Spotify for the pub: crowdDJ app sends jukebox requests mobile
Because there's only so many times you can listen to Toto's "Africa" on the pub jukebox...
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Your Spotify playlist is pretty awesome, right? So why not do what the best music fans do and push your music tastes onto everyone else?
A new app out of Brisbane lets you do just that, giving you the opportunity to choose songs from your Spotify playlist and push them to play in your local pub, retail store or gym. Think of it like a jukebox, but without the dollar coins or the weird guy tapping away at the "Smash Mouth, All Star" button in the corner.
It's called crowdDJ and it's the work of Nightlife, a Brisbane company that manages commercial music licensing and hardware-like pub jukeboxes. Nightlife worked in conjunction with Spotify to create the app, which they say is a world first, expected to roll out globally after the Australian launch.
The by-request system is set to reach 5,000 venues nationally from today after being trialled in 600 venues across the country.
It's an easy set up. After downloading the crowdDJ app, visitors to a venue can check out the place's playlist, search for songs and then request tracks via the app.
Kiosks like this one let venues and their visitors control the crowdDJ music.
The business angle is clear, and Nightlife really pushes home that message on their website, telling businesses that "customers will stay longer, spend more, create memories and keep coming back."
But both Nightlife and Spotify are keen to sell the benefits to regular punters.
"Once upon a time you would walk into a pub and put money in a jukebox," said Nightlife Music Managing Director Mark Brownlee. "Now you simply open our app and choose one of your Spotify songs to play in the venue. Consumers have so much choice through Spotify, but playing music in public venues is much harder and that's where Nightlife comes in."
A venue can still limit the music you can choose (no showtunes in the gym at 7 a.m.) but it's a nifty idea for music lovers who want to put Jimmy Barnes and John Farnham on the back burner for a while.