Myspace Launches Karaoke in Japan

Online social networking site Myspace, has launched a karaoke service in Japan, expanding its musical reach to the nation loaded with lovers of the sing-along entertainment. MySpace Karaoke has logged more than eight million visitors since it launched in May of last year in Canada and the United States, and lets users post videos of themselves singing on the site.

“If you had told me years ago we would launch an online karaoke site in Japan, I would have told you it is like selling ice to the Eskimos,” said MySpace Karaoke general manager Nimrod Lev. “Boy was I wrong. It seems like the land of karaoke has nothing even close to that. We met with all the leading companies there and they loved what they saw.”

The language was a barrier that took months to overcome. “This was an extensive process,” Lev said. “We had to adapt it to the smallest nuances of the Japanese language.” Even so, Myspace projects success, estimating that 50 million people do karaoke in Japan. “What we do is a form of self-expression through music,” Lev said. “It definitely falls into the MySpace category of giving users more tools to express themselves.”

The meteoric rise of music rhythm games in the US is perhaps an indicator of the popularity of karaoke style entertainment. In a reduced sense, Guitar Hero and Rock Band are essentially a more detailed, developed version of karaoke, Singstar even more so, therefore, it makes sense that Myspace should be interested in that music market.

What does the service mean for music? Myspace has licensing deals for the artists’ songs, and karaoke can perhaps be tied in with the wider genre of “music games”. Is this budding market a solution for artists and labels trying to stay afloat? Have you tried out the service?

Image via techcrunch.com
Source: Physorg