Just when you thought is was safe to eat Shark Bites… the feds bust up the show and put an end to your karaoke racket (according to the Houston Chronicle - Houston’s source for breaking karaoke news).

It turns out, one of our smaller rivals, Star Music Inc. was out there causing a intellectual property ruckus. Now, all along I’ve maintained that the karaoke world must self-legislate. However, it has become obvious that my pleas have fallen on tone-deaf ears.

Well, folks, this is what you get for breaking the law and committing grand-scale copyright infringement: 5 years in prison, a fine of $250,000 and 3 years of supervised release (which means you return to living in your parents’ house). Allegedly, the owner of Star Music distributed hundreds of thousands of illegal copies of karaoke recordings on eBay.

Now when I say that the karaoke industry must self-regulate, I hope my peers will hear me out. Otherwise, Congress step in and the great American experiment (i.e. karaoke) will no longer be the unruly, but awesome, beast that it once was.

Sometimes it takes the Department of Justice to awaken a sleeping bear. It’s time to rid our ranks of the intellectual property thieves amongst us!