Market Size and Business Potential

Today the karaoke business is a 10 billion dollar industry globally, with the Asian market accounting for the lion share. The United States market is picking up steam, and the European market is beginning to embrace karaoke. The reason for the ease of expansion is due to the fact that music has no boundaries and transcends throughout the world. Music is a common denominator despite differences in culture and language. Therefore, international growth is not a surprise due to our diverse product line within the US as market leaders; we intend to duplicate efforts within the international arena.

Karaoke History

Karaoke is a Japanese abbreviated compound word: "kara" comes from "karrappo" meaning empty (as in karate - empty hand), and "oke" is the abbreviation of "okesutura" or orchestra. Rather than including both vocals and music, karaoke tracks only have the music. A live person who holds a microphone and sings while following the words displayed on a screen provides the vocals.

It is now widely recognized that the use of karaoke started at a snack bar in Kobe City, Japan. The story as it is told in Japan states that when a strolling guitarist could not come to perform at the bar due to illness or other reasons, the owner of the bar prepared tapes of accompaniment recordings, and vocalists enjoyed singing to the tapes. Even though this story is only legend, this might have been the origination of karaoke.

From its early origins on tape, karaoke moved into CDs, finally incorporating videos and graphics along with on-screen text prompts for those uncertain of the song words. The idea of karaoke originally started, as a fad in bars and restaurants has become an avenue to entertain within the freedom of your own home, adding an extra special touch to birthday parties, anniversaries, and any other entertaining within the home. Karaoke has played a key roll in bringing families together, rather than gathering in front of the television merely viewing an event. Children, teenagers and adults can now have a mechanism whereby they can express themselves through singing, dancing and taking center stage all within the luxury of their own home.

Well, it is safe to say, if you've never tried karaoke, you're missing out! For 3 minutes of fame, you just choose a song that you like, or is a crowd pleaser, and wait for your selection and name to be called. The beauty of having a machine within the confines of your own home, is you choose the rotation, and you make the music happen. Microphone in hand, follow the marking of the text on the screen and you can't go too far wrong unless you really don't know the song! (For those of you that are karaoke fans, we kindly refer to that mode of doing karaoke as "karaoke roulette"). You can sing alone or with someone else, or even a group if you're really nervous.

It's definitely something EVERYONE should try at least once in his or her lifetime!

Consumers from all age demographics use karaoke machines. Parents typically purchase the machines either as a toy for a child, as a branded consumer product for a teenager, or as an entertainment product for the entire family. Baby Boomers tend to purchase our machines, our innovative patented pedestal design, for home entertainment purposes. The under-24 demographic segment has grown significantly with the introduction of new product innovations and high-visibility brand name products.

Karaoke machines represented the fastest-growing category in music equipment sales in the United States in 2002.