June 22, 2022
Since our ancestors drummed their first rhythms and sang their first songs, music has served as a powerful force in bringing people together. Music is emotive; it fires up our emotions. When we share the experience of listening to music and singing with others, we experience those same emotions together, creating a common bond.
For much of the 20th century, innovations in music technology, including the wireless radio, vinyl records, cassettes, CDs and HiFi systems, helped bring music into our homes to enjoy with our friends, family and loved ones. More recently, the internet and music streaming services have made instant, unlimited access to music a reality for millions of us. Every song we want to listen to is now available at the touch of a button or swipe of a screen.
These new services are designed for personal use on our phones and laptops, with people listening to their music primarily through headphones. Though great for listening to on the move or when commuting, this form of music consumption also serves to isolate us from others rather than listening together.
A study into the home streaming habits of over 2,000 internet users commissioned by ROXi found kids spent twice as much time isolated on their small screens, phones, tablets and laptops than they did communicating with their parents. The study also found those same parents craving more quality family time with their kids.
It is for this reason that we created ROXi as a different kind of streaming service; one that brings friends and family together through shared music experiences. As a TV-based service, ROXi provides an audio-visual entertainment experience on the biggest screen in the home, playing music videos out loud for people to enjoy together rather than isolating users on their small screens with headphones on.
Rob Lewis, CEO of ROXi, said “Our mission from day one has been to shift the dial away from solitary to shared music experiences. ROXi has been purposefully designed to bring loved ones together through the power of music.”
ROXi enables friends and family to watch music videos together, sing karaoke together, and play music games together, and provides access to 70 million music releases and 140,000 karaoke tracks.
Whether you’re in a karaoke bar, at a choral recital, or at a gig or music festival, singing bonds and unites people. In the home environment, doing karaoke together is a great way to build strong relationships with loved ones. For families with kids, karaoke can help the young ones develop confidence and new skills.
Leading music psychologist Dr Victoria Williamson agrees singing is a beneficial way to spend time together because it increases kids’ confidence and encourages interaction with others. “In an activity such as karaoke, they (children) are also relying, to varying degrees, on reading, visual understanding, and emotional interpretation abilities. In a group situation, whether duetting or performing for a group - all these effects are heightened.
“There is a sense of personal and social belonging that comes from interacting with both the sentiments in the music, and with the environment of a performance, which is boosted if the performance is shared with others. Parents who sing with their children engage with them on levels that are emotional, meaningful, and cognitively stimulating.”