Giving even more value to karaoke fans, the ever popular (and free) Karaoke Loop mobile app adds a new tool designed for singers who are victims of tequilla-inspired memory loss. It’s a common problem for Karaoke fans: while rushing to turn in a song to the KJ, they can’t think of anything to sing. Singers can now create a list of their favorite karaoke songs so that they don’t have to harass their friends or the KJ with the annoying question “What song should I sing?!” The singer can now browse Karaoke Loop’s intuitive “Universal Karaoke Songbook” that contains nearly all known karaoke titles, and tag the songs that they want to earmark for future reference. The new feature is easy to find thanks to the new, prominent button on the home screen that prompts you to create a list of “Faves” or allows you quick access if you’ve already created a list.

Although the app contains the titles of nearly all existing karaoke songs, if singers want to add a song to the list which doesn’t appear in Karaoke Loop’s database, they can also manually add any title that they want. And for those of you who want to be Freddie Mercury but don’t quite have the vocal range, the new “Favorites List” feature also lets you specify your key change preferences and any other notes (if you prefer the Sound Choice version of a song, for example). And don’t worry if you can’t remember how the song goes, Karaoke Loop will help jog your memory by allowing you to listen to a preview of your song by pre-populating a search in iTunes.

Until recently, the primary purpose of Karaoke Loop was simply to find karaoke shows. Karaoke Loop cross-references your phone’s GPS location with its database of known karaoke shows happening on today’s date to locate all available karaoke opportunities within 30 miles of your location. Or, if you’re planning ahead or traveling, you can search for another zip code or a different day of the week. Although this has been a popular feature of the app, its fans are always asking for more. “Singers are demanding new tools to interact with the karaoke show using their phones” says Karaoke Loop creator Sam Spendlove. “Our objective with Karaoke Loop is to create the Swiss Army Knife for the karaoke singer.”

Karaoke Loop is currently available for iOS devices as a free download in the iTunes App Store at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/karaoke-loop/id410724734?mt=8. Or, if you have an Android, BlackBerry, or any other smartphone or tablet with a browser, point it to mobile.karaokeloop.com. See www.karaokeloop.com or facebook.com/karaokeloop for more details.

For karaoke bars, karaoke businesses or KJ’s wishing to add their shows to the Karaoke Loop network, you can do so (for free) at this URL: http://www.karaokeloop.com/signup

About Karaoke Loop:
Karaoke Loop was the brain child of longtime karaoke businessman, Sam Spendlove. After seeing his karaoke songbooks get reduced to shreds every few months, Sam decided that there had to be a better way to let his singers access his songbook. However, the cost of developing an iPhone app just for his small business was unrealistic. He figured that he probably wasn’t the only KJ out there who was having this problem so he decided to create a solution that he could use himself, and that could be used by any other karaoke businesses. Karaoke Loop was launched in December of 2010 as an iPhone app and a mobile optimized website and has since gone through several revisions.

For more information, please contact Sam Spendlove at 801.232.8994 or sam@karaokeloop.com

Big Mama Digital Entertainment, Inc. (BMDE, Inc.), makers and distributors of Chartbuster Karaoke, and JoltSoft, creators of the Karaoke Anywhere HD application for iOS devices, have announced a strategic partnership that will bring more than thirteen thousand superior-quality Chartbuster Karaoke tracks to users of the popular app.

“The advanced features of Karaoke Anywhere HD and its ability to bring the true karaoke experience to your iOS mobile device make this partnership a natural fit,” said Norbert Stovall, CEO of BMDE, Inc. “Now that we have brought together the world leaders in mobile karaoke applications and karaoke tracks, singers can now enjoy that experience to its fullest, anytime and anywhere.”

Available in the iTunes App Store, Karaoke Anywhere HD streams karaoke tracks directly to your iPad or iPad 2 device. Simply download and install the app and you can begin enjoying Chartbuster Karaoke tracks instantly. The free version of the app comes with on-demand access to fifty current hot hits and classics from the past, refreshed every month. The premium version allows instant access to the entire Chartbuster Karaoke streaming library, and the ability to import karaoke tracks from your iTunes account.

