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Greetings to our American karaoke host friends... Yesterday an official announcement was sent out to all of the international partners of KWC, that this years World Finals will be held in Stockholm Sweden November 20-22. It was also announced that our company KSF Entertainment Group (which has done the production for the finals since it's inception) has purchased the parent company.

Last year we managed to work behind the scenes with Allstar Karaoke to rescue what was a disastrous situation regarding the KWCUSA organisation and the sending of the US finalists to Finland. We are proud of the level of professionalism and talent that Kim Evans and Carter Thomas brought to the competition under such circumstances.

The Karaoke World Championships has been the most prestigious gathering of karaoke singers from all over the world with between 25-30 countries represented and it is our mission to take the competition to the next level this year. We are particularly focused on the KWCUSA due to the sheer size of the country, abundant talent and the aforementioned situation. It also helps that there are so many talented hosts and great venues to hold the regional competitions.

Regardless of your past experience with KWC, whether it be good or bad - is to attract the best venues and hosts to match the talent that the USA brings to the competition. I have already reached out to a few venues who paid for the rights to hold local competitions for 2014 and those commitments will be honoured if they are still interested.

We will be formulating our plans for KWCUSA and re-launch the web site with plenty of details in April. We look forward to hearing from those of you that are interested and appreciate your support.

Best regards
Michael Yelvington
Karaoke World Championships

Here's what I dug up....

KARAOKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS USA COMPETITION 2014

-- Eligibility Requirements --
Entrant must be 18 years of age(by April 30th, 2014) or older and a legal US resident. Entrant must be a bona fide amateur, and as such may not:
(a) have been employed as a royalty artist on a sound recording which has been commercially released by a major label or a bona fide independent label;
(b) in a professional stage play (e.g. Broadway, Off Broadway);
(c) have had 13 or more weeks employment as a performer in radio in a major market; or
(d) have been paid to appear as a principal performer, announcer, singer or dancer in a national television or radio commercial or interactive game.

Youth Division age limits are 7 to 17. You must be 7 by April 30th, 2014.
Additionally, Entrant may not currently have any of the following:
(a) a contract for talent representation;
(b) a current music recording contract;
(c) an exclusive acting contract; or
(d) any other contractual agreement that would prohibit them from participating in all levels of the competition or entering into any contracts required by Sponsors. No contract can be in place at any time for the last two years (May 1st, 2012 thru April 30th, 2014)

Entrant must not:
(1) be a candidate for public office and must agree to not become a candidate for public office from the date of entry until one (1) year after the initial broadcast of the last episode of the program in which the Entrant appears;
(2) have been convicted of a felony the last 3 years; or
(3) be participating in any other televised singing competition or other program or competition that might interfere with Entrant’s ability to participate in this competition at any level.

Entrant must be willing to submit to a background check, at Sponsor’s sole discretion, should they advance to the regional competition. If Entrant advances to the regional competition, he/she must be available to participate in the corresponding regional competition (based on location from which Entrant is advancing).

Regional competitions are scheduled to occur on:
North Region TBA
South Region TBA
East Region TBA
West Region TBA

Additionally, Entrant must be available for at least three (3) days date to be announced should they be selected to participate at the National Competition to be held at a location to be announced. Locations of regional and national competitions are subject to change.
All expenses associated with an Entrant’s travel, transportation and or accommodations to, from or during any and all competitions are the Entrant’s sole responsibility.

All dates are subject to change at Sponsor’s sole discretion.

Any individuals (including but not limited to employees, consultants, independent contractors, and interns) who have, within the past six (6) months, Karaoke World Championships USA, LLC, or any of their respective parent, subsidiary, affiliated or successor companies, and immediate family and household members of such individuals, are not eligible to enter or play. "Immediate family members" shall mean parents, step-parents, children, step-children, siblings, step-siblings, spouses or ex-spouses. "Household members" shall mean people who share the same residence at least three months a year.

The national champions male and female are not allowed to compete again for one season.

