Play Meter

Phonos to start offering
'non-music' services
"This year the big news in phonographs won't be
a color change from red to blue ... " -Seeburg president
Apparently a revolution is in the
offing for the phonograph industry.
At least one of the "Big Three"
domestic jukebox manufacturers
has tipped its hand as far as new
jukebox features for the upcoming
year; and, from what has been
revealed so far, it appears there may
be some interesting departures in
the immediate future for the coin-op
music machines.
Jukeboxes offering video capa-
bility to disseminate such infor-
mation as "stock market quotations,
local advertising, and even
restaurant menus" will apparently be
offered as part of the phonograph
package for this year's rejuvenated
Seeburg phonograph line.
The revelation came July 29 from
Lawrence Siegel, president of
Seeburg, during his House
Subcommittee testimony in
opposition to the proposed
Danielson Bill (The Danielson Bill, if
enacted, would assess operators
additional per-jukebox assessments
under the new copyright law, with
the additional monies going to
"performing artists").
In his presentation to the
subcommittee, the Seeburg
president said such a per-jukebox
assessment would be unfair,
especially in light of the evolving
nature of the phonograph. To
substantiate his position, Siegel said,
phonographs will begin to offer more
and more "non-music services."
Said Siegel: "Given the techno-
logical decline of the jukebox
industry, the only hope of
manufacturers is technological
innovation. Our machines must offer
new services to attract customers
and rebuild business. In the next few
months, Seeburg will begin to offer
jukeboxes equipped with a video
capability. Customers will be able to
obtain various forms of information,
14
such as stock market quotations,
local advertising, and even
restaurant menus. Increasingly, our
machines will offer non-music
services.
"We believe that these inno-
vations will reverse the decline in our
industry."
When contacted by Play Meter,
Siegel commented on the develop-
ment: "We feel it's a remarkable step
forward in the jukebox industry, a
dramatic departure from the
jukebox in the past. It's something
we hope will turn the jukebox
industry around."
Siegel explained the nature of the
See burg development: "We have put
a CRT (cathode ray tube) in the
jukebox," he said, "and that CRT is
controlled by a microprocessor
that was developed by our people at
Universal Research Laboratories (a
division of Stern Electronics) .
"The function of it," he continued,
"will be to eliminate the title strips
since the titles will now appear on the
screen. But we'll also be able to
provide the location with numerous
other services, such as those I
mentioned in my testimony to the
subcommittee .
"Also it will provide the operator
with all kinds of bookkeeping and
accounting operational data." He
said the new Seeburg phonos would
utilize "some very new technology,
particularly in the way title strip data
in incorporated onto the screen."
"It's been a dream for about a
year," said Siegel," and now it's
becoming a functional reality."
He said samples will soon be ready
for a special distributor showing in
September. However, the phono-
graph will not be unveiled to the rest
of the trade until the AMOA Show in
Chicago.
Last year Gary Stern, chairman of
Stern Electronics, hinted at the
drastic departure from existing
jukebox technology when he was
interviewed as "Coinman of the
Month" (See November 15, 1980,
Play Meter).
In answering a question about why
Stern Electronics had purchased the
bankrupt Seeburg company, Stern
said, "We have some ideas for the
future which we think will
revolutnize the jukebox. I'm sure the
other manufacturers have their
ideas, too; but something must be
done to revolutionize the jukebox
business, to create demand for the
jukebox and make it a great earner
again."
He continued, "One thing, if you
look at all the current jukeboxes, is
that they're all microprocessor-
based; however , they don't really do
anything different from what non-
microprocessor-based jukeboxes
did."
He drew an analogy to Stern's
evolutionary understanding of solid
state technology in pinballs. "As
the manufacturers learned more
about the microprocessor," he said,
"they were able to make and more
interesting pinball machines."
He said that experience would pay
dividends in development of the
jukebox. "We have more knowledge
of how to use the microprocessor
and hope in the near future to take
fuller advantage of that micro-
processor and make the phono-
graph a solid earner again ... We plan
to short circuit that evolution
process and do the same thing with
the jukebox within a year or so" that
evolved over the years with pinball.
Siegel, when confirming his
company's innovations in the field,
summed it up by saying, "This year
the big news in phonographs won't
be a color change from red to blue."
Dauid Pierson
PLAY METER, October 1, 1981