“With this partnership, we’re able to offer the highest quality karaoke tracks in the industry to Karaoke Anywhere HD users,” said Jonathan Apostoles, CEO of JoltSoft. “Chartbuster Karaoke will be a key partner as we continue to bring the true karaoke experience directly to consumers via their mobile devices.”

“Everyone loves to sing, and singers want the best possible tracks to sing along with,” Stovall continued. “Our strategic partnership with JoltSoft will assure that everyone, from the most casual singer to the dedicated karaoke enthusiast, can enjoy our huge catalog of first-quality tracks with the best mobile karaoke app available.”

JoltSoft plans to release a version of Karaoke Anywhere HD compatible with the iPhone and with Android devices in the near future.

About Karaoke Anywhere HD

Karaoke Anywhere HD is the world’s most advanced karaoke application for iOS devices. With more than 13,000 tracks available for streaming from Chartbuster Karaoke, Karaoke Anywhere HD brings the true karaoke experience to your iPad or iPad 2. Key features include: • Subscribe to Karaoke Anywhere HD PLUS for access to over 13,000 streaming tracks for a low monthly fee.
• TV output (RCA or VGA cables).
• Full headphone monitoring during audio playback with optional REVERB and ECHO vocal FX.
• Key changing functionality – Alter the key for playback to fit your vocal range.
• Syncing of subscriptions across multiple devices using JoltSoft Connect.
• Ability to transfer existing karaoke tracks to the application through the drag and drop feature in iTunes.
• Performance recording and sharing with friends via Facebook and Twitter.
• 50 FREE streaming songs included with the application.
• Dock your iPad via Bluetooth or external speakers for a complete karaoke experience.
• More details at http://www.KaraokeAnywhere.net/

About JoltSoft

Founded in 2008, JoltSoft is a mobile application development company with a passion for music and the seemingly endless possibilities of mobile platforms. Creators of Karaoke Anywhere HD, a leading karaoke application for iOS devices, the Joltsoft mission is to create engaging, exciting mobile applications with not only the highest quality, but also the ability to be quickly adapted in the ever-changing mobile environment. For more information, visit http://www.joltsoft.net

About Chartbuster Karaoke

Established in 1989 with a vision of offering the world at large the most accurate karaoke tracks possible, the Chartbuster Karaoke label is synonymous with the highest quality. Featuring a huge library of licensed, re-recorded versions of the best songs ever made, Chartbuster Karaoke offers tracks on iTunes, standard and custom compact discs, SD card and USB thumb drive media, as well as direct downloads, all at http://chartbusterkaraoke.com

A handy, optional digital SD recorder module can be easily installed to the front panel expansion port, making this a perfect tool for bands, singers and orators who want to record and play back jam sessions, bed tracks and oral presentations.

On board is our world famous DSP reverb & echo effect package designed specifically for vocalists. Pair that with an easy-to-use single knob compressor feature for the 4 mic channels, and you have complete control over your vocal output.

So spend more time kicking back and less time setting up, and let this 900W workhorse bring down the house with stellar sound.

Available with 3 accessory packages:

PA-PRO 900 Basic, No wireless mics, no SDR recorder

PA-PRO 900 -1, One Wireless mics with module, with SDR recorder

PA-PRO 900 – 2, Four wireless mics with modules, with SDR recorder

Features:

• 450W + 450W RMS Power Output (4 ohms)

• 6 Channels (4 Mic/Line, 2 Stereo)

• Mic/Line Channel Inputs: ¼”, XLR

• Stereo Channel Inputs: 1/8″, L/R RCA, L/R ¼”

• Dual-Mode Amplifier Can Output in Mono + Monitor or Stereo Modes.

