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Jukeboxes in TV Dramas.
Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 12:57 pm
by DoghouseRiley
This is something you never see in dramas in the UK. and In fact I haven't seen a jukebox of any description in any pub for years. However they seem to come up in US dramas. The most common ones are vinyl machines of the seventies.
There's a seventies Seeburg in a bar in the series "Justified." (actually seen, well "heard" playing),
A rather uncared for and unused seventies Ami in one of the character's homes in "Gossip Girl"
and last night in the pilot of a new to British TV serial drama called "Revenge," in a waterside bar in the Hamptons, I was surprised to see a Rock-Ola 433 like my own.
These dramas are all "contemporary" and none of the jukeboxes seen could be called "classic" so are they just "set dressing? Or do bars in the US still have them and do people actually put money in them, when everyone in the world under forty seems to have an I-Pod?
Re: Jukeboxes in TV Dramas.
Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 6:57 pm
by Ron Rich
Hi Riley,
The "jukebox" here in the US has all but dis-appeared. "Downloaders" are found at many locations today.
( Also, by law, a "downloader" is not a "jukebox", as to be called such requires "electro/mechanical audio re-production").
There are still some "hangers-on-ers", that still have one, however the license fees have risen to the point of almost non-profit, for the owners--unless one wishes to risk the fines inflicted, and run with-out the license--
I have one 1950, model year, Seeburg model B, along with 12, 3W-1 Seeburg wall boxes, in an Italian Ristorante. It is the last one on location that I own, and is there only due to "friendship"-- Ron Rich
Re: Jukeboxes in TV Dramas.
Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 10:07 am
by Rob-NYC
Ron, I don't know about the laws regarding this issue but, a downloader is still technically E-M in that the files are resident on a hard disk. this will eventually change as S-S drives come into use.
Here in NYC the juke scene is a shadow of what it was 12 years ago. I mention twelve years as that was when we entered the Napster-MP3 player era and made actually buying music obsolete.
Up till then a jukebox was really the only way to get music on-demand without buying and carrying the physical media. "Walkmen" never had much effect on the industry.
I've recently been contacted by one of the few operators that still have wallboxes in diners about taking over their remaining locations. I don't know how they got my number, I ask my locations NOT to give it out. I'm not rushing to get back to them.
The retro-touristy places still do fairly well, the run-of-the-mill diners and coffee shops are frankly a waste of equipment these days.
Rob
Re: Jukeboxes in TV Dramas.
Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 5:06 pm
by Ron Rich
Rob,
Great point--however the Jukebox License Office (JLO) says it can not provide licenses for "down loaders" ( I would think, being a "semi govt agency" they would be quick to do so, if they could--besides, the loss of fees must be costing them their own jobs !).
BTW "Copyright Fees" have gone up since they first were required in 1978 from $ 8.00 per juke to now about $ 450 for the first one to around $ 100 for the next ones. Ron Rich