News & UK Play Chart

Here at Soundnet, we've always been committed to offering our customers affordable products and services. As one of the leading digital jukebox music suppliers in the UK, we're proud to provide pubs, restaurants and bars with an exciting selection of background music packages at low prices. Since 2009, we've built a solid reputation as one of the market leaders in audio and visual content and we're constantly looking at ways to offer our customers more.

From February, we’re extending our commitment to value even further as we launch a new entry-level package for customers. For £27.50 per month, we're offering Premium 20K a landmark service for customers with a Sound Leisure SoundWave or Starburst digital jukebox, providing coin operators with the best music at the lowest prices.

We understand that a jukebox is a big investment and the launch of this new deal is a sign of our determination to respond to customer needs. As a result, the new package features 20,000 audio tracks, contains all the most-played songs from over 15,000 jukeboxes. It also includes the most popular albums from the past five years and a collection of classic tracks from a variety of different decades. As ever, the packages offer peace of mind in regards to legal issues and offers consumers absolute piece of mind.

It's been an exciting time here at Soundnet. Regular readers will remember that we recently revealed a variety of exciting announcements at the EAG show in London, unveiling Premium 20k as well as embarking on a partnership with online music hub Last.fm.

Today, we're delighted to announce a ground-breaking venture, in conjunction with Sound Leisure, with global musical service Last.fm. The partnership will see VenueHub customers access their online profiles via an innovative new application on our digital jukeboxes.

The application, which was developed by our partners at Sound Leisure, gives consumers the opportunity to access their Last.fm profiles from any of the VHub jukeboxes in the United Kingdom. It enables customers to quickly and easily listen to their favourite music from the 30,000 song library, as well as receive recommendations and view the profiles and track selections of other VHub customers. Customers will also be able to arrange tracks into 'top artist', 'top tracks' and 'loved tracks categories'. The application is the first example of a V-App which takes licensed data from a third-party provider.

Speaking about the partnership, our friends at Sound Leisure said:

"The Last.fm app provides jukebox users with immediate access to the music they listen to at home and on their mobile devices. This is a great leap forward for the industry and shows our commitment to provide V-Apps that enhance the customer experience.

"Last.fm is a huge music brand with millions of followers worldwide; the new app will help to cement VHub’s standing as the most advanced digital jukebox available."

Last.fm is the free online music service, offering its 30 million plus users the opportunity to document their playlist history from a variety of different musical services. The application, developed by Sound Leisure, will be available on all VHub jukeboxes (free of charge) from February.

A few days ago, you lucky people were introduced to The Rock Box, our state-of-the-art rock monster of a music package. This beast, which contains 10,000 hand-picked punk, rock and indie tracks, got quite a few of you pretty excited.

Still, we're not the kind of people to pick favourites and, this week, we're going to highlight the more sugary-sweet side of Soundnet; namely, our pop packages. Indeed, you're all huge fans of the top chart hits and our Top 30 hosts more than a few pop princes and princesses.

This week, our top hits include appearances from Lady Gaga, Adele, Katy Perry, Tracy Chapman and Bruno Mars. We've also got pop cameos from Rihanna, Beyonce and the Black Eyed Peas towards the bottom of the chart.

Now, you can find all of these artists, plus their various contemporaries, on several different Soundnet digital jukeboxes. Indeed, you'll be able to play the latest chart hits on the following systems (to be helpful, we've also included the number of different pop hits each package contains):

• Milestones in Music – 30,000 tracks
• Milestones in Music Unlimited – 30,000 tracks
• Milestones in Music Video - 30,000 tracksand 6,000 video tracks
• The Premium digital jukebox package – 10,000 tracks
• The value digital jukebox package – 5,000 tracks

Really, the package you choose is all dependant on how many pop hits your customers want to hear. Each digital jukebox package is slightly different; tailored to the needs and moods of patrons and clients.

Still, while you'll be able to listen to the leading pop hit, it's worth noting that, sometimes, your customers may want to relive the good old days of when Britney had pigtails and Gary Barlow could still do his shirt up at the middle.

