‘Dance me’
Guest blogger: Marc Bird from Leisureplay
Marc shares his unusual experience at a recent installation of a V-Hub jukebox.
“The Bull in Redbourn had enjoyed such success with its jukebox from Leisureplay, that we advised them to upgrade it to the top of the range VenueHub digital model. The VenueHub not only has all the songs that are on “The Jukebox” standard model but also has an online music library of over 5 million additional tracks to download at any time.
This week, we took delivery of the brand new digital jukebox for The Bull. The new jukebox came pre-installed with the latest software and built in webcam. This is one of the first digital jukeboxes to be installed with built in webcam in the UK. We were very excited as we knew this fantastic new feature would generate interest in the jukebox but we didn’t expect what would happen later that day.
Upon entering the pub we walked into an overcrowded room. It hit us immediately that a funeral had just taken place. We managed to find John the landlord and explained we would have to come back and rearrange for a more suitable time. We told him it may take over an hour to set up and put the jukebox online but there would be some drilling involved and we wanted to be respectful towards the family and other mourners. John told us, “Don’t worry it will be ok, I’ll have a word”. We all agreed that the family must fully agree first given the nature of the occasion.
To our combined surprise the family agreed immediately to let us proceed. In fact, they were so friendly that they even asked us if we wanted to help ourselves to the buffet!
We crept in trying to be as discreet as possible, leaving many of the tools and equipment in the van to prevent any attention. We took the previous jukebox off the wall without anyone batting an eyelid but that was the easy part – the drilling was next. The family were fine about it, although I think it did give a couple of elderly ladies on a table near by a bit of a shock!
We eventually got the jukebox up on the wall. By this time it had drawn a bit of a crowd. Within minutes of it being up and running, people were asking to play it. John the landlord was first to test the jukebox. On selecting a song, John was given the option to create a music video using the ‘Dance Me’ feature.
Dance Me allows the customer to create a music video to accompany their music selection, using an image taken from the built in webcam within the jukebox. It puts an image of the customer’s face onto a cartoon body such as 70s disco dancer, Elvis or a showgirl and then creates a video of the customer dancing in costume! This video is then displayed on the 32″ touchscreen.
Customers can also share the video with their friends via email which can the be uploaded to social media sites including Facebook, Twitter and Goggle+.
Despite the nature of the event, everybody was soon in stitches, it was hilarious. And as the laughing spread, the more and more people started to gather around the jukebox. We couldn’t get a look in!
Mourners started to queue up, choosing their favourite songs and creating their very own music videos. Somebody soon suggested turning the music up from behind the bar and within minutes the atmosphere had lifted in the room as a diverse range of songs were played, from Snoop Dogg to Abba.
We couldn’t believe our eyes! We never imagined that the Dance Me feature would be so popular that it would even create a party atmosphere at a funeral!
We packed our tools away and tried to say goodbye but everyone was to engrossed in the jukebox and the new Dance Me app to notice.
We weren’t offended, it was certainly going to be one of those installations we will talk about for years and probably one of the most memorable funerals that The Bull has ever hosted.”
Written by Marc Bird a Jukebox Technician at Hire Jukebox.
Tagged in: Industry News