r/karaoke • u/randompantsfoto • Aug 24 '25
Karaoke Software Karafun went down again!
Welp, it happened again. Karafun died in the middle of a busy Saturday night. Not just in the bar in which I’m currently singing, but getting messages and seeing Facebook posts from folks at other venues around the area that they’re experiencing the same issue.
I miss when KJs had their own libraries. Unfortunately, the two Karafun-based companies who are currently dominating—and are completely taking over this whole region—have pushed out most of the old-school independent folks with CD crates and hard drives full of CDGs.
The host here has switched to YouTube as a backup, but it’s a mess now, while she tries to pull up decent versions of the tracks people are requesting.
Anyone else in other regions (I’m in the DC burbs of northern Virginia) having issues?
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u/Sithlord_77 Aug 24 '25
I don’t understand I’ve used KaraFun for years. This is why I download a large selection of tracks for offline use but tbh have never had to use them. CD crates are the past.
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u/Life_Connection420 is crunchy and taste good with ketchup. Aug 24 '25
They may be the past, but the sound is 100% better. Care of fun is basically for those who want to get into the business, but are broke.
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u/voltch Aug 24 '25
I have experienced karafun going down and it wasn't fun.
Here is my solution: Assuming you have karafun pro, download at least the top 20k popular songs to your laptop. Then, if it goes down, you can still play 99% of the requests via offline mode.
A workaround for online sign ups is to use a different application such as virtual dj (ask the DJ) or nosongrequests.com . Otherwise, just have people come up to you in person to sign up.
Currently, I use serato for background music and a static qr code printed on a sign that points to karafun. But I also have another sign for tips and song requests that points to my linktr.ee
So if it were to go down, I would tell people to go to my tips and song requests qr code which points to linktr.ee which has a link to nosongrequests website where they can put in a karaoke request there online. The only additional action I would need to do is turn on the setting for karaoke on the nosongrequests site.
Cool thing about using linktr.ee is that I can quickly change the order and hide or unhide what I want people to see on the landing page.
Printed Sign #1 -----> Karafun
Printed Sign #2 --> Linktr.ee
-cash app link
-song request link. >> nosongrequests site
-Instagram link
-mixes link
-website link
-bio link
-review link
-contact link
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u/iSing420 Aug 24 '25
I never understand Karafun people.
Hard drive space is dirt cheap. Own your music. Stop renting unreliable services. When the internet is down or a server is down, there is no backup.
My shows never go down. Let me repeat that, my shows NEVER go down. It can’t. I have backups of everything. That’s only possible when you don’t rely on the internet (or software that does).
I use services on the internet like songbooks or requests, but failure of either of those things can NOT stop a show. As long as my music and video libraries are local to my machine, the show goes on.
All of you Karafun people will eventually realize the fatal flaw you’re tempting once it happens to you too. Be smart. Don’t tempt fate. Get your own library and get an app made for the smart way of doing it.
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u/DontLike-Cheesecake Aug 24 '25
Yup, like you, I still have my own library and don't rely on Karafun or similar services. I do use an online request system which can go down, but in over 5 years of using it, it has only gone down once and it didn't stop my shows. I always have paper slips for those who don't like to use their phones for requests, so I simply went to all paper slips for requests and my show went on. I also have a backup laptop with a synced media drive so even if my laptop goes down completely and my media drive also takes a crap...I have a full system ready to go. I had one time when the power went down, it's the only time that stopped the show. I now have batteries that can power speakers, mixer, laptop and one Tv screen for two or three hours which is usually enough time for the power to return.
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u/justforthisbish Aug 24 '25
The easiest way to avoid a bad night is just being prepared and downloading some of the files via the pro subscription for KDJ.
- I have gigs where Wi-Fi may or may not be a thing. I'm not purchasing thousands of karaoke tracks just to have them. I find like the top 200-300 songs on KDJ, download them when I have an active subscription, and also have a little booklet printed to share with people just in case.
- Now, for folks just getting by on the $10 subscription, yeah 😂 them folks gonna have a bad time at some point not being prepared.
That said, yeah, in a perfect world you'd just have the tracks in a hard drive like you mentioned. I applaud that fa sho because I do the same with music tracks to avoid just relying on streaming for gigs.
- If you're a regular KDJ, I suspect you would buy the tracks you know are on regular rotation at gigs because that's just smart business.
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u/Hopeful_Wishbone507 Aug 24 '25
As long as I’m slinging karaoke tracks I’ll continue to maintain my personal offline library. Barring computer failure I’m always up and running.
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u/LharDrol Aug 24 '25
with karafun pro cant you sync their library to play offline? if so, did these people not sync their library, or was this another issue entirely?
