AS220 Reinvents the Jukebox

AS220 Reinvents the Jukebox

Have you ever wandered into a bar, noticed the jukebox in the corner, and dreamt about one of your songs being played at the drop of a quarter? What musician wouldn’t want to sit back quietly and observe the reaction of a bar’s patron to their music? With the new AS220 Jukebox, that dream is a reality.
 
The brainchild of AS220 Labs’ Brandon Edens, AS220’s Jukebox allows local bands to upload their music via the Web, and makes it instantly available to play for anyone sipping a cocktail at AS220’s watering hole.
 
The entire jukebox was designed in-house, including the software, the design of the jukebox, and its manufacturing. Susan Clausen, Building Manager, all-around handy-person and artist, built out the installation of the jukebox into the bar’s wall. AS220 Labs’ Shawn Wallace provided the coin mechanism that one drops quarters into.

AS220’s Jukebox combines a classic music-player icon with high-tech innovation, and beautiful design. Consider it an iPod mainframe of sorts in which artists anywhere with an internet connection can create a band profile, upload their music, and earn money every time someone’s quarter plays one of their songs.

Expanding the AS220 mission

AS220’s Artistic Director Umberto Crenca sees the jukebox as another extension of AS220’s overall mission. Like AS220’s performance and gallery spaces, the jukebox connects community artists directly to the community and vice-versa. The jukebox also offers a well-thought out solution to dealing with some of the limitations of AS220’s ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC boycott. Prior to the jukebox, all of the music being played in the bar could not be ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC, with the exception of individual artists granting AS220 permission to play their music by signing a form. This of course limited their musical library, and filling an iPod with independent music not banned by the boycott was time-consuming. With the new jukebox, the library is filling up with the sounds of Rhode Island’s own music scene.

AS220’s jukebox is a win for both art and commerce. It combines the physical ‘art’ object in the form of the jukebox itself, with virtual access to a wealth of locally composed and produced music. AS220 provides the same revenue split to its jukebox artists as it does to its gallery artists, giving 70% directly to the artist. It sounds like a win all around.

Want to create your own AS220 Jukebox profile and upload your music, go here. To learn more about AS220, go here.