In addition, each Entrant acknowledges and agrees that Sponsor has the sole discretion to at any time render ineligible any Entrant who, in Sponsor’s sole discretion, is sufficiently connected with the administration, judging or fulfillment of the competition such that his or her participation in the competition could create the appearance of impropriety. Sponsor reserves the right to modify these eligibility requirements.

Entrants who advance to a regional competition will be required to sign additional agreements, including but not limited to a release of liability, grant of rights and indemnification.

Entrants understand competition at the regional level and above will be subject to the official rules that will be issued prior to commencement of that round.

Eligibility requirements are subject to change at Sponsor’s sole discretion. All of the Sponsor’s eligibility determinations are final and not subject to appeal.
KWCUSA is the Sponsor of this competition.

• Local and state competitors can use their own karaoke discs (manufacturers CD's only, not copies!) of their songs. Maximum length of one song is 5 minutes for all competitions.
Absolutely no profanity in either the backing vocal tracks or the main vocals will be tolerated.
• Singers MUST register online at http://www.kwcusa.net prior to state, regional, and national competitions. You only need to register once. If you have previously registered the system will tell you.


SUMMARY OF THE FIVE MAIN JUDGING CRITERIA

1. VOICE SOUND QUALITY
- The quality and individual characteristics of the voice
2. RHYTHM & TEMPO
- The voice in relation to the music
3. VOCAL EXPRESSION
- How well the performer is able to express the meaning and mood of the song
4. STAGE PRESENCE
- The physical expression of the song in terms of the overall visual presentation of the performance on stage.
5. ENTERTAINMENT VALUE


Timeline:
The U.S.A. Local Venue Preliminary competitions September 1st, 2013 through June 30th, 2014

The U.S.A. state finals will be held no later than July 31st, 2014

The U.S.A. regional finals will be held August/September 2014

The U.S.A. national competition October 2014

The world competition will be held late 2014

Please note all dates are subject to change

Hi Cue,

Thanks for posting details from the pervious organiser of the KWCUSA. It should be noted that although much of what you posted will be accurate, this years competition will NOT be run by the same organisation as last year.

Just to be clear.

Thanks
Michael

_________________
Electro-Voice Evolve 50... Taking Sound To The Next Level.

I'm Not sure that I trust this. I was sent a letter offering me a refund for my payment that I made to the previous US affiliate last year and all I have received is the run around.

A asked that my refund be sent via paypal (This is how I originally payed) and was told that they can only receive money via paypal and cannot send money this way.

Correct me if I'm Wrong, but paypal accounts are always 2 way streets. if you have an account you can always send AND receive money. NOT just one OR the other.

The Second red flag came when he said that the only way for me to get a refund is to give him my account number and bank routing number so he could do a wire transfer.
this is of course very uncomfortable for me since it basically give him full access to my bank account.

He said he didn't understand why I was so reluctant to give out this info.

This all sounds rather fishy to me.

_________________
Sal "Kjmann" Esquivel
Karaoke With Sal - Website

Yes Paypal is a two way street. I have sent AND received from my PayPal account. All you need is the other users paypal pay to info.

_________________
LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

You can send money to someone using just their email address with Pay Pal because I've had clients pay me using that method.

Well it is too late now, but you could have requested a refund directly from paypal, unless they didn't actually have a mechant account..

-James

Hi Sal,

As I tried to explain to you via email... We offered you a refund for money you paid to someone else last year that held the US partnership. He apparently went out of business and left people like you stuck holding the bag so to speak. You did not pay us. You paid him. I reached out to you to offer you the option of holding the 2014 competition that you paid the other guy for, or to receive a refund - even though we are not obligated to do so. I felt it was the right thing to do.

As I also explained, we as a company do not use paypal. I offered to send you a bank wire which is the most commonly used method for European companies to pay overseas invoices etc. If providing us with the details necessary to facilitate the payment are not agreeable to you, the I suppose we will have to wait until the new US partner is set up and make the payment for you.

I hope that clears it up for you.

Michael

I have considered getting involved with this in the past, but the organization was so poorly put together I never bothered. I am in Michigan and I don't think there was even a venue in the whole state for the competition last year. There needs to be greater coverage.