Karaoke fans will soon get the chance to turn their iPhones into full-fledged karaoke machines, thanks to an upcoming new application called iOKi. This is no wannabe karaoke app either — music sensation Lady Gaga has partnered with iOKi to launch her own fully Gaga-ized version of the app featuring some of her most popular songs, which will make its debut alongside the upcoming release of her new album on November 23.
iOKi is looking to become the definitive karaoke experience on the iPhone. Instead of slapping some lyrics on low quality MIDI files (as lesser apps have tried), iOKi has actually worked with all of the major labels to license their content. I spoke with the iOKi founders Les Borsai and Elias Manousos who outlined some of the complicated rights issues involved with karaoke. Suffice to say, it was no easy task, but they think it will also make it hard for competitors to encroach on iOKi’s territory in the future.
Using the app is pretty straightforward: you choose a song, and the app launches into its viewing mode, where the lyrics pop up on your iPhone screen just as they would on more tradional karaoke machines. Depending on your setup, you can have the backing music and vocals come from either your phone’s headphone jack or its built-in speaker (your vocals can go in through either your headphone’s built-in microphone or the phone mic). The interface is easy enough to figure out within a few seconds, though I think it looks a bit bland given the iPhone’s penchant for glossy things. Once you’ve recorded a song, the app will present you with a link that you can use to share your recording across the web.
iOKi is launching its Lady Gaga themed app on November 23 at a $4.99 pricepoint, which will come with five of the artist’s songs including Poker Face and Paparazzi. Each of these songs will be generated from the original master recordings, rather than the sound-alikes that are common in the karaoke business. The app will also include access to an integrated store that includes over 3,000 songs available for 99 cents apiece from bands ranging from the Backstreet Boys to Van Halen (the company says they’ll soon have over 10,000 songs). Many of these are from soundalike recordings, though some of them will be based on master tapes as well. A few weeks after the Lady Gaga launch iOKi will release a more generic version that’s focused on the store.
iOKi is clearly looking to tap into the success of other music-themed hits on the iPhone like Smule’s I Am T-Pain, and Tapulous’s Tap Tap Revenge, and it looks like they may have a winner on their hands. The company was initially inspired to go into karaoke after Manousos noticed that a Jason Mraz karaoke song has been viewed a whopping 2 million times. The team soon discovered that the karaoke indsutry is worth over a billion dollars, but that much of it is fragmented — consumers can purchase standalone machines, but they have to deal with purchasing specialized karaoke CDs, many of which are of poor quality (and sometimes don’t even have the proper license deals in place). The space is ripe for a shakeup.
The one picece of the puzzle that iOKi is currently missing is virality — the app actually stores your recordings on a server and lets you Email a link to your friends (you can also manually share this link on Facebook or Twitter). But for the app to really go viral, it should allow users to post their karaoke recordings directly to Facebook’s News Feeds. iOKi says that they actually have the infrastructure in place to support this kind of sharing, but that they still need to integrate Facebook Connect, which will be coming out in the first update. Fortunately the app may not need much virality at first, as Lady Gaga will be promoting it in the marketing leading up to her album launch.
Is it just me or is $4.99 not really worth this app. Why are these apps so expensive? For what?
The app itself alone is free (songs 99 cents) but the Gaga loaded version (5 songs, etc) is $4.99.
Good timing, just as karaoke is going out of style in Asia.
Uh..WRONG..
DEAD WRONG?
Have you been to China/Taiwan/Hong Kong within the past few months? It’s still a multibillion dollar industry.
Great stuff that’s good news for Lady Gags Fans like
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She just showed up last saturday in The most famous TV show
Lady Gaga is evil and scary. Give me some They Might Be Giants karaoke on my iPhone, and I’ll never turn it off.
They actually do have one song of theirs: “Birdhouse In Your Soul”
As soon as this has integrated share to Facebook or Twitter, it will EXPLODE.
I have some respect for Lady Gaga. I get the impression that underneath all that that weird makup and clothing is a woman who has built her own music empire from scratch. She seems both entrepreneurial and smart.
this is fucking awesome!
It’s a totally awesome app. I got to play with an early beta version (they sponsored our cross-country karaoke roadtrip this summer) and I fell in love instantly. The real (not midi) music is awesome! I’ve actually been using it for karaoke gatherings at my house (you can plug it into your tv – which I didn’t own until I found out I could do this).
I know what a pain it’s been to license the music. Little known fact: most karaoke apps/djs/etc are illegally using music. Seems odd to me that the music industry wouldn’t see karaoke as a HUGE opportunity to promote their artists (nothing more intimate than singing a favorite song).
p.s. disclosure: I don’t work for them, but I have been closely involved since the summer (giving them feedback, etc. on the beta)
$4.99 is great price for this and well worth it. I love Lady Gaga and I love this app! And right before Christmas~! It’s gonna sell a ton!
THIS IS THE BEST NEWS I’VE EVER GOTTEN IN MY LIFE!!!
Sorry. I’m just really excited. Let’s do this, iOKi!
Does anyone know how to contact iOKi? There’s not “Contact Us” link on their site.
@Gib Son … please feel free to e-mail any questions to info@iokikaraoke.com.
If they could get the audio to go through speakers on my mac mini I could see using this at parties at my house.
Why not your television and sound system?
This has great potential. The per-song karaoke market may be big, but it hasn’t reached casual consumers because the equipment and software is complicated. Now it has a strong chance if this company manages the per song fees correctly, AND Apple doesn’t decide that this interferes with iTunes.
It has in Europe Marty – the SIngstar series for Playstation 3 is incredibly popular, but for some reason it’s never taken off in the US. But this looks like a great app, and since Lady Gaga is arguably the biggest star in the world right now, this has a great chance at doing it
=o COOL!
Altho… I thought it was “Luck and Intuition” not “LoveGame intuition”
Can’t wait to download this…
It better be in the AU store!
Why just sing Lady Gaga when you can sing any artist you want with the Karaoke Anywhere iPhone app. Karaoke Anywhere is the world’s first iPhone Karaoke player with support for CDG, the industry standard format, and gives users the full experience of Karaoke without requiring expensive equipment or going to a crowded Karaoke bar.
Version 2.0, due out shortly, will have an in app store where you can buy your favorite Karaoke Tracks right from you iPhone or iPod Touch.
KaraokeAnywhere is a lot of fun. Plus, you get access to somewhere over 30k songs. I don’t work for them either, but I’ve been using this app for a while and from the specs on the Gaga app, KA is more comprehensive.
– used it at a party and on a roadtrip or two. You can actually see some of the video on youtube if you search for KaraokeAnywhere.