View source for Jukebox

{{short description|Device to play music}}
{{other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{multiple image
| direction = vertical
| image1 = Edison Phonograph in the Phono Museum.jpg
| caption1 = Edison Class M Cylinder Phonograph (1892)
| image5 = Tableside juke box 01.jpg
| caption5 = Seeburg Wall-o-Matic tableside extension
| image12 = Dscn2823-Wurlitzer-3500-Zodiac-On.jpg
| caption12 = Wurlitzer Zodiac 3500 jukebox (1971)
| image13 = Dscn2824-Wurlitzer-3500-Zodiac-On-Open.jpg
| caption13 = Wurlitzer jukebox opened
| image14 = Dscn2825-Wurlitzer-3500-Zodiac-internal-playing.jpg
| caption14 = Wurlitzer jukeboxs internal workings
| image26 = Jukebox Mimosa Rouge Orphéau.jpg
| caption26 = 2018 Orphéau “Sunflower” Jukebox for 12″ records
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A '''jukebox''' is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that plays a user-selected song from a self-contained media library. Traditional jukeboxes contain records, compact discs, or digital files, and allow users to select songs through mechanical buttons, a touch screen, or keypads. They were most commonly found in diners, bars, and entertainment venues throughout the 20th century.<ref>{{cite book |last=Millard |first=Andre |title=America on Record: A History of Recorded Sound |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2005}}</ref>

The modern concept of the jukebox evolved from earlier automatic phonographs of the late 19th century. The first coin-operated phonograph was introduced by Louis Glass and William S. Arnold in 1889 at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco.<ref>{{cite web |title=The History of the Jukebox |url=https://www.history.com/news/a-brief-history-of-the-jukebox |website=History.com |access-date=15 May 2025}}</ref> The term "jukebox" itself is believed to derive from the [[Gullah language|Gullah]] word "juke" or "joog", meaning disorderly or rowdy, referring to juke joints where music and dancing were common.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cheseborough |first=Steve |title=Blues Traveling: The Holy Sites of Delta Blues |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |year=2009}}</ref>

Jukeboxes became especially popular from the 1940s to the 1960s, with models produced by companies such as Wurlitzer, Seeburg, Rock-Ola, and AMI. In the digital age, traditional jukeboxes have been largely replaced by internet-enabled systems and digital streaming services, though vintage and retro-style jukeboxes remain popular in niche markets and among collectors.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Rise and Fall of the Jukebox |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/rise-and-fall-jukebox-180975369/ |website=Smithsonian Magazine |access-date=15 May 2025}}</ref>

==History==
Coin-operated [[music box]]es and [[player piano]]s were the first forms of automated coin-operated musical devices. These devices used [[Music roll|paper rolls]], metal disks, or metal cylinders to play a musical selection on an actual instrument, or on several actual instruments, enclosed within the device. Later machines used sound recordings instead of musical instruments.

In 1889, Louis Glass and William S. Arnold invented the nickel-in-the-slot phonograph, in [[San Francisco]], installing it at the ''Palais Royal Saloon'', 303 Sutter street, two blocks away from the offices of their Pacific Phonograph Company.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-the-jukebox-4076502 |title = How the Era of the Jukebox Came and Went}}</ref> This was an ''Edison Class M Electric Phonograph''<ref name="bonhams/21932/5">{{cite web |title=An Important Edison Class M electric phonograph in glazed case, early manufacture circa 1891, with later modifications, |url=https://www.bonhams.com/auction/21932/lot/5/an-important-edison-class-m-electric-phonograph-in-glazed-case-early-manufacture-circa-1891-with-later-modifications/ |website=Bonhams :  bonhams.com |access-date=17 November 2025 |language=en}}</ref> retrofitted with a device patented<ref name="theinventors/bljukebox">{{cite web |title=Jukebox History |url=https://theinventors.org/library/inventors/bljukebox.htm |website=theinventors.org |access-date=17 November 2025}}</ref> under the name of ‘Coin Actuated Attachment for Phonograph’. The music was heard via two of eight listening tubes.<ref name="Weekly">{{cite web |last=Weiss |first=Brett |title=Rock on with vintage jukeboxes |website=Antique Week |date=15 October 2010 |url=http://www.antiqueweek.com/Article.asp?newsid=1796 |access-date=28 October 2010 |archive-date=23 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230223215424/http://www.antiqueweek.com/Article.asp?newsid=1796 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="mysticstamp">{{cite web |title=This Day in History…  November 23, 1889 |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200130091915/https://www.mysticstamp.com/info/this-day-in-history-november-23-1889-2/ |website=Mystic Stamp Discovery Center |access-date=17 November 2025 |language=en-us}} [https://info.mysticstamp.com/wp-content/uploads/11-23-1889-Jukebox.pdf pdf]</ref><ref name="pm/a21127">{{cite news |title=Pay for Play: Who Invented the Jukebox? |url=https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/a21127/how-the-jukebox-got-its-groove/ |access-date=17 November 2025 |work=Popular Mechanics |date=6 June 2016}}</ref><ref name="wired/1123first">{{cite news |last1=Long |first1=Tony |title=Nov. 23, 1889: S.F. Gin Joint Hears World's First Jukebox |url=https://www.wired.com/2010/11/1123first-jukebox/ |access-date=17 November 2025 |work=Wired}}</ref><ref name="independent/a6739151">{{cite news |title=The first jukebox: Rhodri Marsden's Interesting Objects #88 |url=https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/music/features/the-first-jukebox-rhodri-marsden-s-interesting-objects-88-a6739151.html |access-date=17 November 2025 |work=The Independent |date=18 November 2015 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sfweekly.com/1999-12-01/music/riff-raff/ |title=Riff Raff: Jukebox hero and Gordon Dorsey |first=Mark |last=Athitakis |date=1 December 1999 |website=SF Weekly |access-date=28 May 2009 |archive-date=21 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150221135200/http://www.sfweekly.com/1999-12-01/music/riff-raff/ |url-status=dead }}[https://web.archive.org/web/20141224225836if_/http://www.sfweekly.com/imager/glass-jukebox-patent/b/original/2137540/af2d/127206.0.jpeg pic]</ref><ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20070218025730/http://thegreatgeekmanual.com/blog/category/geek-history/ – Glass/Arnold patents{{dl|date=November 2025}</ref>

