keep making it easy for them to use printed books, they will keep using printed books and submitting requests on paper slips.

We have spoken karaoke hosts who have made the change over from printed books to a digital slowly and others who have gone cold turkey. Either way works, you just need to commit and never look back.

Have questions about the KSR web-app for use with DEX 3 and LYRX karaoke software? Please leave them in the comments section below!