“I used to come in here and listen to AC/DC,”- Friday 3:00 in the A. M.- Fergalicious booming throughout the bar the second time tonight.
Yes, I know you did. That was before the new internet jukeboxes started popping up in all the bars of New York City. These devices are nothing other than gigantic rip off machines both to customers and cash registers.
A note on the Juke- Music has always helped add atmosphere to bars and therefore increase sales. As far back as you want to go, if there was a watering hole, there was music. The Juke Box is only a recent incarnation of what proprietors have always had in their place of business. Think about it… Swing music roaring in the speak easies of the 20’s, bar wenches hanging around guys in bowlers banging on pianos in saloons across the wild west, peasants dancing jigs around the minstrels in Medieval inns, Mead Halls filled with Saxons listening to some dude singing Beowulf- it goes all the way back. People hate drinking in silence. You do too… it starts to feel really alcoholic.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a person recommending a bar to someone adding “they’ve got a great juke box.” The music selection inside that juke adds to the character of the bar, how can it not? Example much? sure. I loved singing Merle Haggard at the Village Idiot with a can of Pabst and a shot of… well a shot of anything. (man that place was fun: may it rest in peace) If someone walked in there and threw on Justin Timberlake there was an actual chance that he/she was going to get an ass whuppin’ and a justified one at that. Zima had more of a home at the Idiot than pop music.
These days “Internet Juke Boxes” have swooped in and booted the traditional Juke out the window and bars city wide are losing their identity. No longer do I walk up to a preselected collection of music and pick random songs that “I can’t believe they have here.” Now, if I’m Joe Schmo Douchebag and I’ve had Rihanna stuck in my head all day I can play it in your favorite local dive. I can shatter the groove and I can even pay an extra buck to skip your songs and “Make Mine First!” Barf… Bar owners assume that they’re going to make more money with this unlimited song library that they can charge a high dollar for.
This is not the case.
A good atmosphere is what makes bars money. This is why clubs pay DJ’s so much and I’ve worked in them enough to watch it turn into buckets of dollars. What owners should be doing is going on ebay to buy those same old school juke boxes that are currently collecting dust and loading them up themselves. Bar specific music selection…. not a new idea. They can keep the money that goes into it instead of splitting it with whoever services those overpriced machines- which, I must add, break down frequently leaving the bar in silence. (see paragraph 3 notes on a juke) A silent bar is one of two things… empty, or a hang out for really old men. Neither is a good for business.
I don’t know why so many managers are fooled by this half-assed device. Yes it takes credit cards. No it will never keep the songs you’ve downloaded meaning it will cost a dollar a song EVERY SINGLE TIME. Yes it will be broken a third of it’s bar life. No they won’t come fix it right away. Just because you can eat someone else’s left over french fries out of the garbage doesn’t mean you should. Perhaps I should clarify. The manufacturers know these things are pieces of shit and that’s why they’re pushing them so hard on everybody. A well rounded ipod can make more money than a broken juke any day. This “internet juke box” is just a way for sales men to appeal to bar owners who are out of touch with technology. The music selection isn’t even all that. (for example try playing 2pac’s “Changes”)
It’s sad in a way but I wonder if bar owners know how much of their own money comes out of the register and goes into that machine so that bartenders know they won’t have to listen to reggaetone all night. It’s twenty dollars a night at my bar. Split that with the service company and we’re eating $3,650 dollars a year. (and that doesn’t count the refunds when the crappy things don’t work right) Good business? not so much…
