My Morning Jacket and its label ATO Records have struck upon a new way to introduce an album to existing fans and help the band find new ones: Zapping the record across the internet onto thousands of jukeboxes in bars and nightclubs around the world.
The band's upcoming album, Evil Urges, doesn't go on sale until June 10, but barflies and club kids can catch it as of Tuesday on any one of these music machines.
Say what you will about internet-connected jukeboxes replacing theircoin-operated ancestors, but this never would have been possible whenthe old-school versions were the only option.
"We did it with The Dandy Warhols and The Black Keys,
and now we're doing it with My Morning Jacket," said Brian Hoekstra, content manager for AMI Entertainment, one of three leading internet-connected jukebox companies. Hoekstra came up with the idea, but ATO Records (Radiohead's US distributor for CDs) wanted to put the album not only on AMI's jukeboxes, but also those run by the other two internet jukebox companies, Ecast and TouchTunes. The label gave AMI the entire album last Tuesday, and as of this Tuesday, it's available on Ecast and TouchTunes jukeboxes.
Essentially, anywhere you see an internet-connected jukebox, you'll be able to hear My Morning Jacket's music in advance of its official release.
"When afan favorite such as My Morning Jacket partners with us before theirrecord is for sale, they reach people in a place where music is one ofthe most important parts of the experience," said Lisa Tiver, Ecast's senior vice president of business affairs. "In bars and nightclubs,
current fans expose new listeners to the music and a new fan is born."
I've been following internet jukeboxes for more than eight years, ever since I
reviewed Ecast's first installed machine at a bar/curry housecalled Kennedy's in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood. The internet jukebox phenomenon hassince expanded to more than 10,000 bars andnightclubs worldwide.
Still, my high hopes for internet-connected jukeboxes remainsomewhat unfulfilled. Why can't I upload songs into a folder foraccessing from any of these jukeboxes? Heck, I'd even pay for theprivilege.
The trend seems seems to be in the other direction – selling space on jukeboxes for promotional reasons, rather than giving fans more control over what gets played. Nonetheless, this is a somewhat interesting way to hype a new album,
assuming enough My Morning Jacket fans drag their friends to bars to listen to thealbum before its release.
While we're on the topic, I'm not the only person who thinks My Morning Jacket deserves credit for the more popular Band of Horses' sound, although My Morning Jacket has since progressed toward more of a Prince-type feel, judging from its latest single. I do concede that Band of Horses' "Funeral" remains an incredible song,
even after being vastly overplayed and used in advertisements, but the band's sound isn't entirely original.
Here's a song from each band:
this audio or video is no longer available"One Big Holiday" – My Morning Jacket
this audio or video is no longer available"The Funeral" – Band of Horses
(If history is any indication, we can expect Band of Horses to premier its next album through internet jukeboxes, too.)
Photo courtesy Ecast
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