In a market swimming with “me too” competitors, Electric Jukebox can’t be accused of that but its high-end price tag will put off potential impulse purchases – its timing ahead of Christmas this year is probably no accident, though. The Electric Jukebox (as opposed to the gas-powered one) wants to combine the music catalogue of streaming services with the plug-and-play simplicity of a CD player.
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The Electric Jukebox has two parts to it: A plug-in Wi-Fi dongle which connects to the HDMI port on your TV, and a wand-like remote used to control the system. It also has a deal with Getty Images, which means a raft of pleasant backgrounds can be on while music is playing.
Does anyone listen to music this way any more?
Streaming is the future of music – that is now the accepted wisdom. In research the company sponsored, pollster YouGov found 52 percent of people listen to music over the radio at home and 42 percent use CDs. You use a wireless remote similar to the Nintendo Wii controller to peruse the service.
Because the Electric Jukebox is motion-controlled, the remote only sports a few essential buttons. It looks to bring a plug-and-play music listening experience to make music streaming far more approachable.
Electric Jukebox also doesn’t require a user account or password and can only be accessed through the device plugged into the TV. “Simple, fun and no fuss”.
No matter how you slice it, the Electric Jukebox is an odd gadget. I hope everyone loves our playlists as much as Ayda and I do.
The annual subscription is about half the price of Spotify and Apple Music, which are £10 or $10 per month.
Alesha Dixon, singer and presenter commented: “It doesn’t get much better than having friends and family over and blasting out our favourite tunes”.
“We want everyone to be able to listen to music they want and to be able to listen together”.
Remember when music was a social experience, rather than an insular one, dominated by headphones and smartphones? The service is only for the living room, with no mobile component. Streaming hardware solutions like Sonos are used by only 6pc of consumers, and more than 92pc have yet to subscribe to any form of music streaming service. “Mass market streaming has finally become a reality”. “Then there were hundreds of millions of others who bought quite a lot of CDs”. I mean, why would I want Stephen Fry – a fine actor and intellect, no doubt – to curate music for me? “You can set it up in less than two minutes”. When asked about their listening habits, 70% of people also highlighted that listening to music in the home was very important to them.
Over a four-year period, you will have paid $410 with Electric Jukebox, including the cost of the HDMI dongle.
The Electric Jukebox’s main menu features just three simple options to choose from. Created to be as intuitive as possible, and much more so than application based downloads, it is easy for the whole family to explore and play music together from the comfort of the sofa. When it launches in the United Kingdom and USA this Christmas, it’ll cost £179 ($229) and come pre-loaded with a 12-month pass granting you access to 30 million tracks, the same amount as Spotify and Apple Music.
As well as this, former QI host and some-time DAB enthusiast Stephen Fry has also been tapped up to promote the Electric Jukebox. All pricing includes a free 1 Year Music Pass worth £60 / $60. Electric Jukebox is also enlisting artists to serve as evangelists for the product when it launches. And there’s a curation aspect too, with the likes of Sheryl Crow, Robbie Williams and Alesha Dixon contributing custom playlists of songs.
Founded by CEO Rob Lewis, previously Founder CEO of Omnifone and a Library House Entrepeneur of The Year, Rob leads a team based in London.
“The complexity of digital is rapidly depriving people of the right to enjoy music at home”. We’re trying to make streaming as easy to use as the radio.
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Electric Jukebox is targeting those who want to simply turn their television into a personal jukebox, but at a one of cost of £179, followed by £60 per year – which works out at £5 per month. Pre-orders made before midnight on Wednesday 21 October will benefit from our seven day introductory offer of just £149 in the United Kingdom and $199 in the US.