In 1928, Justus P. [[Seeburg Corporation|Seeburg]], who was manufacturing player pianos, combined a loudspeaker with a record player that was coin-operated.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Carlisle |first1=Rodney |title=Scientific American Inventions and Discoveries |date=2004 |publisher=Wiley |location=Hoboken, NJ |isbn=0-471-24410-4 |url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/scientificameric0000carl}}</ref> This ‘Audiophone’ machine was wide and bulky because it had eight separate turntables mounted on a rotating Ferris wheel-like device, allowing patrons to select from eight different 10″ 78rpm records. 

Also in 1928, [[Homer E. Capehart]] and some backers founded the Capehart Automatic Phonograph Company, which brought out the Orchestrope. It was a device in which the tone arm slipped between each pair of records in a vertical stack, playing that record on which the needle fell.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Pierce |first1=Charles P. |title=Crusin' for tunes |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_boston-phoenix_1982-10-12_11_41/page/n35/mode/1up |access-date=September 26, 2024 |work=The Boston Phoenix |date=October 12, 1982}}</ref>

A similar system to Seeburg’s Audiophone was employed by the [[Mills Novelty Company]] in their 1935 Dancemaster Automatic Phonograph. The [[Seeburg Corporation|Seeburg]] Symphonola “Trashcan” jukebox of 1938 holds 20 10″ 78rpm records each in a shallow centreless drawer so that when the selected record’s drawer opens, the turntable can rise through the open centre of the drawer to lift the record up to meet the pickup arm at the top of the mechanism, where it plays. Working examples of both these instruments may be seen and heard at the [[Musical Museum, Brentford|Musical Museum]], Brentford, England.<ref>{{Cite web |title=MMCatalogue (All) |url=https://www.musicalmuseum.co.uk/mmcatalogue |access-date=2024-08-08 |website=The Musical Museum |language=en |archive-date=8 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240808103828/https://www.musicalmuseum.co.uk/mmcatalogue |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Later versions of the jukebox included Seeburg’s ''Selectophone'' with 10 turntables mounted vertically on a spindle. By maneuvering the tone arm up and down, the customer could select from 10 different records.<ref name="Weekly"/>
	
The word “jukebox” came into use in the United States beginning in 1940, apparently derived from the familiar usage “[[juke joint]]”, derived from the [[Gullah language|Gullah]] word ''juke'', which means “bawdy”.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/jukebox|title=Juke house |publisher=[[Dictionary.com]] |language=en-US|url-status=live |access-date=April 18, 2022 |archive-date=30 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160330092318/https://www.dictionary.com/browse/jukebox}}</ref> Manufacturers of jukeboxes tried to avoid using the term, associated with unreputable places, for many years.<ref name="Wald2010">{{cite book | author = Elijah Wald | date = 3 August 2010 | title = The Blues: A Very Short Introduction | publisher = Oxford University Press | page = 43 | isbn = 978-0-19-975079-5 | oclc = 1014220088 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Q4ZpAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA43}}</ref>

{{anchor|wallbox}}

Wallboxes were an important, and profitable, part of any jukebox installation. Serving as a remote control, they enabled patrons to select tunes from their table or booth. One example is the Seeburg 3W1, introduced in 1949 as companion to the 100-selection Model M100A jukebox. [[Stereo sound]] became popular in the early 1960s, and wallboxes of the era were designed with built-in speakers to provide patrons a sample of this latest technology.

