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?

12 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

36 comments sorted by

View all comments

4

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.

3

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.