FAQ: LIVE! Online Karaoke

Have you ever tried karaoke with friends over Zoom or Google Meet? It’s awful, right? We thought so, too. So we built Pop Up Karaoke LIVE! Based on the Jitsi platform, Pop Up Karaoke LIVE! was developed from the ground up to bring karaoke to you and your friends online, with all the fun and interaction you get from your local place! Plus, with XSplit Cam and Snap Camera compatibility, you can even do stuff you could never do in real life!

Want to check it out for yourself? Keep an eye out for our monthly public events or contact us to set up a privately hosted session for you and your karaoke buddies. Yes, we do birthdays! Yes, we do company events! Yes, we even do boring Tuesday nights! Get back into the spotlight with Pop Up Karaoke LIVE!

Pop Up Karaoke LIVE! works best on Google Chrome or any Chromium-based browser like Microsoft Edge or Opera. Chrome is available for almost every operating system around, including Apple macOS, Microsoft Windows, Linux, and even most tablets and phones! It’ll also work fine on most versions of Mozilla Firefox, though some people have reported high CPU usage over time. We do not recommend Apple Safari: some singers have used it without issue, but others have reported limited functionality, especially involving their microphones.

It’s easy! Once you’ve logged in, you’ll see a list of thousands of songs from our catalog on the right side of your screen. You can browse with the navigation buttons at the bottom of the panel, or just type what you’re looking for in the search box at the top. Mouse over or tap the song you’d like to sing and click “Request Song”– that’s it! The host will give you a thumbs-up to let you know it’s ready to go and will announce you to the room when it’s your turn to sing.

(Can’t see the list? Make sure you’re in windowed mode by clicking the button labeled “window” in the bottom toolbar.)

If you need to reach out to the host, just look for the “more” button in the lower left corner of their video. Select “Send private message” and it’ll pop open the chat menu on the left of your screen. Type your message, hit return, and the host will get back to you right away!

You can message other people in the room, too, but be nice! The host reserves the right to kick out anyone who’s being a jerk. If it’s not fun for everyone, it’s not fun!

If you have headphones or other speakers connected to your computer, your browser might make the wrong guess at where the sound should go. If you don’t hear anything in the room, click the small down arrow next to the microphone button . That will bring up a list of your speaker options: try choosing a different one and see if that works.

If none of the speaker options work, switch back to the first option in the list (“Default”) and make sure your volume is turned up in your operating system. If that seems okay, verify you’re using a supported browser and consult with your operating system for troubleshooting: you can check out this guide for Apple macOS users, and this guide for Microsoft Windows. (Linux users, you’re our kind of people, but you’re on your own!)

Unfortunately, there are a number of reasons you might be having trouble with your microphone, and we can’t address them all. But the first thing is to make sure your microphone isn’t muted! Everyone will be muted when they enter the room so as not to interrupt any singing; once they’re done, just click on the red, flashing microphone icon to change it from “mute” to “unmute” and you should be all set.

If the microphone is unmuted and isn’t flashing red, then you might have the wrong microphone selected. In that case, click the small down arrow next to the microphone button. That will bring up a list of your microphone options: try choosing a different one and see if that works.

If none of the microphones work, switch back to the first option in the list (“Default”) and make sure your input volume is turned up in your operating system. If it all seems okay, verify you’re using a supported browser and consult with your operating system for troubleshooting: you can check out this guide for Apple macOS users, and this guide for Microsoft Windows. (Linux users, you’re our kind of people, but you’re on your own!)

Unfortunately, there are a number of reasons you might be having trouble with your camera, and we can’t address them all. But the first thing is to make sure your camera is turned on! Just click on the red, flashing camera icon to change it from “stopped”  to “started”  and you should be all set.

If the camera has started and isn’t flashing red, but there’s no video, then you might have the wrong camera selected. In that case, click the small down arrow next to the camera button. That’ll bring up all of your camera options: try choosing a different one and see if that works.

If none of the cameras work, switch back to the first option in the list (“Default”) and make sure you have any other videoconferencing like Zoom or Google Meet turned off. If it all seems okay, verify you’re using a supported browser and consult with your operating system for troubleshooting: you can check out this guide for Apple macOS users, and this guide for Microsoft Windows. (Linux users, you’re our kind of people, but you’re on your own!)

Well, it is karaoke! But while your host doesn’t have control over individual singer volumes, you do! Just look for the “more” button in the bottom left corner of the singer’s video and you’ll see a volume slider. Adjust that however you want: it only changes the sound on your end and won’t affect anyone else in the room.