The death of the jukebox. Way back when in the mists of time (cliche alert) when th publog was almost stillborn, one of our founding tenets was a mnifesto that good pubs generally had jukeboxes. SInce that moment jukeboxes have slowly been becoming more and more scarce on the ground. Why is this. I can offer some suggestions:
Perhaps they were not taking as much money as the used to. The PRS to be paid on a jukebox is more than just the playing of canned music (though only about fifty pounds a year more) so this does not seem to bear it out. Revenues may have been down, but to remove the revenue altogether seems foolish.
Perhaps bar staff got sick of constantly hearing the same seven or eight tracks which all pub juker abusers kept putting on every night. This I can believe, however the pub trade has never been one for sympathetically kowtowing to the wishes of their staff.
Monopolization by certain users physically dissuading over punters. A similar line to the annoyance factor to the staff but one which hits revenues. Except I cannot think of a time when – even if the selection was terrible – I have been forced out of the pub. If certain tracks were doing this constantly then surely the answer would be to remove the CD not the jukebox.
No, in the end, it is yet another symptom of the current pub fad of control. Music is part of the environement and woe betide an individual wanting to change the perfectly marketed and research pub. Put a David Grey CD on for the early thirty-somethings, a Ministry comp on for the young things, and always be one step behind. I was in The Marlborough Arms off Tottenham Court Road last Thursday, one which still has a jukebox. Someone played Help! by The Beatles six times in the hour. Two years ago this would have annoyed me, now its the last bastion of us taking the pubs back.