Jukeboxes were most popular from the 1940s through the mid-1960s, particularly during the 1950s. By the middle of the 1940s, three-quarters of the records produced in America went into jukeboxes.<ref name="tcow">{{Cite book |last=Cowen |first=Tyler |title=In Praise of Commercial Culture |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2000 |pages=164, 166 |isbn=0-674-00188-5}}</ref> ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' published a [[record chart]] measuring jukebox play during the 1950s, which briefly became a component of the [[Billboard Hot 100|Hot 100]]; by 1959, the jukebox’s popularity had waned to the point where ''Billboard'' ceased publishing the chart and stopped collecting jukebox play data.<ref name="NPR">{{cite news |last1=Molanphy |first1=Chris |title=How the Hot 100 Became America's Hit Barometer |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2013/08/16/207879695/how-the-hot-100-became-americas-hit-barometer |access-date=14 March 2018 |work=All Things Considered |publisher=NPR |date=1 August 2013}}</ref> Jukeboxes were popular in Japan throughout the 1960s and 1970s.<ref>[https://www3.nhk.or.jp/sapporo-news/20240605/7000067489.html 【特集】半世紀前に流行 “ジュークボックス”に魅せられて]. NHK, 北海道 NEWS WEB. 5 June 2024.</ref>

As of 2016, at least two companies still manufacture classically styled jukeboxes: [[Rock-Ola]], based in [[California]], and [[Sound Leisure]], based in [[Leeds]] in the UK. Both companies manufacture jukeboxes based on a CD playing mechanism. However, in April 2016, Sound Leisure showed a prototype of a “Vinyl Rocket” at the UK Classic Car Show. It stated that it would start production of the 140 7″ vinyl selector (70 records) in summer of the same year.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20160510-why-fans-of-vintage-vinyl-love-this-brand-new-machine |title=Why fans of vintage vinyl love this brand-new machine |first=Norman |last=Miller |date=11 May 2016 |publisher=BBC Capital}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.soundleisure.com/classic-jukeboxes |title=Classic Jukeboxes |publisher=Sound Leisure}}</ref>

Since 2018, Orphéau, based in [[Brittany]] in France manufactures the original styled “Sunflower” Jukebox with the first [[Twelve-inch single|12″ vinyl]] record selector (20 records), on both sides.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Matthieu Defoly invente le jukebox nouvelle génération – Le Journal des Entreprises – Ille-et-Vilaine |url=https://www.lejournaldesentreprises.com/ille-et-vilaine/article/matthieu-defoly-invente-le-jukebox-nouvelle-generation-512148 |access-date=18 November 2020 |website=Le Journal des Entreprises |date=26 August 2020 |language=fr}}</ref>

==Notable models==
* 1927 LINK – Valued at US$40,000 and extremely rare<ref name="Weekly"/>
* 1940 Gabel Kuro – 78&nbsp;rpm, the manufacturer’s last model. Four or five are known to exist; valued at US$125,000<ref name="Weekly"/>
* 1942 Rock-Ola President – Only one is known to exist; valued at least US$150,000<ref name="Weekly"/>
* 1942 Rock-Ola Premier – 15 known to exist; valued at US$20,000<ref name="Weekly"/>
* 1942 Wurlitzer 950 – 75–90 known to exist; valued at US$35,000<ref name="Weekly"/>
* 1946 Wurlitzer Model 1015<ref name=PicollectaWurlitzer1015>{{cite web |title=Wurlitzer 1015 |url=https://www.picollecta.com/p/wurlitzer-1015-1000070372 |website=Picollecta |access-date=14 January 2015 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150114072243/https://www.picollecta.com/p/wurlitzer-1015-1000070372 |archive-date=14 January 2015}}</ref> – Called the “1015 bubbler”, it offered 24 selections. More than 56,000 were sold in less than two years. Considered a pop culture icon, it was designed by Paul Fuller.<ref name="Weekly"/>
* 1952 Seeburg M100C – The jukebox exterior used in the credit sequences for ''[[Happy Days]]'' in seasons 1–10. It played up to fifty 45-RPM records, making it a 100-play. It was very colorful, with chrome glass tubes on the front, mirrors in the display, and rotating animation in the pilasters.<ref name="Weekly"/>
* 1967 Rock-Ola 434 Concerto – The jukebox interior used in the credit sequence for the 11th and final season of ''Happy Days''. Like the Seeburg M100C, it played up to fifty 45-RPM records, but unlike the M100C, had a horizontal playback mechanism.<ref name="Weekly"/>
*2018 Orphéau Sunflower Series – The first jukebox that played up to twenty 33-RPM records on both sides.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Durox |first1=Par Solenne |last2=à 11h55 |first2=correspondante en BretagneLe 24 décembre 2019 |date=24 December 2019 |title=Bretagne : le jukebox remis au goût du jour par un Rennais |url=https://www.leparisien.fr/economie/bretagne-le-jukebox-remis-au-gout-du-jour-par-un-rennais-24-12-2019-8223747.php |access-date=18 November 2020 |website=leparisien.fr |language=fr-FR}}</ref>