• Independent Tone, Level and Effect Controls on All Input Channels

• DSP Reverb, Echo and Hiss Filter Effects with On/Off Switch

• Built-in Compressor for Microphone Channels

• L/R ¼” Effect Loop Jacks for Stereo Channels

• Dual 7-band Graphic EQs for Main and Monitor Output

• +48V Phantom Power

• 4 UHF Wireless Mic Module Ports*

• SDR-3 Digital SD Recorder Expansion Port*

• Balanced XLR L/R Main Output Jacks

• RCA L/R Record Out Jacks

• Subwoofer Output with 125Hz LPF and On/Off Switch

• Speakon and 1/4″ Speaker Output Jacks

• Headphone Output with Source Select

*SDR-3 Digital SD Recorder and UHF Wireless Mics and Modules are Optional Accessories

Kid Rock & Sheryl Crow performing Picture

Our survey this year had some interesting results.  Our first survey completed 18 months prior was only done with 2 companies and a total of 30 bars and 1000 shows.  We opened this one up to all companies submitting data from across the USA.  We had results provided from Pennsylvania, Michigan, California, Florida, Nebraska and Arizona.  Most of the companies outside our area do not update music weekly like we do and they do not have the selection of harder rock that we do.. This resulted in a more mainstream result in the survey and more traditional or classic music did better.

Much to the dismay of many Karaoke Jocks around the country, Picture by Kid Rock & Sheryl Crow maintains it’s hold on the top spot.  Most of us love the song, and both artists, but honestly we are getting tired of hearing it.  It was sung at over 60% of all shows polled this year!  Maybe if we are allowed to screen the singers and only allow it to be sung by singers we approve, we might handle hearing it nightly a bit better.

7 of our top 10 songs remained the same.  Behind an internet youtube parody-fest, Bohemian Rhapsody crashed back into the top 10.  The Fugees keep killing us softly with this song!  And yes, people, Baby still got BACK!
Look out top 10, the Ladies, Gaga and Antebellum are knocking hard at the door to the top and will probably be there next year!  Pink, the Black-Eyed Peas, Taylor Swift, and Toby Keith all hit the list repeatedly and Carrie Underwood keeps notching hits.  Lady GaGa, Lady Antebellum, Ke$ha,  Toby Keith, Taylor Swift and Pink had multiple hits and all moved up greatly..

Florida and the heartlands of the USA made artists like John Mellencamp, George Strait, Jimmy Buffet, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Bob Seger all do much better this time around.  Harder rock groups like Metallica, Guns N Roses, Stone Temple Pilots, AC-DC and Pearl Jam, all moved down slightly to make room for more mainstream acts.

NR* – Previous survey results are shown if artist was in the top 500. 

The top 500 songs in our survey account for over 50% of all songs sung at Karaoke shows.

Top 1000 songs – over 70% of all performed songs

Top 1500 Songs – 79% of all performed songs

Top 2500 Songs – 93% of all performed songs

**These ratings are based on actual singers from actual Karaoke locations.  None of these results are base on opinion in any way.  If you would like your results included in the survey for next year, export your singer history from your karaoke program and send it to info@uskaraokealliance.com. If you do not submit your numbers, you can not complain about the results!

Top 101 songs are shown above – For complete listings of top 500 Karaoke songs go to the
US Karaoke Alliance Website

We hope you find this list interesting.. If you are a KJ and you have data that includes singer names, song titles and number of times sung please send it to us and we will include your shows in our next chart!

Eric Godfrey manages:
USKaraokeAlliance.com
Karaoke2Night.com network
StarzKaraoke.com
ArizonaKaraokeContest.com

KJ Host Training Plan:
If you are a KJ or karaoke hosting company and you are training someone, we follow a process so that when that host takes over a show they are not overwhelmed.  It is not rocket science and sharing it with others seems like a good thing to do.

Before starting this program a prospective host should see an entire show from beginning to end and be sure they can handle this for a 4 to 5 hour period.  If they do not have the stamina to stay in the audience beginning to end, they will never be able to handle 3 or 4 nights a week of shows with set-ups and tear-downs.

1st night - Trainee host stays with trainer-host entire night and observes everything, learning how to adjust volumes and sound and operating the program.

Outside the clubs – This is a private training session with manager or owner to go over equipment knowledge, sound theory,  terminology and KJ program use.

