ENFORCEMENT of the Noise Abatement Act may have placed a damper on the staging of dance and live shows with its booming sound systems, while giving rise to the business of Karaoke, an event pulling massive followings as well as product suppliers who are now gravitating to supporting cleaner, more violence free, night-life entertainment.

With less disposable income these days, patrons are also drawn to these events, which attract no entry cost and where persons can show off their talent while vying for cash and other prizes.

Corporate sponsor Wray and Nephew, which shells out close to a $1 million each quarter in sponsorship support for a series of Karaoke and after-parties now being staged nightly at a number of entertainment joints in Clarendon and St Catherine, has also been able to build brand awareness for the products promoted at these events.

The company, which is focused on pushing its rum in particular, at these sponsored events, offer the product to the venue operators at a subsidised rate, making it possible for patrons to purchase it at a significantly cheaper cost.

Donovan Cunningham, proprietor of Starz Entertainment who approached Wray and Nephew with the sponsorship idea, has revolutionised nightlife in Clarendon, pulling hundreds every night to one of six venues in that parish and two in St Catherine.

Under this sponsorship agreement, Wray and Nephew provides various levels of subsidy for the entertainment content provided by Starz. On the other hand, the proprietors of the various venues hosting the Karaoke benefit from the bar sales.

Cecil Smith, regional sales manager at Wray and Nephew, told Sunday Finance that the company had no hesitation in sponsoring the event as it brought clean entertainment to that area while building customer loyalty for its products, and in particularly its rum.

“The proposal was an easy sell and we have been seeing it pay off as the rums are flying off the bar counters,” Smith said.

Karaoke, according to Cunningham, is a feasible business if the right capital support is available since it is very expensive to acquire the equipment.

As such, he said, he will be seeking to attract investors as he expands the initiative to other parishes.

“The Karaoke systems have to be imported into the island and requires constant upgrades of the latest technology,” Cunningham disclosed to the Sunday Finance.

What started as a hobby for Cunningham has evolved in a full- fledged business.

According to Cunningham, the idea to add Karaoke to the products and services provided by Starz Entertainment, was birthed during to a visit to a Latin Karaoke event in Miami.

“I saw everyone enjoying themselves and I was captivated by it enough to purchase one of the players and bring it back to Jamaica,” he explained.

The partnership with Wray and Nephew started last October at one of the venues and quickly spread to the others in Clarendon as well as two in St Catherine after the events began pulling large crowd support.

“At the end of the quarter we had a review and Wray and Nephew decided to expand the programme to all the venues because of how the Karaoke events were being well supported,” Cunningham told this newspaper.

Cunningham, who has a background in finance, said his first experiment with the “Karavibes” concept started at Fyah Side — an eatery along the main road in Toll Gate — and was quickly extended to New Jack City in Denbigh, Sophia’s Bar in Sandy Bay, Morris Sports Bar in Milk River, Ocean Breeze Sports Bar in Longville, and Camille’s Bar in Water Lane, all in Clarendon. The events were also expanded to the Coyote Sports Bar in Old Harbour, St Catherine.

The “Karavibes” concept involves starting the night off with a Karaoke competition followed by an after-party.

“I figured it could be marketed to product suppliers, so I put together a proposal on how Wray and Nephew would benefit,” he said.

The proposal, he explained, showed how the company would not only benefit from the sale of their products but also the customer loyalty that could be derived from that level of support.

“They came onboard by providing product support to the proprietor of the venue, as well as coming in to do the branding and whatever support is required to get the event up and running,” Cunningham said.

Sound system rental was initially the dominant service offered through Starz Entertainment, however, Cunningham said that service was scaled down when the Noise Abatement Act started affecting business.

“The big sound system dance was not happening and so there was a slowdown in demand for that service and so we made the switch to the smaller boxes, which are not so deafening,” he said.

Even the workforce was changed, said Cunningham.

“With the sound system you had to have selectors and technicians but now we work with multi-talented individuals who are more service oriented,” he explained.

He said there has been a high demand for Karaoke in the rural parts.

“Karaoke is clean, fun, not a vulgar type of entertainment, and so based on the type of people who will go there to be entertained or entertain, it is unlikely violence will begin at these events, hence the support,” he added further.

Karaoke appeals to a wide cross section of audience, as evident during a recent Sunday Finance visit.

With the entertainment business continuously changing, there is always the challenge to come up with a novel idea.

According to Cunningham, even the Karaoke has had to evolve.

“The idea of a competition was initially never a part of the Karaoke, but we had to put a twist to it and keep on adding things like the party lights,” he said.

But Cunningham is adamant that the Karaoke will be a part of night-life entertainment for a very long time to come as more persons move away from the club scene back to the bar type settings.

“The bar type of entertainment has been a part of the culture for the longest while and so the issue is to find the activity to fit into that and Karaoke is the right fit,” he said.

But despite the demand for Karaoke, the challenge in extending the event to more venues, according to Cunningham, is the inability to find suitable persons to work as hosts.

“Almost everyday someone is calling for us to do an event but the limiting factor is to have someone to host the Karaoke as it takes some time to train them,” he said.

And so despite having the resources to extend to another three venues, Cunningham said he does not have the personnel.

The plan, Cunningham said, is to have similar regular Karaoke events islandwide.

He is optimistic that other product suppliers who will compliment Wray and Nephew rum products will eventually come onboard.

“We hope they will be able to see the benefits Wray and Nephew is extracting from this and come onboard with other products,” he said.

Starz Entertainment incorporates a number of entertainment related services, among them the provision of sound systems, lighting, video services, rentals of bounce-abouts and pools, pop corn, hot dog and snow cone vending machines as well as town criers.

Operator of Fyah Side, David Tapper said he will soon have to look at expansion to accommodate the increased number of patrons who have been visiting the venue every Friday.

“The Karaoke has certainly given the business a boost and with Wray and Nephew as a sponsor we are able to offer a drink special which helps the budget conscious person,” Tapper said.