==Decline==
Traditional jukeboxes once were an important source of income for record publishers. Jukeboxes received the newest recordings first. They became an important market-testing device for new music, since they tallied the number of plays for each title. They let listeners control the music outside of their home, before audio technology became portable. They played music on demand without commercials.<ref name="Weekly"/>

In 1995, the [[United States Postal Service]] issued a 25-cent stamp commemorating the jukebox.<ref>{{cite web|title=Stamp Series |publisher=United States Postal Service |url=http://beyondtheperf.com/stamp-series |access-date=2 September 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130810160707/http://beyondtheperf.com/stamp-series |archive-date=10 August 2013 }}</ref>

==Derivatives==
===Disc changers===
'''Disc changers''' are similar devices for personal use. [[Record changers]] on turntables typically lacked any selection mechanism, instead playing an entire stack of up to a dozen records in order. CD changers identical in size to standard players or inside a single-DIN [[automotive head unit|car stereo]] hold several discs; slightly larger changers that fit on a shelf or in a car’s trunk attached to its [[vehicle audio]] system controlled from the dashboard, hold up to hundreds of discs; these can be arbitrarily autoplayed, removed, or inserted by the user. If under [[software]] control, especially for [[computer file]] storage, these are often called [[optical jukebox]]es.

===Portable music players===
[[File:Piqsels.com-id-zyxzh.jpg|thumb|[[iRiver H300 series|iRiver H300]], a type of player that was described as a “jukebox”]]
The term “jukebox” was used to describe high-capacity, [[hard disk]] mobile [[digital audio player]]s due to their amount of digital space allowing someone’s entire personal music library to be stored and played anywhere.<ref name="guar">{{Cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2003/nov/01/netmusic.internet | title=The iPod wars | website=[[TheGuardian.com]] | date=November 2003 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/19/technology/news-watch-portable-audio-music-lasts-longer-on-a-hybrid-player.html | title=NEWS WATCH: PORTABLE AUDIO; Music Lasts Longer on a Hybrid Player | newspaper=The New York Times | date=19 June 2003 | last1=Biersdorfer | first1=J. d. }}</ref> The term was popularized following the introduction of the [[Creative NOMAD|Creative NOMAD Jukebox]] in 2000, which could store the [[MP3]] compressed equivalent of 150 CDs of music on its six gigabyte hard drive.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-sep-14-fi-20761-story.html | title=New Nomad Jukebox Digital Music Player Really Turns up the Volume | website=[[Los Angeles Times]] | date=14 September 2000 }}</ref> In later years, the [[iPod Classic|“classic” iPod]] would become the most iconic product in this category.<ref name="guar"/>

===Digital jukebox and apps===
While the number of vinyl-based jukeboxes declined, digital jukeboxes, also called the “social jukebox”, have been introduced in bars and clubs.<ref>{{cite web|last1=France|first1=Jasmine|title=Create jukebox playlists before hitting the town|url=http://www.cnet.com/news/create-jukebox-playlists-before-hitting-the-town/|website=cnet|access-date=3 August 2016}}</ref>

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[BAL-AMi Jukeboxes]]
* [[Boombox]]
* [[Music box]]
* [[Player piano]]
* [[Rock-Ola]]
* [[Seeburg 1000]]
* [[Sound Leisure]]
* [[Vending machine]]
* [[Arcade game]]
* [[Juke Box Jury]]
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last1=Krivine |first1=John |title=Jukebox Saturday Night |date=1992 |publisher=Bucklebury P |isbn=978-1871667004 |edition=2nd Revised}}

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline|Jukeboxes}}

{{Grooved track audio}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Musical culture]]
[[Category:American inventions]]
[[Category:Audio engineering]]
[[Category:Commercial machines]]
[[Category:Vending machines]]
[[Category:Jukeboxes|*]]