2nd night – Trainee will run the gear and the program for entire night and occasionally chime in on microphones as appropriate.  Trainer should help as needed, but by end of the evening the trainee should be comfortable.
3rd night - Let trainer-host run gear, but trainee interfaces with customers and runs the microphones back and forth and makes announcements all night.  Always make sure to announce bar specials & acknowledge the service staff numerous times, in addition to changing up how you introduce and acknowledge the singers.  This is the hardest night on most trainees.

Some prospective hosts will need to repeat the gear and program running night or the microphone night to get comfortable before attempting to pass certification test.

Final Test - Run complete show effectively including set-up and proper operation of gear without your trainer-host having to take over at any time.

These are the basics.  Learning to run your KJ Program and your gear and understanding terminology are entirely other lessons.  Either way, let your actual personality come out and have fun. If you get past your worries and get going and understand all aspects then you need to be having a good time when you are hosting.  If you are not having a good time, then you might want to re-evaluate if you should host shows.   No matter what, have a good time, but remember to try to keep some level of professionalism!

Eric Godfrey manages:
USKaraokeAlliance.com
Karaoke2Night.com network
StarzKaraoke.com
ArizonaKaraokeContest.com

Hey guys, I was writing an email to a couple of new host trainees and thought it would make a decent short article to share with all of you.  In my opinion, this topic is the number one thing in running a quality karaoke show!  Master this first and get comfortable; then you can work on your personality as a host.

Lesson 1 on sound – You need to listen at the beginning of EVERY SONG!  They are all recorded at different levels and every vocalist has different traits and vocal ranges.  When the song starts, you need to listen intently and match up the levels.  Then, you need to listen to the vocalist for at least 10 or 15 seconds and adjust their volume and equalizer levels to get them mixed nicely… If it was a sound recording for a record or demo then you would want a nice blend of the two.  In Karaoke you boost the singer a bit over the sound, unless they are really bad, then you add some re-verb and try to bring them down slightly so it is not as noticeable.   No, this is not being snobby or offensive.  You want your singer to sound the best they can. Sometimes, the best way to do this is to raise the music to a higher level.

If you are a patron at a show, always let the host have the beginning of the song to make these adjustments.   If you see that a host is not doing this, observe how much better each singer would come across if they were doing it properly!  Pointing this out to a host is purely up to you.  Most hosts not following this procedure, will probably be defensive or even hostile and not thank you for your good intentions.

Get out there and sing!

Evidence collected shows Bene has sold around 1800 hard drives for a total of $650,000 in sales with over 120,000 copyrighted karaoke tracks on each drive in addition to another 80,000 mp3 music tracks and video tracks.  If the judges threw the book at him as far as fines it would be 1800 drives X 200,000 track X a MINIMUM of $750.  It seems highly unlikely that the judge when it gets to that point will access 270 billion dollars in fines, but that is what it adds up to just for the copyright infringement.  Trademark Violations could add in as much as $4 million  per karaoke manufacturer on the drive (there are about 40 to 50 disc manufacturers on  each drive)

Information listed in a federal search warrant, provided by Special Agent Bryan Willet of the FBI,  explains that Bene sold drives to two separate C-I’s (confidential informants), which was captured on hidden camera.  He also sold drives to individuals working for the two named victims in the case, Sound Choice Karaoke and Stellar Records (Pop Hits Monthly).  The FBI has copies of every PayPal Transaction plus every email conversation with every buyer from AOL.  As far as other records, PayPal, AOL, all banks that Bene used for moving the money and the IRS, have provided copies of all records to the FBI.   Records show $600,000 in transactions since January of 2006 and $650,000 total via the PayPal accounts.  According to the warrant, Bene never reported any of the $650,000 as income therefore never payed taxes on any of the proceeds.  The FBI also has mailing packages and labels complete with forensic analysis and fingerprints linking them back to Bene, proving he used the US Postal Service in the process of his alleged illegal activities.  They also have confiscated equipment for hard drive duplication, computer systems, and have financial records showing purchase of all these items.

The warrant is posted at http://www.USKaraokeAlliance.com/KaraokePiracyWarrant.pdf for anyone wishing to enjoy some interesting reading.

