There are dozens of toys out there marketed to those who love to hear themselves sing! Each new piece of karaoke equipment is a must-have for the target audience. Popular movie soundtracks are instantly sapped of lead vocals and rushed to the karaoke market for all the teens. Naturally, then, follow the microphones, stereo systems, television attachments, etc, that go with a good “rig.”
Video games are marketed to a more discriminating crowd of teens+ that test one’s ability to follow notes and stay in tune, much to the amusement of others. Even American Idol has a Karaoke video game with accessories! So the karaoke craze continues to burn a trail and now heads into the realm of cyberspace. Visit a little place called midomi to see what this is all about. (Think of notes: Do, re, mi.. that’s where the site gets its name.)
At this site, in beta version for a couple years now, up and coming “artists” such as yourself can post their vocals to any song as long as they have a microphone and the internet. First, you use your mic to hum or sing a few bars of a song you like. The search engine uses your voice to choose several songs it “thinks” you’re looking for. This part can be a little iffy, but there’s also your basic manual keyword box if you’d prefer to use it instead.
Once you’ve found a song, you can listen to the original recording, hear users that have tried it themselves, or record your own rendition. The super cool part about this is you can build a fan base, get comments, and share your favorites with others via Facebook. The site does a pretty good job of updating ratings and providing listeners with a sample of top recordings, most commented, featured, etc.
This site has infinite possibilities as well as, you can imagine, some drawbacks. First of all, the site is international, so you never know with what accent you might hear your favorite tune. This can be pleasant, or in most of my experiences, horribly, horribly bad. International accents are beautiful, don’t get me wrong. I just wouldn’t attempt a song in any other language but my own, and with good reason. Regardless of your preference, however, the community is there for everyone and the good, the bad, and the “what were they thinking?” are just as free to post as anyone else. The rating system does help weed out the less savory samples, and there are many incredibly talented people to listen to out there.
Final analysis: It’s a nifty site to tool around on for a bit, especially if you really can sing. I don’t see it rivaling MySpace any time soon, but there isn’t any real competition out there for a site like this, so the sky’s the limit. Check it out, sing a few tunes, and see what kind of comments you get. You just might be the next cyber karaoke e-star!
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