As well as generating revenue, music can make or break a venue’s atmosphere.

So should you opt for a jukebox, or a streamed music service?

Jon Bruford investigates.

Music can be stirring, inspirational, create an emotional response from nothing – or it can drive a customer to the exit door without them necessarily realising on a conscious level why.

Now that the jukebox is firmly rooted in the digital age and a single machine can have a library far in excess of 30,000 songs, it’s interesting to see the pattern of play over the course of a year – do the most-played songs on jukeboxes equal the singles and albums that top the charts, or do library tracks of much-loved classics with broader demographic appeal, for example The Beatles, win out?

Considering we are all aware of our own emotional response to music in our environment, it’s surprising how little attention is paid to it in a retail or leisure venue. It’s not unusual for music choices to be left to on-shift staff, so a relatively sedate venue could be plagued by bangin’ dance tunes, the latest techno or garage, or worse. And consumers are aware of it, as an Immedia-funded study discovered.

TAB Austria’s Max Fire Jukebox HD demonstrates the versatility that digital brings to in-venue music delivery. It’s based on a 32-inch touchscreen divided into two halves – the top shows the title of the current song as well as the cover or associated video, visible from some distance so that even customers who aren’t using the jukebox themselves can see what’s playing, while the bottom of the screen is used for search and navigation.

For some venues, music is simply a mood-setter, or a way to smooth over intrusive background noise. But for many others, it’s a valuable revenue stream – and with consumers now accustomed to a huge and easily manipulable range of sounds on their personal devices, they’re demanding the same from jukeboxes.

From now on, chart hits, top hits, bestsellers and evergreens are ready-to-play on your jukebox very easily and in an uncomplicated manner.

Every day, all new and available songs and videos are displayed. Thus, your MAX FIRE Jukebox is always optimally adjusted to the needs of the location. The central song database is automatically updated to provide you with the best hits and clips as quickly as possible, also saving you time and costs. You don’t have to search anymore to always keep your jukeboxes up-to-date and you also don’t have to update each individual jukebox with update disks anymore.