Last week, we shared (for better or worse) our favourite tracks from the last few decades. The blog, which saw us quiz members of the Soundnet team about their perfect track, helped us to weed out which of us had a terrible taste in music. Suffice it to say, disciplinary action will probably be taken in more than one instance.

Anyway, aside from exposing the occasional Elvis fan, the blog also reminded us of one important lesson; that people have a huge variety in their musical tastes. Everyone likes different things.

For proof, you need look no further than the Soundnet digital jukebox chart; a veritable medley of tastes and genres. Currently, pop pianist Bruno Mars sits on top of Aloe Blacc in the top ten. Meanwhile, Calvin Harris shares the halfway mark with Snoop Dog, while Adele and Chris Brown vie for a place in the top five. It's an eclectic mix and just goes to show what a wide taste our listeners have. In any given evening, one of our digital jukeboxes can play anything from Elvis to Elbow.

But sometimes, you don't need a variety. Sometimes, you know exactly what your customers want to hear.

That's why we've created the Soundnet Rock Box. Especially designed for those venues with a bit of the guitar hero in them, this digital jukebox contains over 10,000 hand-picked rock, punk, metal, indie and alternative tracks. It's the perfect playlist for a rock bar, student hideout or music venue.

Here's what's in the box:

• Venue favourites
• Local bands
• Album of the month feature
• MIM technology
• A whole lot of rock

It is the perfect way to keep a very specific set of customer satisfied; give them more of what they like. Plus, the gods of rock demand it!

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At Soundnet, we know our jukebox customers like new music. In fact, they like it so much, 85 per cent of all the tracks played on our digital jukeboxes are new releases or recent chart hits.

As a company, we pride ourselves on getting the latest tunes to our customers - from new releases to nostalgic re-entries - although recently, we've even impressed ourselves.

Last month, cult British band Radiohead announced the launch of their eighth studio album, The King of Limbs, on the 14th of February. Five days later, the album was released in a download format. The record was an instant success and received rave reviews.

While the physical copy won’t be available until May, the team here at Soundnet outdid themselves by offering the album on all online connected Milestones jukeboxes the Monday after its release.

In order to ensure customers have the best opportunity to maximize the revenues surrounding the release, we have already sent out the album for standard MIMs and it is also available on request for SNUK (at no extra cost).

But, we’re not just Radiohead fans. We’re also offering customers free live performances for this year’s Brit Award performances, featuring spectacular one-off songs by Arcade Fire, Adele, Rihanna and Plan B.

Speaking to the Soundnet blog, James Luck said:

“We pride ourselves on offering the best possible service to our customers and that means providing the music people want to hear when it is topical and relevant.”

In the past we have provided special playlists for Michael Jackson after his death, for the Beatles Remastered album when it was in the news and we also offer a popular X Factor service after each show."

Everyone at Soundnet lives and breathes music and we know that many people who spend money on jukeboxes feel the same way. Soundnet customers can relax in the knowledge that we will keep their jukeboxes as up to date as possible – even ahead of the shops or radio stations.”

From Autumn until the Christmas number one is announced, Simon Cowell has a firm grip on the musical mainstream, thanks to the X Factor. Due to all the attention, and the ever-higher standard of the contestants' performances, the X Factor's live shows are no longer just auditions – they've become televised gigs, featuring the hottest tracks in the country every Saturday night.

For fans of the show it's not enough just to talk about Cher's latest rap or Mary's newest powerful ballad – thanks to the wonders of downloading the songs are now becoming chart contenders and, thanks to Soundnet, your jukebox can also get the X Factor.

Soundnet's free X Factor playlist is available to all Milestones in Music customers and means that all of the contestants' performances, as well as the originals of the songs they covered, will be available on the Monday after the show to online customers, or as part of the fortnightly update for offline customers.

Not only is this the perfect way to build up to the final and relive the highlights of the series, it'll attract and entertain customers and ensure they spend time and money in your establishment.
 

In March, Facebook overtook Google to become the most visited site on the Web. And what’s more, according to recent statistics, a whopping 50% of its 350 million plus users log into it every single day. More than 35 million of its users update their status everyday too – that’s a lot of active engagement – and it means their friends need to be able to access the web to stay up to speed with the latest goings on in their social circle.