Now that I have given you the straight forward listing of facts on this I would like to editorialize on it just a bit!  This is entirely based on my opinions and no one else’s.  I do speak to the key people at Sound Choice, Stellar, and Chartbuster on a regular basis, but I do not speak for them in any way.

There have been postings on sites such as ourdjtalk.com that Sound Choice is once again beating the good guys into submission.

THEY ARE NOT!

How would you feel if someone stole your life’s work and got rich (if $650,000 in unreported income is not rich – how about well off?),  selling it for a fraction of its value.  This continues to the point that your life’s work is no longer valuable since the market is flooded with nearly free copies.  Sound Choice had about 18,000 tracks on every one of those hard drives.  At about $1.25 per song retail that means that 1800 hard drives were sold (by one person) meaning 1800 X 18,000 tracks X $1.25 per song = $40.5 million dollars in LOST sales (had those people paid for all of that music).  Alarmingly, that is from only one seller and most of those buyers have duplicated the drive into oblivion.  Many of the buyers continue reselling them as their own illegitimate business.  There are probably easily 10,000 of these drives in circulation.

We also need to put this in the perspective of a KJ trying to stay legal and operate with music that has been paid for.  This means those of us who have paid in excess of $100,000 for music are being obliterated by hosts who have made no investment whatsoever.  These illegitimate hosts can afford to do shows for little or no cost.  Meanwhile, all the legitimate Karaoke disc manufacturers are going out of business so all we can get is lower quality karaoke tracks from companies that are probably not licensing the songs properly.  How dare anyone in this industry point fingers at the legitimate karaoke disc companies for trying to stop this in any way possible!

Now, for a bit of a warning to every one who bought a drive illegally (no discs for each song on the drive) and are using that drive or a copy of it to run karaoke shows.  First thing that you need to know is that Stellar is also deeply involved in this FBI case and Chartbuster is getting actively involved with legal actions.  They both have seen the legal course of action make a large dent in the piracy.  You will no longer be able to dump Sound Choice and continue running shows with other Karaoke music.

Most of the drives on the market were bought from Bene (aka DanSterns@aol.com) or someone he sold the drive to, who then duplicated them and started their own resale business.  If you are running a karaoke hosting business on one of those drives, then I personally hope you continue doing this.  The FBI will be turning over all of the names, addresses and contact info for every one of those sales.  Sound Choice, Stellar, and possibly Chartbuster (all of this is pure speculation on my part) will probably now have great information to try to find you.  As people using illegal hard drives or selling them are found, the manufacturers will file lawsuits against them.  They may bargain with the pirates and settle for less in exchange for the list and contact information of all of their sales.   This process over time will divulge most of the illegal drives out there and get all of those companies sued.  If you would like to avoid this, it might be a great time to retire your karaoke business and actually do something that you have legal rights to do.  This is just a thought for you,  if you are not doing business legally!  I think it leaves you 2 choices, get out of the business if you are not legal or start buying music so you have a disc for every track you are using.  Good Luck with whichever route you choose!

One last thought and I know I bore people with my math.  If those 1800 hard drives were duplicated numerous times and all of the business on Ebay and Craigslist with 1000’s of sales were added up I would be amazed if it did not yield over 20,000 of these drives.  Now let’s take ½ of that to be even more conservative and say that at $1 per song, 10,000 drives X 120,000 Karaoke tracks = over 1.2 billion in lost sales.  Now, we all know no one would buy all those tracks, but this is a very conservative estimate as to how many prospective sales have been lost to pure theft.  If this were how you made your living, would you be upset and be trying to stop it!  I will bet that you would.  I personally have been hounding Stellar and Sound Choice for years to get federal officials involved and I owe them an apology as they already had them involved and were waiting for this to happen and could not share that information.  Thanks to Stellar and to Sound Choice and I hope to hear of more actions as all of this unfolds.

By the way, Sound Choice also recently sued  the Karaoke Kandy Store (also doing business as Cheapkaraoke,  LightYearMusic  and many named others aliases?) who was one of the major sellers of illegally loaded CAVS hard drives.  We will do another story on that situation shortly, but, ditto the same math above and future access to buyer information.  Pirates beware!

