Karaoke
Karaoke is a type of interactive entertainment system usually offered in nightclubs and bars, where people sing along to pre-recorded accompaniment using a microphone.
Its musical content is an instrumental rendition of a well-known popular song. In recent times, lyrics are typically displayed on a video screen, along with a moving symbol, changing colour, or music video images, to guide the singer. In Chinese-speaking countries and regions such as mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore, a karaoke box is called a KTV. The global karaoke market has been estimated to be worth nearly $10 billion.
Karaoke's global popularity has been fueled by technological advancements, making it a staple of social gatherings and entertainment venues all over the world. The precursors of karaoke machines using cassette tapes made their first appearances in Japan and the Philippines in the 1970s. Commercial versions manufactured by Japanese companies using LaserDisc became available worldwide in the 1980s, leading to a surge in popularity. Karaoke machines are commonly found in lounges, nightclubs, and bars; as well as in-home versions which later combined with home theater systems. Over time, karaoke has evolved with digital music, video games, smartphone apps, and online platforms, allowing users to sing anytime and anywhere. Beyond leisure, karaoke is used for professional training in music and public speaking, highlighting its broad appeal and impact on popular culture.
History
1960s: Development of audio-visual-recording devices
From 1961 to 1966, the American TV network NBC carried a karaoke-like series, Sing Along with Mitch, featuring host Mitch Miller and a chorus, which superimposed the lyrics to their songs near the bottom of the TV screen for home audience participation. The primary difference between karaoke and sing-along songs is the absence of the lead vocalist.Sing-alongs fundamentally changed with the introduction of new technology. In the late 1960s and into the 1970s, stored audible materials began to dominate the music recording industry and revolutionized the portability and ease of use of band and instrumental music by musicians and entertainers as the demand for entertainers increased globally. This may have been attributable to the introduction of music cassette tapes, technology that arose from the need to customize music recordings and the desire for a "handy" format that would allow fast and convenient duplication of music and thereby meet the requirements of the entertainers' lifestyles and the 'footloose' character of the entertainment industry.
1970s: Development of the karaoke machine
Despite the Japanese provenance of the term karaoke, the invention of karaoke-styled machines is controversial. It is usually credited to two people, depending on the sources: Daisuke Inoue of Japan or Roberto del Rosario of the Philippines, neither of whom significantly benefited from the worldwide surge of popularity of the karaoke starting from the 1980s. The profits in the karaoke industry went to later machines developed by larger Japanese corporations. Other people have also claimed to have invented karaoke-styled machines at various dates, but only del Rosario has a patent on his machine. The fact that the karaoke machine is simply an aggregate of existing technologies and is built on the older concept of sing-alongs makes it likely that it was developed independently multiple times.Daisuke Inoue
In a 1996 interview with a Singapore-based all-karaoke TV channel, the Japanese nightclub musician Daisuke Inoue claimed to have invented the first karaoke-style machine in the city of Kobe in 1971. He was also credited for the invention of karaoke when he was later also featured on a Time magazine article in 1999.Inoue, a bandleader, drummer, and Electone keyboardist, specialized in leading sing-alongs at nightclubs in Sannomiya, the entertainment district of the city of Kobe. In 1970, he and six bandmates played instruments in fancy drinking establishments to accompany middle-aged businessmen who would sing traditional Japanese songs. He claimed to have first thought of the idea of a karaoke-style machine when he was asked by a prominent client to play for him on an overnight trip to an onsen. Not being able to do so, he instead provided a tape of his accompaniment to the client. Realizing its potential, he thought of merging these pre-taped accompaniments with a jukebox.
Lacking the skills to make the machine himself, one of his bandmates introduced him to a friend who owned an electronics shop. He described his idea to him and commissioned 11 home-made machines which he called "8 Juke." Each machine cost around $425 per unit and consisted of a box containing an amplifier, a microphone, a coin box, and a car stereo which used specially made 8-track tapes. The machines metered out several minutes of singing time and used ¥100 coins.
