Editing Karaoke (section)

====Daisuke Inoue====
In a 1996 interview with a [[Singapore]]-based all-karaoke TV channel, the Japanese nightclub musician Daisuke Inoue<ref>[http://www.events-in-music.com/who-invented-the-karaoke-machine.html Who Invented the Karaoke Machine?] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080305204829/http://www.events-in-music.com/who-invented-the-karaoke-machine.html |date=5 March 2008 }} Events-in-Music.com</ref> claimed to have invented the first karaoke-style machine in the city of [[Kobe]] in 1971.<ref>[http://www.inouej1.com/index.html 井上大祐【カラオケ発明者】 J-ONE/INOUE] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090321051214/http://www.inouej1.com/index.html |date=21 March 2009 }} Events-in-Music.com</ref><ref>''Time 100:Daisuke Inoue'', 23–30 August 1999 VOL. 154 NO. 7/8</ref> He was also credited for the invention of karaoke when he was later also featured on a [[Time (magazine)|''Time'' magazine]] article in 1999.<ref name=time>{{cite magazine |last1=Iyer |first1=Pico |title=Daisuke Inoue |url=https://time.com/archive/6955676/daisuke-inoue/ |access-date=23 March 2025 |magazine=Time |date=23 August 1999}}</ref>

Inoue, a bandleader, drummer, and [[Electone]] keyboardist, specialized in leading sing-alongs at nightclubs in Sannomiya, the entertainment district of the city of Kobe. In 1970, he and six bandmates played instruments in fancy drinking establishments to accompany middle-aged businessmen who would sing traditional Japanese songs. He claimed to have first thought of the idea of a karaoke-style machine when he was asked by a prominent client to play for him on an overnight trip to an [[onsen]]. Not being able to do so, he instead provided a tape of his accompaniment to the client. Realizing its potential, he thought of merging these pre-taped accompaniments with a [[jukebox]].<ref name=time/>

Lacking the skills to make the machine himself, one of his bandmates introduced him to a friend who owned an electronics shop. He described his idea to him and commissioned 11 home-made machines which he called "8 Juke." Each machine cost around $425 per unit and consisted of a box containing an [[amplifier]], a microphone, a coin box, and a [[Vehicle audio|car stereo]] which used specially-made 8-track tapes. The machines metered out several minutes of singing time and used ¥100 coins.<ref name="Inoue">{{cite journal |last1=Inoue |first1=Daisuke |last2=Scott |first2=Robert |title=Voice Hero: The Inventor of Karaoke Speaks |journal=The Appendix |date=October 2013 |volume=1 |issue=4 |url=https://theappendix.net/issues/2013/10/voice-hero-the-inventor-of-karaoke-speaks}}</ref>

He initially recorded his own versions of popular songs with his bandmates for the tapes.<ref name="Inoue"/> Starting from 1971, Inoue loaned the machines to establishments for free in exchange for a portion of the monthly earnings from the machines.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Pure Invention: How Japan Made the Modern World|last=Alt|first=Matt|publisher=Crown|year=2021|isbn=978-1-9848-2671-8|pages=92}}</ref> He placed the first 8 Jukes in Sannomiya's "snack bars", but they initially failed to take off. Inoue then hired hostesses to ostentatiously sing on them, which successfully sparked interest. This also caused a great deal of friction with Inoue's fellow musicians, who saw it as drawing customers away from them. 

When profits improved at around four years of operation, he hired professional musicians and rented a recording studio to create the 8-tracks for the machines.<ref name="Inoue"/> He made the songs in keys that made them easier for casual singers. As such he also included a rudimentary reverb function to help mask singers' deficiencies.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Pure Invention: How Japan Made the Modern World|last=Alt|first=Matt|publisher=Crown|year=2021|isbn=978-1-9848-2671-8|pages=90–91}}</ref><ref name=time/> By this time, the number of units he rented had increased from the initial eleven to around 25,000. Club owners from Kobe had started bringing his machines to new clubs in [[Osaka]] which became the birthplace of the karaoke boom in Japan. He also managed to convince large record labels to include their songs in the tracks for the 8 Jukes.<ref name="Inoue"/> For these reasons, Inoue is often considered to be the inventor of the modern business model for karaoke.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Pure Invention: How Japan Made the Modern World|last=Alt|first=Matt|publisher=Crown|year=2021|isbn=978-1-9848-2671-8|pages=90–93}}</ref>

Inoue never patented his machine. While initially successful and earning approximately half a million dollars a year, Inoue lost interest in the business. He eventually handed over the company to his brother. By the 1980s, the idea of coin-operated sing-along machines was picked up by larger Japanese corporations who started manufacturing commercial versions of their own with better technologies like [[LaserDisc]]s.<ref name=time/><ref name="Inoue"/>

In 2004, Daisuke Inoue was awarded the [[tongue-in-cheek]] [[Ig Nobel]] Peace Prize for inventing karaoke, "thereby providing an entirely new way for people to learn to tolerate each other."<ref name="ignobel 2004">{{cite web|url=http://improbable.com/ig/winners/#ig2004|title=The 2004 Ig Nobel Prize Winners|work=Winners of the Ig Nobel Prize|date=August 2006 |publisher=[[Improbable Research]]|access-date=17 October 2009}}</ref>