Karaoke vs Being in a Band

Recently I had cause to ponder the question: "What's the difference between being in a band and singing karaoke?"

This weekend I went to hear a local band called Band of Gold. Turns out they are three middle-aged men who don't play instuments, but sing along to a karaoke set-up (including a monitor with the lyrics!). Although to be perfectly fair, they do play some percussion instruments. For example, in the photo below you can see the guy in the middle is playing an egg shaker, and the guy on the right is playing the tambourine.



So what makes a band a band? Is it the equipment? The name? The matching outfits? If I bought my own karaoke equipment could I bill myself as a jazz singer and get booked to sing in bars around town? Probably. But there's something really disturbing about that fact.