News & Jukebox Chart

Recognising that each venue has its own very special set of requirements when it comes to background music, Soundnet are committed to fully researching each establishment to suggest the best jukebox system for their needs.

In the case of the soon to be legendary bar and live music venue, The Zombie Hut in Corby, for example, it was instantly obvious that The Rockbox was the right option. With major name rock artists already lined up to play at the newly opened venue, including Ian McCulloch of Echo and the Bunnymen and The Libertines’ Carl Barat, it was crucial the jukebox offered a credible rock music selection. As the Zombie Hut’s owner, Ari Watkins emphasises, “We needed a jukebox but didn't want mainstream chart music.”

Watkins was immediately impressed by the variety of alternative music styles offered by The Rockbox, covering all sub-genres of rock including punk, indie and metal. In Watkins’ own words, “It's perfect as we are a very music orientated crowd and our customers enjoy a wide range of diverse music. It's been well received.”

Understandably, sound quality was also an important factor for Watkins, so the jukebox was connected up to the venue’s existing powerful sound system to offer an invigorating listening experience throughout the two-story venue.

This whole set-up was installed in record quick time to beat the countdown to The Zombie Hut’s big opening night, to the delight of the venue’s first ever customers. In fact, the Rockbox proved such a massive success with the crowd that the machine’s takings stacked up to an impressive £200 within the first two weeks.

Watkins was overjoyed with this result, concluding;

“No need to pay for background music when we have a jukebox that makes money as opposed to costing us money.”

Contact the Soundnet team to learn more about the extensive variety of background music packages available and find the one that’s perfect for your venue.

Soundnet are delighted to report that our background music serviceshave been featured in national industry publication, Music Week, as the only jukebox operator to partner with the Official Charts Company.

Given the magazine’s reputation within the music industry, running for more than fifty years and read by over 5000 sector members, the piece represents a real recognition of Soundnet’s efforts to become the UK’s leading jukebox service provider.

As the Music Week article conveys, Soundnet’s recent deal with the Official Charts Company aims to solidify this position and prove Soundnet’s commitment to providing customers with a more engaging jukebox experience. The partnership sees Soundnet become the exclusive jukebox operator to feature the Official UK Singles Chart, giving landlords the opportunity to offer pub-goers the latest Sunday chart entries the very next day.

This has particularly important consequences for landlords’ cash box levels, given that Soundnet research shows Chart and New Releases represent eighty per cent of jukebox selections. As Giles Jones, Head of Commercial at the Official Charts Company, explained at the time of the deal;

“For many music fans, an evening out wouldn’t be the same without the UK’s latest hits as a soundtrack. We are delighted to renew and exclusively extend our agreement with Soundnet and significantly increase the reach of the Official Singles Chart to the consumer.”

In support of this on-going partnership with the Official Chart Company, Soundnet have been working on developing a number of new jukebox features to help pub-goers discover fresh chart tracks and emerging artists.

“The Official Charts Company is fully committed to expanding its reach of the chart,” asserts Soundnet’s Managing Director, Simon Davis, concluding, “This will only benefit our customers and the income in the jukeboxes.”

Take a look at Soundnet’s jukebox information pagesto learn more about why major brands including the Arcadia Group and Marston’s choose our innovative background music services for their venues.

Landlords are beginning to wake up to the power of social media to bring in the crowds, according to a new survey by Barclays, but many still struggle to find time to get the best from their social networks.

Impressively, for around one in every ten hospitality sector businesses, social media contributes up to 50 per cent of all sales, with 58 per cent predicting the channel’s importance will grow in the next few years.

As Barclays’ head of hospitality and leisure, Mike Saul, explains, social media, “Not only influences and directly generates sales, but provides a personal link with consumers, building loyalty and driving repeat footfall.”

Unfortunately though, 44 per cent of venue owners admit they dedicate little time to Facebook or Twitter. Saul worries that these proprietors could be missing out on valuable custom, warning, “Just having a presence on social media is not enough.”

For landlords with little time on their hands, the obvious solution is to create a way for pub-goers to generate a social media community for a venue themselves, and digital jukeboxes provide a perfect opportunity for landlords to achieve this.

With the recently launched VenueHub model and its inbuilt new LastFm app, customers access their own most played and ‘favourited’ tracks they have been playing at home or whilst mobile. Using LastFM on the VHub customers can easily find and play their favourite tracks and then broadcast these plays via the site’s own Last.fm account.

The VenueHub’s newest DanceMe feature takes this social aspect a step further, inviting pub-goers to create a hilarious personalised music video. The app merges a snapshot of the customer’s face with an animation of comedy characters performing a dance routine, which can then be shared via Facebook or Twitter, directly from the jukebox.

To learn more about how the latest digital jukeboxes enable landlords to gain extra exposure for their pub, without having to spend precious hours away from the bar, contact the Soundnet team.

Thanks to a partnership agreement with the Official Charts Company, Soundnet are now the only UK jukebox service to offer the Official Singles Chart, Britain’s weekly countdown of the biggest selling singles.

Soundnet’s managing director, Simon Davis, is keen to underline how crucial he believes it is for landlords to be able to provide their customers with an up-to-date music selection of the most popular tracks.

“This latest deal with the Official Charts Company is to ensure we emphasise the importance of the latest Official Singles Chart hits,” comments Davis, explaining “80 per cent of the tracks chosen by consumers are chart and new releases.”

Beyond the jukebox, this increased interest in chart tracks has also translated to the wider world, thanks in part to celebrations surrounding the 60th anniversary of the Official Singles Chart last November. The event saw extensive coverage on both national and regional television and radio stations, contributing to a record-breaking year for track sales, with 188.6 million singles sold. The Official Charts company also launched a number of consumer products in 2012, including 'The Million Sellers book and three CD compilation, NOW That's What I Call A Number 1.

Moving forward, Giles Jones, Head of Commercial at The Official Charts Company, intends to continue this success and extend the popularity of the official chart to pub-goers across the country. Giles sees the partnership with Soundnet, the exclusive content supplier for Sound Leisure jukeboxes, as a key way to achieve this goal. In Jones’ own words, “We are delighted to renew and exclusively extend our agreement with Soundnet and significantly increase the reach of the Official Singles Chart to the consumer.”

Soundnet are therefore working with Sound Leisure to introduce a number of new jukebox features in the coming months to highlight the latest chart tracks. “At Soundnet we have recognised the importance of the Official UK chart since first offering their charts on our boxes back in 2006,” notes Davis, stressing that the new partnership will benefit consumers with further choice and in turn generate additional jukebox takings for landlords.

Visit Soundnet’s background music service pages to discover more about the extensive range of features available through our fully managed jukebox music packages.

This month music lost one of its biggest characters, and revolutionaries, with the death of Malcolm McLaren. Having overseen the birth of British Punk, McLaren changed the face, and the dress-code, of pop culture and not only gave the world the Sex Pistols, but made sure they were suitably attired to boot.
Kicking music up the backside, McLaren’s unique vision meant he was always a few steps ahead of the game, and whether that meant kitting out his group in bondage gear or staging a Situationist style protest gig on a boat, he always knew how to create a stir.
McLaren wasn’t a one-hit wonder either. He constantly innovated, pioneering early Hip Hop, managing Bow Wow Wow and almost running for London Mayor. Well, Boris got it off the back of a TV show. 
His influence can clearly be seen in any band who try to shock, who dress to impress or who know that three chords and a melody pinched from ABBA is all you really need.
He was a one-off, and even when he didn’t get it right he was never less than fascinating. What better way to remember him than sticking on some Punk and partying like it’s 1977?