Mr. Xu was charged 96 yuan (US$12) after he sang at a Beijing branch of Cashbox Partyworld, an entertainment giant, for an hour. He wondered why he paid 59 yuan (US$7.3) per hour previously.

The Beijing branches of Cashbox Partyworld increased prices by an average of 50 per cent, saying software and hardware update costs are rising, the Beijing Daily reported on August 21.

The price hike in Beijing came just half a month after the head of Cashbox's head office in Shanghai, who is only identified by his surname Chen, said there would be no price hike for Shanghai branches but the Secretary General of the Shanghai Culture and Entertainment Association Lin Kangzai says if they can't contain costs they will turn to consumers and share the fees with them.

The Ministry of Culture is taking measures to combat music copyright piracy in KTV bars, calling for a price hike within the industry, which has a great potential for profit due to an increasing number of customers.

But staff members at a Cashbox parlor near the Capital Gymnasium deny the giant's move is linked to measures announced by the Ministry, saying the price hike is due to software and hardware updates.

Xu says he can't understand why the parlor upped its prices, adding that he didn't find any fundamental changes after the hike.

Most KTV counterparts offer differing explanations.

According to Guo Rui from the operation department of Cashbox's hard-to-beat rival Melody, "the specific amount of the charges have not been announced yet and we will not hike prices ourselves.."

According to previous media reports, every KTV bar will be charged less than 0.5 per cent of its total profit volume and 0.17 yuan (US$0.02) for each song.

Guo would not comment on the Cashbox, but he says as a leader in the KTV industry, the move will be likely stir a trend in price hikes among small-sized KTV bars.