The Ever-Evolving Jukebox

Brian Hoekstra has a jukebox in his house. Unsurprising, as Hoekstra's worked with Grand Rapids-based AMI (Automatic Musical Instruments) Entertainment Network, Inc. for seven years at Music Content Manager.

Founded in 1909 with coin-operated player pianos, AMI now features touch-screen digital jukeboxes, the sort you'll find in local watering holes like Mulligan's or Jukes, where users can search through nearly one million songs. Specializing in on-premise digital distractions, AMI is also responsible for games like MegaTouch. These coin-operated machines, usually mounted to the bar itself, allow patrons to play any number of digitized touch-screen games like PhotoHunt, cards and crosswords.

Hoekstra became involved with AMI when a headhunter who found him via Monster.com contacted him. He thought it was a prank when he was asked to interview for the position of  "music librarian," though his experience dealing with music was vast. He'd been a freelance journalist for a number of publications (Harp, Devil in the Woods, with internships at Filter and Alt. Press) and had studied communications in college with an emphasis in marketing. But it turns out a music librarian was exactly what AMI needed. Now, Hoekstra's job is to determine what music people want to hear all across the country.

"We have this network," he says, "and we're all across the United States. We have 20,000 of these things in bars all over the place, and (the network) constantly has to be refreshed. We constantly have to get acts that mean something. So, it's like running a record store or a radio station that the United States pays attention to at some level."

Hoekstra works with record labels to promote new albums and set up giveaways and contests. He also chooses the content on the screens -- videos, screensaver awareness campaigns, banners, etc.

Hoekstra says he learns from the network, noting which genres and artists are popular and which are not. "I find out things that are really crazy to me," he says. "We have certain genres that get less play than Nickelback. It teaches you a little bit about the general public. It's still a reactive medium. Like, the stuff that gets play on our network is going to be the most popular stuff on the radio. It gets chipped away, little by little, by Internet sensations -- you'll see Vampire Weekend and Tapes 'n Tapes break through -- but they're more kind of a flash."

But for all the Journey, Johnny Cash, Guns ' Roses and AC/DC that gets played, Hoekstra tries to reach deeper.

"I pride myself on reaching the No Idea Records, Dangerbird, Polyvinyl -- all that stuff," Hokestra says.

Bars also have a lot of say in what gets played. Each bar can choose what they put on cheap play, and they can ban certain artists, songs, albums, genres or content. And, Hoekstra says they've been adding local artists all along.

"I got sick of being a Grand Rapids company around for more than 100 years and not having a cultural tie to Grand Rapids," Hoekstra says. "More than that, I have a bunch of friends in bands and we're always talking about what band is doing what. It's just organic."

Hoekstra is putting together loop, based on old-school postcards wishing you 'greetings from.' Starting with Michigan, this feature will show several Michigan bands. He hopes musicians take notice and want their band to be a part of the action.

While this isn't the first time that local music has been made available on local jukeboxes -- Lazy Genius and various Friction Records acts are options on the older model CD jukeboxes found at Meanwhile and Pyramid Scheme -- the digitized network means people across the country can discover Michigan music. And though signing up to be played on jukeboxes won't make them millions, it is an ego boost. From player pianos to jukeboxes so advanced you can control them with your smartphone, AMI has remained in Grand Rapids for over a century. With machines in Springsteen videos, Tarantino flicks and album covers, the jukebox is an ever-evolving staple of our night's out.

Local bands you can already hear on AMI jukeboxes: The Crane Wives, Charles the Osprey, Shores, Ozenza, The Apostles, Lights at Sea, Cain Marko and UV Hippo, with more to come.

J. Bennett Rylah is the Managing Editor of Rapid Growth Media.

Photographs by Brian Kelly - All Rights Reserved

Photos:

Brian Hoekstra, AMI, Music Content Manager (3)

Emilee Petersmark, AMI, Music Content Coordinator, also a member of The Crane Wives

Various consoles and customized advertising integration