Smallbooth,bigtrend

Mushrooming karaoke booths bring classic fun to young people in a new form

one afternoon, while enjoying a leisurely stroll in her favorite shopping center in Beijing, something caught the eyes of Wang Wen. The 25-year-old professional was attracted by a row of glass booths somewhat resembling telephone booths. After a close look, she realized they were nothing less than karaoke booths. It was too much of a fine chance to have fun and play the pop star for a few songs, so she decided to give it a try.

After queuing for nearly 30 minutes, she and her friend finally got to open the door of one of the glass booths, where they were greeted by a pair of display screens, barstools, headphones and microphones in a small but cozy 2-square-meter space, just enough to fit two karaoke fans.

Scanning the QR code on the screen with her smartphone, she connected to the system and purchased a 15-minute package of singing and fun. The amateur singer then began her performance, singing happily just as in a classic karaoke bar, also known as KTV in China.

“It’s fun. I didn’t have to invite several friends and book a KTV room in advance; I can just have fun by singing spontaneously even if I just have 10 minutes or so of free time,” Wang told Chinafrica.

Since 2016, such KTV booths have been mushrooming across China with over 10,000 sets installed in shopping malls in the last six months. According to Luo Anwu, founder of M-bar, one of the most prolific brands of KTV booths in China, his glass booths have already appeared in 135 cities across 29 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions.

Allowing KTV enthusiasts to record and share their performance with their smartphone, such mini karaoke parlors target mostly young people of the post-80s and 90s generation, whose free time is fragmented and for who sharing moments of their life on social media has become a lifestyle. Internet,” he explained.

“KTV booth is a real Internet product, for they introduce Internet’s features of sharing and entertaining to offline KTV clubs. Through its intelligent control system, customers can remotely adjust the lighting, the playing system, the air conditioning and Wi-fi connection inside the booth, which allows them to have complete control over their experience,” said Luo.

Such intelligent system also means service personnel are no longer necessary. According to Kuang Shi, a senior analyst on Internet communication business at BOC International Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of China, the price of such KTV booths goes from 16,000 to 28,000 yuan ($2,316$4,053), in addition to a monthly rent fee of 900 yuan to 2,000 yuan ($130-$289) paid to shopping malls. Besides, the monthly cost of maintaining the equipment is low, at around 100 yuan ($14.5), according to Luo.

User fees are also more flexible than traditional karaoke bars. Clients can choose to pay for either 15 minutes or three songs at around 20 yuan ($2.9). According to Wei, such booths are also an excellent media, which means additional revenues can be generated through advertisement.

According to a market research conducted by Kuang, the current daily revenue generated by one booth can reach around 400 yuan ($57.9).