Public places in Hamburg
Asia In Asia, a
karaoke box is the most popular type of karaoke venue. A karaoke box is a small or medium-sized room containing karaoke equipment rented by the hour or half-hour, providing a more intimate atmosphere. Karaoke venues of this type are often dedicated businesses, some with multiple floors and a variety of amenities including food service, but hotels and business facilities sometimes provide karaoke boxes as well. In
South Korea, karaoke boxes are called
noraebangs. In mainland China and Taiwan, a karaoke establishment is called a KTV. In some
traditional Chinese restaurants, there are so-called "mahjong-karaoke rooms" where the elderly play
mahjong while teenagers sing karaoke. The result is fewer complaints about boredom, but more noise.
Noise regulations can be an issue, especially when karaoke is brought into residential areas. Violent reactions to karaoke singing have made headlines in Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines, with reports of killings by listeners disturbed by the singing. In the Philippines, at least half a dozen killings of people singing "
My Way" caused newspapers there to label the phenomenon "
My Way killings"; such that some bars refused to allow the song, and some singers refrained from vocalizing it among strangers. Prostitution became an issue implicating karaoke in Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and other parts of Southeast Asia. In Thailand, "karaoke girls" are brought in not only from Thailand itself but from neighboring countries and are sent to other parts of the world. Asian karaoke establishments are often fronts for
gentlemen's clubs, where men pay for female hosts to drink, sing, and dance with them. In Japan, such a business is called a piano bar. After the COVID-19 outbreak, karaoke bars in Japan reopened with rules such as mask wearing, mic covers, and singer must face same direction as onlookers.
Philippines Instrumental tracks on
cassette tapes were initially the format used by
Roberto del Rosario's "Sing-Along System". By the 1980s, including instrumental-only tracks on the
B-side of commercial song and album releases had become standard practice in the Philippine recording industry, popularly known as
Minus-One. Del Rosario's "Sing-Along System" led to the rapid growth of popularity of "sing-alongs" in the Philippines. Singing contests were staged in
town fiestas, where amateurs from all walks of life competed. In later years, the audio-only Sing-Along Systems were replaced by Japanese-style coin-operated machines with video and running lyrics that came to be known as
"videoke". It became a popular domestic recreational pastime among Filipinos. It also led to the popularity of nighttime
videoke bars.
Taiwan In Taiwan, karaoke bars similar to those in Japan and South Korea are called KTVs, which stands for karaoke television. Karaoke is a highly popular form of recreation in Taiwan. The biggest KTV chains in Taiwan are Partyworld Cashbox, Holiday KTV and NewCBParty.
South Korea A
noraebang (
Hangul: 노래방) refers to a singing venue in South Korea where private sound-proof rooms are available for rent, equipped for singing – typically microphones, remote controls, a large video screen, couches, and mood décor such as disco lights and tambourines. The term noraebang is a Korean compound word, blending norae (
Hangul: 노래, English: song) and bang (
Hangul: 방, English: room). It is the regional equivalent to the
Karaoke box in Japan. Singing is an important part of social life in Korea, where people will perform, and be persuaded to perform, an impromptu song at virtually any social occasion. As such, noraebangs are popular and widespread, often identifiable by bright neon signs with musical notes or microphones. Often the last stop after a night of alcohol-lined entertainment for youths and businesspeople alike, noraebangs are also a favorite family pastime, and many are surprisingly dry venues. People also frequent noraebangs as a form of stress relief, and some noraebangs cater to those who seek to sing alone.
North America and Europe A karaoke bar, restaurant,
club or lounge is a bar or restaurant that provides karaoke equipment so that people can sing publicly, sometimes on a small stage. Most of these establishments allow patrons to sing for free, with the expectation that sufficient revenue will be made selling food and drink to the singers. Less commonly, the patron wishing to sing must pay a small fee for each song they sing. Both are financially beneficial for the establishment by not having to pay a professional singer or a cabaret tax which is usually applied to any entertainment of more than one person. Many establishments offer karaoke on a weekly schedule, while some have shows every night. Such establishments commonly invest more in both equipment and song discs, and are often extremely popular, with an hour or more wait between a singer's opportunities to take the stage (called the
rotation). Private karaoke rooms, similar to Asia's karaoke boxes, are commonplace in major cities. Karaoke is very popular in
Scotland with dedicated karaoke venues in most reasonably large towns.
Aberdeen is home to a number of notable karaoke bars including Weagleys, The Spirit Level, Bardot's Karaoke Bar, Sing City. In North America, the Tri State area is known to have many lounges that participate in weekly karaoke shows.
