Karaoke entertainment is perhaps one way to unwind and relax, especially for some city businessmen or white-collar workers after a day's work.
But people say karaoke also has important social significance.
"After executing a project, my team and I usually organize a gathering at a karaoke lounge," Andry, 27, a project manager for an IT company in Jakarta, told The Jakarta Post recently. Andry added that karaoke could become an effective social activity through which he and his business partners could let off some steam, usually after the building-up of interpersonal conflicts at a professional level.
While Andry seemingly makes use of karaoke to liberate pent-up work stress, Chandra, 25, a private bank employee in Jakarta, believes that karaoke helps cement a better relationship with his boss.
"When the cheerful tune from the Black Eyed Peas - an American hip-hop group - started, my boss and I would sing and dance like we were brothers," he said.
He added karaoke had helped improve his relationship with his boss because both realized more personal, humanistic interactions helped them understand each other.
Whether karaoke can be used as therapy to ease tension among office workers, or even strengthen the boss-employee bond, is still debatable, many professionals are taking karaoke as an entertainment form to a different level.
A night out at a karaoke club is a common chaser to relax business contracts, which most of the time can lead to sealing a transaction that can be worth up to billions of rupiah, according to Anderson, a marketing manager for a fashion and restaurant company in Jakarta.
"However, closing business deals are much easier in karaoke clubs with escort services," he said. He once entertained his company's client in a high-end karaoke club in Kota, West Jakarta, and struck a Rp 1.5 billion (US$165,000) deal with the help of several working girls and a mama-san.
"Of course we will pay for everything, including the fees of the karaoke room and the ladies," he said, adding that his clients were only responsible for paying sexual transactions, which sometimes occurred following karaoke.
One of the biggest karaoke clubs in Kota, offering "extra services", have karaoke rooms with varying sizes and prices that range from Rp 900,000 to Rp 2 million per night for the smallest and the biggest room respectively, according to a worker.
Compare the price to that of the family-oriented karaoke venues in Jakarta, which charge customers around Rp 50,000 to Rp 120,000 per hour.
Urban psychologist from the University of Indonesia Ratih Ibrahim told the Post that, "Karaoke is not just about having fun. Not only does it have social significance, but it also serves as a platform to expand networking and business opportunities," she said. (tsy)
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