Singa, a leading Helsinki-based entertainment software specialist launches exclusive retail and marketing partnership with Westend DJ and Shure Audio in a localised UK-based partnership. The UK Karaoke market is a multi-million-pound industry and both Singa, Shure UK & Westend DJ have not held back in recognising this.

Singa’s founder, Atte Hujanen spent 10 years in and around the karaoke industry and the Nordic startup scene and outlines the founding principles of the business “we realised that, while all other content industries had gone through their “Spotify moment” - a radical shift to digital platforms and user centric, modern products - karaoke was still stuck in the 90’s, with no foreseeable change in sight. Something had to be done.”

Since its formation in early 2016 the Helsinki-based company scored €1.75 million in seed funding back in 2017 led by Initial Capital, with participation from Tamares Holdings, Superhero Capital, Reaktor Ventures and Tekes. With a clear strategy and success of over 200 venues and 500k consumers using the service globally, the tech start-up has its eyes firmly set on the UK market for 2018 and has spent little time in securing its first large scale B2B & B2C partnerships.

“Westend DJ have invested significantly in Singa” states Gavin James, Sales & Marketing Director at Westend DJ. “Karaoke uptake has been slowly declining through a lack of innovation. I’ve had many solutions pitched to me over the years and there’s nothing like Singa on the market to date. Our DJ community need to know about this product and they will soon, we’ll also be presenting it at the upcoming NADJ (National Association of Disc Jockeys) events and furthering Singa’s reach in the UK through our stores”.

part of the retail exclusivity, Westend DJ will sell Singa’s Professional solution from their Westend DJ stores and online sites, www.westenddj.co.uk and www.djstore.com. Singa Pro, with an SRP of £2,399.99 will include a 12 month license for Singa’s ‘plug & play’ karaoke system, access to over 30k songs (updated automatically), smart song queue management and all conveniently pre-installed and delivered on an Apple iPad – no computer required.

Accelerating Singa’s visibility further, Shure (UK), one of the world’s leading microphone manufacturers have reached a deal to allow Singa to supply PGA48’s exclusively to its direct customer base of bars, clubs and hotel groups within their UK range of entertainment venues.

Harry Law, Marketing at Shure comments “The PGA 48 is a fantastic vocal microphone and versatile enough for pretty much every vocal application. When consumers experience the future of Karaoke, we want them to have a Shure microphone in their hand.”

Singa continues to grow in popularity with over 50k UK consumers having the app installed on their mobile devices, they can search for their nearest Singa Pro venue with ease”, explains Risto Makelainen, CCO at Singa. “This is great news for DJ’s and music-lovers who are looking for a night out, they can search for their nearest Singa Pro venue and queue their song choice remotely. Those in the venue also no longer need to leave their seat, by simply requesting a song after downloading the App. The DJ is in control of the whole process deciding how much (or little) their audience gets to interact with the evenings entertainment. We now have the UK’s largest DJ retailer endorsing us and one of the world’s largest microphone manufacturers investing without hesitation on the future of our industry”.

In a relatively short space of time, Singa has surpassed fifty thousand downloads in the UK and over five hundred thousand globally. Makelainen puts this growth down to a number of success factors. “Our strategic partnerships are second to none and partners like Shure UK & Westend DJ invest in services that truly enrich their customers lives. Singa is the only company serving both consumers and professionals in such a modern and innovative way in the market. This means that the more Singa Pro venues that use the service, the faster our consumer side grows (and vice versa). No other player on the market has this advantage and offers a Karaoke service where its consumer and business solutions seamlessly talk to each other. Want to find out where your nearest Singa venue is, simply open the Singa app on your phone.

Singing Not Just For Venues, Its Big For Consumers Too

To that end, Singa currently comes in two versions: For bars, restaurants, hotels and other entertainment venues, Singa offers a pro-version, best described as a modern, fully digital, commercial turn-key karaoke solution in a single intuitive package.

For consumers, the Helsinki startup offers native iOS, Android, Web, Apple TV & SmartTV apps, which provide easy access to over 30,000 fully licensed karaoke songs and what it describes as an immersive singing experience.

Throughout most of July, Singa will be serenading Three Mobile customers via Wuntu (Three Mobiles loyalty and reward application) with a range of Karaoke themed offers, exclusive to Three Mobile customers. Curated and themed singlists include and kicking off in Week 27: Football Anthems, Week 28: Festival Ready and in Week 29: Express Yourself (Brighton Pride).

Normally £9.99 per month, access to 30k+ songs and unlimited usage on the Singa Premium platform will be available for free, for one month, terms and conditions apply.

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