Oregon Karaoke Association (ORKA): Making Sound Choices

By William Smythe

May has turned out to be a very interesting month for the karaoke industry in Oregon.  Sound Choice CEO Kurt Slep made an impromptu visit back to the Northwest and even held a open forum meeting at the Red Lion PDX on May 10th for those interested.

There  were quite a few karaoke enthusiasts looking forward to hearing about what is going on in the karaoke world for local KJs, and how Sound Choice is going to support NW “certified” karaoke operators in the future.

This discussion could have gone on for hours. One thing that did come out of the meeting  is now the ability to get “certified” in Oregon reasonably quick. Quite a few karaoke hosts have taken advantage of that already. If you are interested in getting “certified” through Sound Choice call: 1-800-788-4487.

Chartbuster Karaoke Closed it’s doors for good on May 10, but the karaoke music may not be gone forever. Piracy Recovery LLC is said to have purchased the Chartbuster karaoke library and soon to be announced Digitrax Entertainment release of karaoke music. How this is going to effect the karaoke market, or new karaoke companies getting ready to enter the KJ hosting market remains to be seen.

The selection for new karaoke releases here in the US is starting to get very slim, but there was hope when Kurt Slep mentioned the possibility of Sound Choice making new music again in the near future.

The Oregon Karaoke Association (ORKA) announced it is going to shift gears,  working with “certified” karaoke hosts and companies now that the audit process is moving faster in Oregon. ORKA will be focusing on bringing in big vocal promotions to the Northwest. The education mission for ORKA will still exist, just not as strongly since it seems litigation will still be going on for illegal karaoke operators.

Look for our new Web site design coming soon to www.orkaassoc.com.

Oregon Karaoke Assoc

orkaassoc@aol.com