Karaoke box

A karaoke box (カラオケボックス karaoke bokkusu) is a common type of karaoke establishment commonly found in Japan and Hong Kong. Karaoke boxes consist of multiple rooms containing karaoke equipment, usually rented out for time periods. A typical karaoke box establishment contains 10–20 (or more) such rooms as well as a main karaoke bar area in the front. Karaoke box establishments often sell refreshments.

The term karaoke box is primarily used in Japan and Hong Kong. In Taiwan, China, Cambodia, Singapore, and the United States, karaoke box establishments are commonly known as KTV (an abbreviation of karaoke television), videoke in the Philippines, noraebang (노래방) in South Korea (literally meaning singing room), and phòng karaoke in Vietnam (which means karaoke room). It is also common to simply abbreviate it as K in Hong Kong Cantonese, often when used as a verb, for example 去K歌 (to go K songs) or 去唱K (to go sing K). In Vietnam, karaoke is used as a verb as well: đi hát karaoke (go sing karaoke).

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  Lobby of a karaoke box in Japan

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  Entrance to a karaoke box in Harbin, China

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  A karaoke box in a skyscraper in Shinjuku, Tokyo, featured in the movie Lost in Translation.

Legal issues

KTV can also refer to a karaoke music video, a music video with karaoke lyrics and MMO audio track. Some karaoke music videos were sold to KTV establishments under exclusivity contracts, making some people use them to copy karaoke music videos illegally and share them on the Internet. These are often found on the Internet in MPEG (VCD) or VOB (DVD) format with (KTV) appended to the filename.

External links

• At the Mic: Karaoke Television, by Mia Dick, Compass Magazine, April–May 1998, retrieved November 5, 2006
• Karaoke Players Info: More about the usage of karaoke around the world.