New Release Enhanced Discs

CHARTBUSTER KARAOKE TO ENHANCE NEW RELEASE DISCS, INTRODUCE SINGLES

Big Mama Digital Entertainment, Inc., parent company of Chartbuster Karaoke, the leading label in the karaoke industry, has announced they will offer an enhanced format on each of their newly-released discs, beginning in June of 2011.

“Customer expectations and desires are changing,” said Norbert Stovall, CEO of the Seymour, TN-based company, “and our industry must change with it. This exciting upgrade to our new releases will empower our customers like never before.”

Chartbuster Karaoke has also introduced a new line of hot singles on disc, which carry the new formats as well. As digital download markets have become the largest segment of the music industry, the reemergence of the single as the dominant purchase event has inspired the new product line.

The enhanced format for Chartbuster Karaoke discs will henceforth include additional file types for each song featured on the disc. Former releases by the label included the “CD+G” or “compact disc plus graphics” format. New releases will include tracks pre-formatted in the popular MP3+G format, which will allow customers to easily enjoy the tracks in their compatible hardware or software MP3 and video playback devices, without “ripping” the tracks to a new format manually. In addition, each newly-released disc will include a free software karaoke video player for use on the customer’s computer.

“Any forward-looking company, especially in the music business, must realize how essential it is to deliver every product in a way that allows consumers the ease-of-use they demand,” Stovall continued. “Newer technology has put many video-capable devices in the hands of consumers who are hungry for an upgraded karaoke experience, and our enhanced discs will deliver those experiences in a user-friendly package.”

The enhanced discs will be backward-compatible with legacy devices, but new devices that recognize the advanced formats will offer consumers a choice of playback options. While dedicated karaoke hardware players have had the ability to display on-screen lyrics since the introduction of the CD+G format in 1997, newer devices and software players often require special plug-ins or dedicated chipsets to decode the special format, which can increase costs. The MP3+G format is designed to bypass such requirements and show the lyric wipe, a key component of karaoke music, in virtually every compatible video display device. Music devices without video capabilities will play back the audio-only portion of the track.