New Jersey has many establishments that are frequented by people of different backgrounds who also participate in karaoke. Hugo's Lounge and Love Lounge located in
Plainfield, New Jersey are just a couple of the many establishments with weekly karaoke schedules. Throughout much of North America, live band karaoke is also popular. With
live band karaoke, singers sing with a live band instead of the prerecorded backing track. Rock critic
Rob Sheffield claims that the 1986 music video for the song "
Wild Wild Life" by
Talking Heads was the first depiction of karaoke in American popular culture. The video features a variety of characters taking turns singing portions of the song to an audience at a bar. However a karaoke bar in
Honolulu called "Sing Sing" is depicted in an episode of the American TV series
Magnum, P.I. entitled "The Man from Marseilles" first broadcast on March 14, 1985. In Italy, karaoke had become popular by early 1994, popularized by television personality
Rosario Fiorello who had a karaoke program that appeared weekly on national television. Karaoke made a brief appearance in Sofia Coppola's 2003 movie
Lost in Translation, and it was, three years before, the primary focus of
Bruce Paltrow's 2000 film
Duets, written by John Bynum and starring Paltrow's daughter
Gwyneth and
Huey Lewis, "anchor-man" of
Huey Lewis and the News. Also popular among the international performing arts community in Europe, a group of Finnish producers organized an international karaoke competition called KWC (Karaoke World Championships). Their 2011 international karaoke competition has attracted
ABC producers to help host America's karaoke competition in Las Vegas Nevada called Karaoke Battle USA. The competition is promised to select 1 male and 1 female contestant to represent the U.S. in the international arena. Largely supported by the Broadway community in Times Square, Pulse Karaoke Lounge sponsored 2011's New York state karaoke finals to select individuals representing New York in the eastern finals. According to
The New York Times, the dozens of karaoke bars in
Portland, Oregon make it not just "the capital of karaoke" in the United States, but "one of the most exciting music scenes in America." From the mid 2010s to the early 2020s, late night talk show host James Corden ran a popular segment named ‘
Carpool Karaoke’ on his program,
The Late Late Show With James Corden, where Corden would sing karaoke with famous celebrities such as Mariah Carey and Paul McCartney while sitting in a moving automobile. Per Corden, the segment was inspired by pop singer George Michael.
Australia In Australia, karaoke was gradually popularized in the late 1980s. A number of Filipino migrants brought with them their own 'minus-one' music from cassette music tapes and video tapes purchased mainly in the Philippines. A number of Philippine-imported karaoke units with two cassette drives were used in private households. Video TV tapes, mainly consisted of popular and contemporary songs rendered by Filipino artists, and with a mix of English and Tagalog songs were soon used. Projected lyrics on TV screens became very common as the main source of karaoke renditions. These tapes were soon replaced by CD+Gs, but a plug-n-play karaoke microphone that housed a factory built-in songchip loaded with hundreds of karaoke songs quickly became a favourite. This unit would usually be purchased in the Philippines and brought into Australia, becoming a common household item and is popularly used during gatherings. Commercially, karaoke was first introduced into Australia in 1989 by Robin Hemmings who had seen karaoke operating in Fiji. Prior to this, karaoke was generally unknown to the broader population. Hemmings, of Adelaide, South Australia, offered systems manufactured by Pioneer which used 12in (30 cm) double-sided laser discs containing a maximum of 24 songs with accompanying video track and subtitled lyrics. Despite some initial resistance, Adelaide hoteliers The Booze Brothers offered limited access to their hotels and the karaoke phenomenon was born. Hemmings business, Karaoke Hire Systems, operated seven machines on a casual rental basis to numerous hotels, clubs and private parties in and around Adelaide with an additional machine on snow-season lease at Jindabyne, NSW. Each system came complete with up to 24 discs containing a maximum of 576 music video tracks. In Adelaide, karaoke reached its zenith in 1991 with virtually every hotel offering at least one karaoke night per week with many having undertaken alterations to their premises with the addition of purpose built stages and sound systems. Karaoke rental suppliers had proliferated during this period and Hemmings is known to have sold his business in late 1991 as a going concern. Karaoke's popularity in Adelaide waned from mid 1992 and was virtually extinguished by early 1993, until recently where karaoke bars have largely regained their former popularity among the city's increasing international population. In 2021, the
University of Adelaide Karaoke Club was formed, re-popularizing karaoke among the student population of Adelaide. In the mid-2000s, a number of karaoke bars sprouted in Sydney with karaoke boxes frequented by Japanese students and tourists and a few locals, especially on Thursday nights and weekends. A number of clubs such as RSL, League Clubs and restaurants and bars mainly feature karaoke nights to entice more customers and to entertain guests. Sunfly Karaoke is probably the major karaoke brand in Australia as well as the UK.
Production methods by
Kumyoung in South Korea Karaoke is very popular in Asian countries, and many artists distribute a karaoke track at the same time the song is released. The most common form of karaoke nowadays is released in
MIDI format with on-screen lyrics on a DVD background video. In Europe and North America, karaoke tracks are almost never done by the original artist, but are re-recorded by other musicians. South Korean firms
TJ Media, Magic Sing,
Kumyoung produce digital music content in MIDI format and manufacture
computer music players for the Asian market.
Contests Since the rise of karaoke around the world, karaoke contests have become a phenomenon of mainstream culture, giving non-professional singers opportunity to showcase their talent, win prizes, and at times, travel the world. Contest participants are usually rated 50% by customer votes and 50% by judges' votes, but this may vary, depending on the venue and the level of competition.
Karaoke World Championship is one of the most popular karaoke contests and has been around since 2003. In September 2025, the Karaoke World Championships will be held in Bangkok, Thailand.
World records As of 2009, the world record for the most people singing karaoke was at
Bristol Motor Speedway in the United States. Over 160,000 people began to sing Garth Brooks' song "
Friends in Low Places" before the NASCAR
Sharpie 500 race began. Hungary holds the record for the longest Karaoke marathon, with multiple participants for an event organized in the Honey Grill Restaurant by Gabor Dániel Szabó (REVVOX Music). It lasted for 1,011 hours, 1 minute, between 20 July 2011, and 31 August 2011. Each song was over 3 minutes long and the gap between songs was no longer than 30 seconds. No song was repeated in any two-hour period. The record for the longest Karaoke solo marathon is held by the Italian Leonardo Polverelli, who sang 1,295 songs in 101 hours, 59 minutes, and 15 seconds.
Violence in karaoke bars Between 2002 and 2012, numerous fatal incidents in the Philippines occurred in connection to karaoke bars and the song "
My Way", popularized by
Frank Sinatra. Similar violent and fatal incidents connected to karaoke bars have also occurred in other countries, including
Malaysia,
Thailand, and
China. ==See also==