Karaoke: noun; a type of entertainment usually provided by bars and clubs, where individuals sing popular songs into a microphone accompanied by pre-recorded backing tracks, as defined by the Oxford dictionary. In the view of Japanese speakers, it just means empty orchestra.
In the 1970's the Juke 8, the first karaoke machine invented by Daisuke Inoue using a car stereo 8 track player. It was amplified, came with a microphone and instrumental tracks of popular songs that Inoue recorded with his band. You could plunk a quarter into it, pick a song and sing along with the music. The Juke 8 was invented because a business man wanted to impress his client at a local bar with his singing skills. The karaoke machine was sold and installed in bars all over Osaka, then to Tokyo then onto the rest of the world.
Karaoke really didn't hit the United States until the 1980's when there was this place in Los Angeles called Dimples who claimed to be the First Karaoke Bar in the US. It spread like crazy to bars all across America in the 1980's because casette tapes were easy to get and record on. Companies like Sound Choice, Sunfly and others started producing their own music with backing vocals on these new things called Compact Discs in the mid 80's and many of these companies are still producing songs to this day.
Fastforward to 2025 and karaoke is still going strong all over the country. Most all of the KJ's I know aren't lugging around karaoke machines anymore, and if you happen upon a karaoke jock with one of the machines, I'd steer clear! They probably don't have the latest releases and are stuck in the 70's.
I use a very popular (very expensive) program that not only lets me mix music, but also allows for very well organized karaoke shows. Nope, I don't use CD's anymore, either. I own EVERY SINGE ONE of my karaoke tracks which are in digital format and stored nicely on the laptop hard drive and on several back up hard drives. Most of my 70,000+ files were copied from CD+G discs that I purchased legally. The newer tracks were purchased & downloaded from one of a few web sites that offer great karaoke tracks to buy.
From what I know about Karaoke Culture comes from my 10+ years of hosting experience. And I will tell you that there are some serious karaoke fanatics out there that will travel from one bar to another until they find exactly what they are looking for in a KJ and from the venue. Some of the folks just want to sing and be heard. They don't care about drink specials, food specials or anything else! They are only happy when they're singing. I say more power to them, but they get mad if they have to wait too long to sing or if the "rotation" gets a little out of whack. They're probably not going to be "discoverd" by a record company, but they're having fun and they are usually pretty good singers, too. Then there are the folks that show up for dinner first, then drinks, then singing. This is probably 99% of karaokers out there. It's a night out for them. They meet up with their friends, have some drinks and sing as much as they can. They don't get mad if they have to wait an hour to sing and they're pretty good singers as well. Some of them get better when the drinks kick in. Some get louder when the drinks kick in. Some (less than 1%) get annoying, scream into the microphone & cuss. They're the ones who get skipped to the bottom of the list. Then there are the ones who show up drunk, think they're rock stars, destroy their song, annoy everyone and ask for another. They either get skipped alltogether or told that they're too drunk to karaoke. Again, this is way less than 1% of the people but it happens and needs to be mentioned.
The appeal and MY definition of Karaoke is this: Sing for Fun! Everyone is there for the fun of it. It's the KJ's job to make it fun for everyone...people just listening, people just eating or drinking and for the people who are a bit to shy to try it for the first time. It's not fun for anyone if the guy shows up with a karaoke machine from Temu with a cheap wired mic attached to it. The better the KJ's sound and equipment, the more appeal the KJ will have. What's also appealing to the karaoke crowd is to not have to wait too long to sing. 15-30 minutes is about average, but the wait can get longer if the place is packed. If the KJ is running a good karaoke program, a list will show on the monitors letting people know their spot in the queue. Cheap programs don't do that. Also, there should not be any buffer music between singers. If there's a big crowd, buffer music should be down so the KJ can thank the current singer and welcome up the next singer and keep up the flow. A KJ with a sence of humor along with some awesome emceeing skills goes a long way as well.
If you're thinking about trying karaoke for the first time, here are some things to look out for. If the KJ has to use pen and paper to write your song request down, they're probably using YouTube to download your song. Not a good look. Not to mention the possible legal aspect of it all. I mean, I'm no lawyer, but I know venues have to have a music license to have any type of musical entertainment and if you're not paying for your music and playing it at a public venue is like pirating, right? I digress. Seriously, if your KJ or your KJ's assistant has to write your request on a list whislt using a laptop to host, there's probably some free or pirated software involved. Things like that crash and burn. Not a good look. Also, if the KJ puts themselves in the karaoke rotation (sings more than 2 songs in 4 hours) a paying customer at that venue is getting the shaft. KJ's should only open the karaoke night with a song to check sound. That's it, in my opinion. They should just run the damn show, keeping PAYING CUSTOMERS happy.
Anyway, hosting karaoke is really a ton of fun, but it can get stressful. If your KJ is putting on a great show, has great tracks but looks stressed, they're doing it for YOU the singers. Tip them. They're working hard for you.
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