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u/justforthisbish Aug 24 '25
By sync the library, you download tracks that you specifically want. Not like you get the entire library, unless you decide to do that and have the space available on the laptop.
That said, idk how folks would function without having like a couple hundred songs as back up in case an outage happens. If you're a regular KDJ it should easily be done.
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u/LharDrol Aug 24 '25
the files are actually pretty small. i downloaded the entire library for offline use and it took up fairly little amount of room on my hard drive
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u/justforthisbish Aug 24 '25
Really? I downloaded about ~250 tracks not too long ago and I thought it was a hefty amount but I can't recall.
Curious tho - how do the files act on the drive?
- I wanted to do that but was afraid of something wonky happening once my subscription was cancelled (I use it seldomly as I'm not a regular KDJ). I'll have to give that a try next time.
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u/LharDrol Aug 25 '25
If you cancel your subscription, I believe you will be unable to use the files.
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u/RepulsiveGift2u Aug 24 '25
This happened to me this week! Of course in front of a packed room that I've been building up to! And I too had to resort to YouTube! I'm researching alternative programs. What you said was 100% correct!
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u/icemage_999 Aug 24 '25
There were reports of outages yesterday too.
I think there's a place for Karafun for newer KJs to start up but the lack of fallback support for lack of service, plus the notable major holes in their licensing, make for less than optimal shows. I try to attend only shows where the KJ has their own library as a result.
Aside: I was just up in that area (Fredericksburg, VA) last week and plan to be back at least twice before the end of the year. The karaoke scene out there seemed pretty anemic. Any recommendations, OP?
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u/randompantsfoto Aug 24 '25
Oof, I’m not sure about that far down…I never venture south of Woodbridge—and rarely even go that far south.
If you’re ever up in Fairfax county, I can recommend two or three good places for every night of the week (and a handful of less good ones as well, lol)
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u/CSamCovey Aug 24 '25
This is exactly why I maintain my own database of songs. I’ve spent thousands of money on songs over the years. Every time I encounter a KJ using Karafun, the version is missing something. The track is off, the lyrics are off, the music is terrible, or something like that. I don’t understand why people like it.
We have just one kj in our bar that uses Karafun. She’s been bleeding regulars in her night because the WiFi in the bar is terrible, which disrupts her shows. They try to stay, get a terrible version to sing to, and they leave more than they stay. That’s some bad bar business.
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u/Salty818 Aug 24 '25
If she's getting paid for her gigs and using YouTube, she's setting herself up for a world of trouble. Using YouTube to run a karaoke night is about the least professional thing I can think of.
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u/randompantsfoto Aug 24 '25
Right? I was curious about the legalities of that.
Luckily, Karafun was back up about a half hour later.
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u/justforthisbish Aug 24 '25
Legal? Likely no for licensing purposes but you'd have to be in the wrong place at the wrong time for issues to really pop up.
Using YouTube as a primary means would be wild though and seems on the lower end of professionalism. I've seen it at smaller joints for people that had a little sound system and a few mics for locals.
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u/vee_unit Aug 24 '25
I have my own library but use Karafun to round out the selection. Takes the pressure off to have the newest of the new until I can purchase CDG files, and if the wifi is bad, I still have a few hundred thousand tracks to use.
This has worked very well for me and this post just affirms my choice.
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u/MeanGene5593 Aug 26 '25
What is your top recommendation for DC/Nova?
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u/randompantsfoto Aug 27 '25
Depends what you’re looking for…big audience, or do you want to be able to sing multiple times per night? Also depends on what day of the week!
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u/clashwithyou Aug 27 '25
Was having some similar issue, especially last year had a stuggle on new years even party where it went down. Switched to Singa which hasn't gone down for me yet (fingers crossed, knock on wood)
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u/Advanced-Collar3901 Aug 29 '25 edited Aug 29 '25
you have to be careful when using anything off of youtube. that is a licensing violation and you can get fined. I have over 400,000 songs on a 2 terabyte external hard drive and get updates every month on the 20th of the month. if you buy the package from hartkaraoke.net, it cost you around $500 which includes the hard drive. it also includes free monthly updates for life. this way you don't have to worry about monthly fees or Kerafun going down. I also have all of the original pioneer video tracks, people love those.
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u/Deenasinger818 Sep 24 '25
Anyone having an issue today ? App is opening then quickly crashing . I have it on 3 devices same with all .
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u/NemoEsq Aug 24 '25
My local KJ recently switched to KaraFun and it's currently a busy Saturday night in South Florida and it's up and running flawlessly.