Jukebox App for Bars, Pubs and Restaurants

Posted on December 19, 2019

When it comes to running a bar, pub or restaurant, the right music can help set the perfect atmosphere. There are plenty of options for buying/renting jukebox services which require proprietary hardware, tie you into contracts or include subscription and maintenance fees. Jukebox Star is the only free jukebox app for bars, pubs and restaurants. No limited trial or pay walls.

We’re going to show you how to quickly and easily setup your own free jukebox for your bar, pub or restaurant.

What you will need:

1. A device with internet access and able to play online videos
2. Speakers (bluetooth works too)
3. A free Jukebox Star account
4. 5-10 minutes

What is Jukebox Star?

Jukebox Star is a free, online web app that allows users to create a jukebox which other users can request music videos to play. There is no running costs, no installations/downloads and no additional third party premium accounts required. Jukebox Star is completely free to use for everyone.

This means Jukebox Star is great as a jukebox app for bars, pubs and restaurants. Venue owners can setup a jukebox within 5-10 minutes and promote a link for all their customers to login and start playing music on. Best of all, there are plenty of great settings to ensure owners have full control over the music played.

One Jukebox, Many Possibilities

Jukebox Star provides you with the flexibility to play music however you wish. You can use it to either provide a fully interactive jukebox experience allowing your customers to add music to the jukebox queue. Alternatively, you can use it as a private jukebox, only you and staff have access to. It’s entirely up to you how you wish to use Jukebox Star.

1. Create a Free Account

Go to https://www.jukeboxstar.com/app, click ‘Create an account’ and fill out the short signup form. Now, login to Jukebox Star.

2. Create a Jukebox for your Venue

It’s free to create a jukebox on Jukebox Star. Simple click on ‘Start a Jukebox’ then ‘Create a Jukebox’ or go to https://www.jukeboxstar.com/app/#jukebox/add

Fill out the form, filling in as much of the detail as you want. This is a great way to promote your social media accounts and special offers. You will also see a few settings to control how your jukebox works. More on that later.

3. Plug In and Press Play

Now it’s time to start your jukebox. Simply connect your device to your speakers (Jukebox Star is bluetooth compatible), navigate to the ‘My Jukeboxes’ page and click the ‘play’ button next to your jukebox. You will now see the video player load. On some devices, you may have to click the play button on the video player to start.

You and your customers can now find your jukebox from any device on the Jukeboxes search page, check-in and start adding music to the play queue. Furthermore, you can control your jukebox from your own device, such as your smart phone.

4. Promote Your Jukebox

If you want your customers to access your jukebox, you will need to promote your jukebox link. Simply go to your jukebox’s page and copy the web address in your browser. Then share this link on your social media accounts and within your venue. It’s a good idea to promote your jukebox on a table talker.

5. Curate Your Style with Playlists

Playlists are a great way to suggest tracks to play, while still giving your customer the freedom of choice. For example, if you run a Latin resatuarnt, you may want to limit the tracks to only Latin style music. Or perhaps you are a pub that has a Rock night. Create playlists that fit the style of your venue and fill them with your favourite tracks.

You can create a playlist by, firstly, checking into your jukebox, then go to ‘Music’ and click ‘Add Playlist’. Once you have done that, you can start adding music to your track. Search for a music track and click the ‘more’ icon then ‘Add to Playlist’. Select the playlist to add the track to and click ‘Add’.

Now, whenever someone is checked into your jukebox, when they go to the Music page, they will see your playlists to choose from.

If you would like to further control how your jukebox works and what music can be played, keep reading.

6. Stay in Control with Admin Controls and Settings

For many reasons, you may need to stay in control of the music that is played on your jukebox. Jukebox Star has introduced a number of useful settings and controls to make the jukebox experience even better.

Queue Control – You can skip and remove tracks from your jukebox queue as well as clear the entire queue. These features can be found on the Queue page.

Empty Queue Setting – Choose what your jukebox plays when the queue is empty. You can choose ‘play nothing’, ‘this jukebox’s history’ or the entire Jukebox Star database. This feature can be found when editing a jukebox.

Track Selection Setting – Choose which tracks can be selected to play. Choose from any track or only track that have been played before on your Jukebox. This feature can be found when editing a jukebox.

Password Protect – Prevent unwanted guests from adding tracks to the play queue by password protecting your jukebox. This is great for private jukeboxes. This feature can be found when editing a jukebox.

Edit Jukebox History – View the entire history of music played on your jukebox and ban tracks from paying in the future. This feature can be found when clicking on the ‘more’ button next to your jukebox.

Bonus: Alternative Setup

Another great way to use Jukebox Star is to set it up with a dedicated jukebox queuing device that your customers can use, instead of requiring them to sign into their own account on their own device.

This would work similar to a traditional jukebox in which your venue provides a tablet device with a ‘guest’ account and allow your customers to queue tracks up from that device.

Conclusion

As you can see, it’s pretty easy to setup a free jukebox for a bar, pub or restaurant with Jukebox Star. Furthermore, there are plenty of controls and settings allowing you to customise your jukebox to work the way you need it too.

If you have any questions or feedback, please contact Jukebox Star or give us a shout on Twitter or Facebook and we’ll be more than happy to help.