Add to the mix rapidly-growing upstart Twitter, business essential LinkedIn and photo-hoster Flickr, itself a resource for over four billion images (and counting), and a picture soon emerges of a growing number of must-visit sites, whose dedicated users can’t be out of the loop for too long.

Thanks to the wonders of wi-fi there’s no need to be left out in the cold anymore, meaning terminal tweeters can share their latest musings, Facebook fiends find out what their friends got up to on their holidays as soon as they touch back down and budding Alan Sugars can do a bit of networking over lunch, via LinkedIn. It doesn’t take an entrepreneur to know that wi-fi connectivity is paramount in our new social networking age. Wi-fi in your pub, bar, cafe or hotel is as necessary as the furniture customers and patrons sit on.

Creating the right ambience in a venue’s a tricky thing. Get it right and it’ll feel like a home from home, get it wrong and you’ll set people’s teeth on edge as they battle to have a conversation over a blast of highly inappropriate Hip Hop, or cover their ears to avoid another Rick Wakeman solo.

Luckily, the days when you had to rely on your staff bringing in music from the more questionable corners of their CD collection, or having the same mix-tape stuck on a loop day-in, day-out, are gone. Thanks to Soundnet’s free background music software you can create the perfect environment for your customers, whether they’re into hair metal or acid jazz, and remove the risk of hearing the same song every day for a month all at once.

It’s also interesting to note that background music can, and does, influence customer behaviour. A French study conducted in 2008 showed that customers, on average, order an extra drink, and drink more quickly, when there is faster or louder music on in the background. And you don’t need any studies to tell you that making your venue seem welcoming, and playing the music your customers want to hear, will make it a far more appealing, inviting place to spend their time (and money).

With Sound Leisure’s Smart Quiz application on your digital jukebox you have everything you need to host a brilliant pub quiz, without the need for expensive quiz masters or mobile PAs. Here are our top five tips for a great quiz night.

Promotion

Quiz nights are a huge draw, so spread the word about yours in advance, giving would-be masterminds plenty of chance to pencil the date in their diaries (in between learning England monarchs by heart...).

Have a break

With the Sound Leisure pub quiz application you can run an automated quiz, building in breaks so punters can pause for drinks and to dust off their thinking caps. If you’d rather be hands-on, there’s an option allowing a staff member to push all the right buttons using the intuitive interface.

Make it immersive

Aside from saving you a fortune, the Smart Quiz application allows you to take full advantage of your digital jukebox, seamlessly integrating music and video clips to illustrate questions and make your customers feel fully immersed in an ultra-modern quiz experience.

Keep it fresh

The Smart Quiz comes with an initial bank of a thousand quiz questions. That’s not all – the smart technology randomly selects questions which haven’t been used before, ensuring you don’t repeat yourself and give regulars an easy ride.

Keep it regular

You’ve got a packed-out venue, and everyone’s talking about your slick, immersive quiz – so why leave it there? Turn it into a regular monthly, or even weekly, event and watch the regular, loyal customers flock in.

With an estimated 22,000 taking place in the UK every week the pub quiz has gone from occasional money-spinner to pub mainstay. Not only do quizzes foster a loyal, and regular, base of customers – they’re also the perfect way of boosting the coffers.

Creating a stimulating and engrossing quiz experience is easier than it’s ever been. Gone are the days when the only option was a hired quizmaster or the plucky landlord trying their hand at light entertainment – thanks to Soundnet’s quiz package you can have a fully automated quiz at your fingertips.

The automated option saves on overheads and allows you to seamlessly blend audio and video content from your digital jukebox, creating an enhanced, immersive quiz bound to keep people coming back, win or lose.

Even landlords formerly averse to the idea of quizzes have started to come around to the benefits of a regular event on their quieter nights, with some even opting to take out their satellite TV and swapping it for a quiz machine – with lucrative results.

Find out more about Soundnet’s quiz package and see why we’ve got all the answers you need to provide a cutting-edge quiz experience.