Focus: Distributed multimedia for a song

Karaoke (from the Japanese words for “empty orchestra”) lets people sing along to recorded accompaniments. Many karaoke systems provide the accompaniment, on-screen vocal texts for the singer to follow, and a video that is appropriate to the selected song. This form of entertainment is extremely popular in Japan and has caught on in other nations. For example, according to the DaiichiKosho company, suppliers of karaoke equipment and services, there were close to 60 million karaoke users in Japan in 1994.
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Ron Arnone, publisher of American Karaoke magazine, estimates that in the US there are 8,000 to 10,000 karaoke jockeys (someone who operates a karaoke system and gets people to participate), and that 1995 US sales of karaoke equipment totaled 200 to 300 million dollars.