Karaoke categories

Hosted shows, Private rooms, and Self-serve describe what singers can actually expect when they show up.

KaraokeCrowd uses three public categories. They are meant to answer one practical question: what kind of singing will you find there?

• Hosted shows: a scheduled karaoke night with a host, KJ, or MC running the room and the singer queue.
• Private rooms: bookable rooms or booths your group sings in by yourselves, KTV-style.
• Self-serve: walk-up karaoke with no host: a lounge rig, coin machine, or always-on setup you can use during karaoke times.

Those categories are also how the data is stored now. Hosted shows are the scheduled karaoke listings. Private rooms and Self-serve stay attached to the venue and use karaoke times and setup details. That split keeps a venue with a Wednesday hosted night and bookable rooms from mixing two very different things into one listing.

Hosted shows

A Hosted show is a shared-room karaoke night. People sing for the room, and a host, KJ, MC, DJ, or similar person keeps the queue moving.

Hosted shows need a recurring schedule: every Tuesday, every other Friday, the first Thursday of the month, or whatever pattern the show actually follows. That schedule generates dated events, so singers can see what is coming up.

Live-band karaoke belongs here too. It is still a hosted show, with a live band tag so people can filter for it. It is not a fourth category.

See Events and recurring karaoke nights for how recurring schedules turn into individual events.

Private rooms

Private rooms are for groups who book their own room or booth. You sing with your group, usually by the hour, often KTV-style.

Private rooms use karaoke times and room details instead of a show schedule. The useful details are capacity, room or booth formats, booking rules, prices, song systems, and whether walk-ins are possible.

Self-serve

Self-serve means karaoke is available without a host and without one fixed showtime. Think of a lounge setup, a coin machine, a tablet-based rig, or an always-on stage that people can use during karaoke times.

Self-serve uses karaoke times too. The important details are how someone starts singing, whether they need to ask staff, what song system is available, and whether booking is possible or expected.

Which one am I adding?

Use the category that matches the karaoke itself, not the venue:

• Is there a host or KJ and a recurring showtime? Add a Hosted show.
• Do singers book a private room and sing with their own group? Add Private rooms.
• Can people walk up and sing without a host during karaoke times? Add Self-serve.
• Is it a live band with rotating singers on a set night? Add a Hosted show and use the live-band tag.

Some venues have more than one. Add each one separately. A bar with a Wednesday hosted show and private rooms the rest of the week should have one Hosted show listing and one Private rooms listing on the same venue page.

Details we collect

After the category, a few details make the listing useful:

• Schedule or karaoke times. Hosted shows need a recurring schedule. Private rooms and Self-serve use karaoke times.
• Host. Hosted shows can name the host, KJ, MC, or DJ. Private rooms and Self-serve do not need one.
• Booking. Walk-in only, optional, recommended, or required.
• Capacity. Hosted shows can note the public karaoke space size. Private rooms can note group capacity.
• Song system. KaraFun, Singa, a venue songbook, YouTube, or another setup.
• Tags. Live band, competition, theme night, genre night, language night, drag karaoke, singalong, family/all-ages, charity, and other useful filters.
• Venue details. Age policy, smoking rules, food, accessibility, and other venue-level facts belong to the venue around the karaoke.

Why this matters for contributing

The add-karaoke form starts with this category choice. From there it asks only for the details that fit. Hosted shows get schedule and host questions. Private rooms and Self-serve get facility, karaoke times, booking, and capacity questions.

For everything else about submitting listings, see How contributing works.