Bad Jukebox Etiquette. (Kinda long)

[skypilot]

I really hate it when people "jump" my selections to play theirs on digital jukeboxes. The other night I was at one of my favorite dive bars and there was no music playing. I go to the jukebox and select three songs. A young woman comes up behind me and starts making small talk while waiting to make her selections. So my first song plays but then the next song is not one of my selections. And then the next song is not one of my selections. And the next. And the next...and the next. In all, this young woman played six songs and apparently selected the PLAY NEXT option and used credits for that option to skip my songs. So I had to listen to SIX of her songs before I could hear my second selection. When my second song (Rolling Stones's Gimme Shelter) plays she heads toward the jukebox with a fistful of dollar bills. I confront her and tell to please not skip my songs because I have only ONE more selection and I don't want to have to sit through several of her songs before I hear it. She was a bit defensive but she honored my wish.

People do this all the time now with digital jukeboxes. The credits they use to play their songs NEXT could have been used to play more songs if they weren't so intent on screwing the person who was at the jukebox before them. It's bad enough if they skip your next song to play ONE song that they like (sometimes I might just happen to like the song) but to push your songs WAY DOWN in the queue by playing a half dozen songs that THEY like is just fucking obnoxious. I have had one other person do this to me when there was NO music playing for 10-15 minutes before I went to play music. If they had played their songs in that 10-15 minute window they would not have had to use the credits to play their songs NEXT. Their songs would have played next for the simple fact that they got to the jukebox first. But they will wait until someone else goes to play music and THEN pull this shit. And don't even get me started on the assholes who do this surreptitiously from their phones with the iTunes app or whatever other app is out there that enables this shit.

End of rant. Thanks for listening/reading.

[jberryhill]

1. Wow

[skypilot]

3. In all fairness...

...this crap has been going on before Trump. As soon as digital jukeboxes came on the scene and gave people the option to skip other people's selections there have been idiots out there taking advantage of the opportunity.

[skypilot]

5. I guess I am too.

I really miss CD jukeboxes where the songs played in the order they were selected.

[BlueTsunami2018]

6. I'm guilty of this to an extent.

I don’t monopolize the entire juke but I will play my songs every other time depending on what’s ahead of me in the que. I don’t want to spend my entire time in the bar/restaurant listening to stuff I don’t like and I’m willing to pay for that privilege. People need to hear some Motörhead to broaden their horizons. I feel like I’m doing a public service. 😃

I’ll also play songs in bars that I’m not even in just for fun. Playing Cannibal Corpse in a hipster bar and imagining the confusion brings a little joy into my life.

I won’t screw anyone over entirely though, there is a line.

[skypilot]

7. I am having a hard time...

...imagining where your "line" is if you subject people to your music selection when you are not even there to hear it. I didn't get into that in my OP but I have heard people boasting about doing this as well. It might be fun for you but it IS inconsiderate, unless you somehow know that there is no other music playing at the time and you are not skipping other people's selections.

[BlueTsunami2018]

12. I thought I was clear.

I won’t take over the machine entirely but I will bump something I want to hear up in the line from time to time. It depends on how many are ahead of me, what they are and how long I’m going to be there. You can see all of that on the app. Like I said, I’m not a total dick monopolizing the machine but I will get some of mine in while others get to have theirs as well. I share the machine.

The other thing I just find amusing. Playing one three minute Death Metal song in a bar I see playing a bunch of diametrically opposite music is funny to me. I’m not going to ruin everyone’s time by doing it all night or anything. I just like to imagine the reaction. I don’t jump other people’s songs and it’s something I’ll only do rarely. Maybe it’s dumb but you have to make your own fun sometimes.

I’ll also play things for people I see checked into places. Like if my friends are at a certain place, I’ll play something and text them some lyrics when I see it come on so they know I played it for them. That always gets a good reaction. Lets people know you’re thinking about them.

The places with these machines can turn off the skip option. There are plenty of bars that don’t allow it. If it’s a place you frequent, you could suggest it to them.

[Captain Zero]

8. I quit juke boxing when I realized that with the new internet connected ones

They automatically play customers selections at a lower volume than the ones they or the establishment fed to it. Some bars the volume went so low on my songs I could barely tell what was playing. Took the app off my phone.

[skypilot]

10. I was not aware of this.

It doesn't seem to be an issue at the places I go. On the rare occasions when a song plays at a low volume the bartender will turn it up (or down) upon request. Still, I miss the CD jukeboxes of several years ago.

[yardwork]

9. Please, mister, please, don't play B17

[skypilot]

11. B17

Is that Copa Cabana by Barry Manilow?

[Ptah]

13. Please Mr Please Olivia Newton John

[csziggy]

14. I'd never even heard of digital jukeboxes

I remember when CD juke boxes were new but seldom hang out anywhere with any kind of jukebox.

The one story I have about jukeboxes is from a friend. He used to hang out at a particular bar. One night when he was mostly drunk some guys came in. One guy poured a bunch of coins into the jukebox and it started playing. He'd selected "Jeremiah was a bullfrog" a dozen times. Round about the fifth go around, my friend got up and unplugged the jukebox. The guy and his friends plugged it back in. My friend unplugged it.

Eventually there was a massive bar fight during which the song played on and on and on. To this day, fifty years later, my friend will NOT listen to that song.

[skypilot]

15. People will play a specific song...

...multiple times on digital jukeboxes as well. People do it just to be "funny". At the bar I go to the bartender can just grab a remote control and reject the song without having to unplug the jukebox. It has only happened a couple times when I was there and I suspect it was done "remotely" using an app.

[csziggy]

17. I like the remote control aspect!

The story I related happened when jukeboxes used vinyl 45s - and yes I am old.

[skypilot]

18. I'm old enough to remember...

...vinyl 45 jukeboxes. I kinda miss them.

[Miguelito Loveless]

16. Wait, jukeboxes are still a thing?