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Partnership Among Manufacturer, Operator, and Location Dates to Dawn of Digital Downloading OMAHA, Neb., A tech-savvy Nebraska jukebox operator and an Omaha bar with a “Down Under” theme have put TouchTunes Music Corporation over the top to the tune of 20,000 digital-downloading jukeboxes installed and online.Omaha-based Nebraska Technical Service (NTS) recently installed TouchTunes’ 20,000th digital jukebox — a jumbo-size, broadband-connected Ovation wall model with a 19-inch LCD display — at Australia-themed Aussie’s Pub in Omaha, a longtime location for the operator. “From the time we introduced the world’s first digital-downloading jukebox in 1998, we’ve consistently had far more units on location and online than all of our competitors combined,” said Dan McAllister, TouchTunes senior vice president. “With 20,000 jukeboxes and counting, we’re extending the lead.” It’s also the 300th TouchTunes jukebox owned and operated by NTS, one of TouchTunes’ oldest and largest customers. In the September of 1998, Aussie’s Pub became one of the first locations in the world with a digital jukebox when NTS installed a first-generation TouchTunes model. “It’s fitting that the same operator and location are again making digital jukebox history,” said Dan Clarton, TouchTunes director of sales and part of the team that first signed up NTS as an operator. The bar’s new jukebox features a pre-release version of TouchTunes’ upcoming Gen III operating system for broadband, providing ultra-fast song searching for patrons, the ability to download and play personal playlists, and “music-management miracles” for jukebox operators through the industry’s most advanced computer components and software, McAllister noted. “Just from a technology standpoint alone, it’s breathtaking to see how far we’ve come in eight years,” he said. “The new TouchTunes jukebox at Aussie’s Pub is light years ahead of the first installation there.” TouchTunes earliest jukebox had 750 songs on the hard drive and offered only dial-up connectivity for music updates and administration. Today, more than 90 percent of its jukeboxes are broadband-enabled, the local hard drive holds 2,000 songs, and hundreds of thousands of additional songs are available to download and play immediately from an on-board mini-server and via broadband from TouchTunes’ central music library. TouchTunes and NTS celebrated with a party August 9 at Aussie’s for the bar’s patrons, as well as friends in the local coin-op industry. In a congratulatory letter to NTS founder and co-partner Rod Kruse, TouchTunes president and CEO John Perrachon wrote, “Though our customer base now numbers 1,800 jukebox operators, we are especially indebted to visionary companies like yours. You foresaw the business potential and public popularity of digital jukeboxes from the very beginning, when many in the industry doubted the viability of the technology and the staying power of our company. “We’re sure you would have been wildly successful with any brand of digital jukebox you chose,” Perrachon wrote. “We’re just happy you chose TouchTunes.” For his part, Kruse said, “We’ve been ecstatic with TouchTunes jukeboxes over the years. As a supplier, they’re as good as any we’ve ever had. They’ve got some great people there. I’ve enjoyed working with them.” Kruse attributed his company’s early adoption and success with digital jukeboxes to his staff’s abiding interest in high technology and a commitment to working with locations to make them successful. Aussie’s Pub has been an NTS location since it opened in 1991, Kruse said. Believed to be the only Australian-themed bar in the region, the establishment was started by Eric Perquin and his father Ron, native Nebraskans who spent about two decades in Australia. “We were one of the first bars in the country to have a digital jukebox, and we were the first in Omaha, and I’m glad we did it,” he said. “The sound quality is beyond reproach. Newcomers look around expecting to see a live band. And once somebody starts the music playing, it goes all night. We love the navigation and search features. A lot of our patrons like to show off their know-how with the jukebox.” For TouchTunes product and sales information, call (888) 338-5853 or e-mail sanmi@touchtunes.com. On the Net: www.touchtunes.com.
Sept. 21, 2006 |
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