Local Phoenix establishments and companies listed as defendants in the suit include karaoke hosting companies; Dennis Gorrel d/b/a Big D Productions, Abraham Cortez  d/b/a Carousel Karaoke and DJ Company, Dan Dan the Taxi Man (actual identity unnamed),  William Ludlow II d/b/a Dirty Goat Productions, Greg Kimble d/b/a Dynamic Sound Production,  Debbie Simmons d/b/a Karaoke Fever, Trey’s BadAss Karaoke (actual identity unnamed),   Ernest McCullar d/b/a Wired for Sound, and restaurant – bar establishments; Boston’s Bar and Grill located in Tempe,  the Breakroom located in Phoenix,  the Grapevine located in Scottsdale, Hazelwoods First Place Sports Grill located in Phoenix, Hurricane Bay Nightclub located in Phoenix, Lighthouse Sports Bar located in Avondale, the Regal Beagle Sports located in Chandler.  Representatives of Sound Choice with assistance of United States Karaoke Alliance (USKA) members conducted investigations and amassed evidence in the months preceding the lawsuit being filed.

Sound Choice is a leader in the karaoke community and has invested nearly 20 million dollars in their karaoke music catalog.  In the mid 90′s Sound Choice routinely put out up to 5 new Karaoke discs per month and employed 75 people.  With the actions of those pirating their music, they now employ less than 10 people and  their last disc release sold under 800 copies, yet can be found on thousands of karaoke systems across the United States.  As stated in their suit,  “Sound Choice has been forced to undertake this litigation in order to ensure that it survives and continues to produce the high-quality karaoke music its fans demand, and to level the playing field for the legitimate KJs.”

US Karaoke Alliance President, Eric Godfrey, stated, “As legitimate KJ’s, we support Sound Choice’s endeavors.  Due to piracy we can no longer get a fair price for our services as a substantial majority of karaoke jocks are using illegal content.  Almost every disc that comes out is now being shared on the internet or sold on hard drives.  As a result of this piracy, all legitimate karaoke disc manufacturers already have or are in danger of going out of business”.

Bobby Brooks, Vice-President of the USKA added,  “While KJ’s buying music legally have spent tens of thousands of dollars, KJ’s using pirated content have no cost and therefore have offered services for much lower fees, driving down the actual fair market cost for KJ services”.

Sound Choice started these actions, but other Karaoke publishers are watching Phoenix as the test case for legal action.  Asked what the future holds, Kurt Slep, CEO of Sound Choice, responded, “We hope to set a precedent in Phoenix.  We have already finished investigations in several other markets and those actions will follow in time.”

compiled by US Karaoke Alliance and Karaoke2Night Network

We took singer rotation histories from 1000 karaoke shows at over 30 bars and totaled up the results to come up with the top Karaoke Artists of all time. (according to our singers).  Please send us your karaoke rotation histories (digital history files showing singer names, songs and times sung for each song) if you would like your results included in the next tabulation.
**Scoring system gives more weight for the total different singers singing the song but also gives less credit for the total times sung.  This way 1 person can not sing the same song every night and get that song to the top of the chart.

This Artist table is a combination of scores
for all of the songs by that artist

Above is the top 75 Artists.
For a complete list of the top 300 artists sung at Karaoke shows see the
US Karaoke Alliance website:

We took singer rotation histories from 1000 karaoke shows at over 30 bars from all of 2008 and 2009 and totaled up the results to come up with the top Karaoke Songs of all time. (according to our singers).  Please send us your karaoke rotation histories (digital history files showing singer names, songs and times sung for each song) if you would like your results included in the next tabulation.
**Scoring system gives more weight for the total different singers singing the song but also gives less credit for the total times sung.  This way 1 person can not sing the same song every night and get that song to the top of the chart.

Top 101 songs are shown above – For complete listings of top 500 Karaoke songs go to the
US Karaoke Alliance Website

We hope you find this list interesting.. If you are a KJ and you have data that includes singer names, song titles and number of times sung please send it to us and we will include your shows in our next chart!