He initially recorded his own versions of popular songs with his bandmates for the tapes. Starting from 1971, Inoue loaned the machines to establishments for free in exchange for a portion of the monthly earnings from the machines. He placed the first 8 Jukes in Sannomiya's "snack bars", but they initially failed to take off. Inoue then hired hostesses to ostentatiously sing on them, which successfully sparked interest. This also caused a great deal of friction with Inoue's fellow musicians, who saw it as drawing customers away from them.
When profits improved at around four years of operation, he hired professional musicians and rented a recording studio to create the 8-tracks for the machines. He made the songs in keys that made them easier for casual singers. As such he also included a rudimentary reverb function to help mask singers' deficiencies. By this time, the number of units he rented had increased from the initial eleven to around 25,000. Club owners from Kobe had started bringing his machines to new clubs in Osaka which became the birthplace of the karaoke boom in Japan. He also managed to convince large record labels to include their songs in the tracks for the 8 Jukes. For these reasons, Inoue is often considered to be the inventor of the modern business model for karaoke.
Inoue never patented his machine. While initially successful and earning approximately half a million dollars a year, Inoue lost interest in the business. He eventually handed over the company to his brother. By the 1980s, the idea of coin-operated sing-along machines was picked up by larger Japanese corporations who started manufacturing commercial versions of their own with better technologies like LaserDiscs.
In 2004, Daisuke Inoue was awarded the tongue-in-cheek Ig Nobel Peace Prize for inventing karaoke, "thereby providing an entirely new way for people to learn to tolerate each other."
Roberto del Rosario
In 1975, the Filipino entrepreneur and piano manufacturer Roberto del Rosario also claimed to have invented the first karaoke-type machine known as the "Sing-Along System". The machine included multiple features enclosed in a single portable cabinet casing; including an amplifier, a speaker, a double or single tape deck, an optional tuner or radio, and a microphone mixer that enhances the singer's voice using effects like reverb and echo. The machine used cassette tapes of instrumental versions of popular songs which would later become more widely known as Minus-One. The machine did not have video, but it included songbooks with lyrics.The SAS was originally developed since the late 1960s as a teaching device for students taking singing lessons at del Rosario's Trebel School of Music. It was refashioned for amateur and recreational use from 1975 to 1977. Unlike Inoue's "8 Juke", it was not coin-operated.
Del Rosario was himself a pianist and was a member of the amateur jazz group Executive Combo Band. He owned a company, Trebel Industries, that was the leading manufacturer of pianos and harpsichords in the Philippines. Del Rosario also invented and patented other audio equipment before and after the SAS. His other inventions included the 1972 "One-Man Band", an acoustic piano that automatically plays a full orchestra accompaniment; the "Piano Tuners' Guide", an electronic push-button device for piano tuning; and "Voice Color Tapes", ready-made multiplex tapes with songs recorded and programmed to match a specific vocal range.
Unlike Inoue, del Rosario patented the "Sing-Along System" and is recognized as the sole holder of a patent for a karaoke system in the world after he won a patent infringement case against a Chinese company in the 1990s. Despite this, he also did not profit significantly from his invention. Like Inoue, his machines were eventually replaced by more advanced commercial versions made by larger corporations that became available by the 1980s.
In 1985, Del Rosario was awarded the Gold Medal for Best Inventor by the World Intellectual Property Organization for the Sing-Along System, among other awards. He was also elected to the executive board of the International Federation of Inventors' Associations. He also lobbied for more government support for inventors in the Congress of the Philippines, leading to the successful passage of Republic Act No. 7459, better known as the Inventor and Inventions Incentives Act of 1992.
Other possible inventors
Japanese engineer Shigeichi Negishi, who ran a consumer electronics assembly business, also claimed to have made the first karaoke-styled machine in 1967; He subsequently began mass producing coin-operated versions under the brand name "Sparko Box", making it the first commercially available karaoke machine. For media, it used 8-track cassette tapes of commercially available instrumental recordings. Lyrics were provided in a paper booklet. However, he ran into distribution troubles and ceased production of the Sparko Box shortly thereafter. Despite being credited by some as the first to automate and commercialize the karaoke singalong, Negishi, who died in 2024, never patented his invention.Another possible early pioneer was Toshiharu Yamashita, who worked as a singing coach, and in 1970 sold an 8-track playback deck with microphone for sing-alongs.