KTV Rises to Popularity

Source: Taiwan’s KTV Culture Renowned Worldwide
From: eToday Magazine
Date: September 2004. Author: Tsai Yao-chün

KTV, which began to proliferate in Taiwan in the late 1980s, evolved from Japan’s “karaoke” and the then-emerging Taiwanese entertainment format of “MTV (music video) private booths.” At the time, American music TV channels were gaining popularity in Taiwan, and karaoke was gradually shifting from open public venues to enclosed private-booth spaces for small groups of friends. Because this felt similar to the then-fashionable MTV booths, Taiwan’s karaoke operators started calling this “karaoke in private booths” KTV.

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External Links

• An Inquiry into the Origins of “KTV” (Hou Teyu’s Facebook)
• The Origins of KTV (CR Laser)
• Witness to a Glorious Era: Vitality Karaoke Closes in 2003 (Apple Daily)
• Karaoke (Wikipedia)
• Taiwan’s Popular Music Industry: Annual Output Value Exceeds NT$10 Billion (China Times)