Sound Leisure’s Last.fm application on its VenueHub jukeboxes is proving to be incredibly popular with customers.
Half a million paid-for tracks have passed through the Last.fm server so far, in a process that is called “scrobbling”. Last.fm offers users the opportunity to build up a profile of their favourite music online, which they can access remotely and from the VenueHub jukebox in their local pub. This means that they can simply log on via the jukebox and see all their favourite tracks without having to search for them.
The Last.fm application also builds up a profile of the bar or pub, based on all the music chosen and paid for by customers. A feature of the Last.fm site is a dedicated radio station created from the tracks chosen by subscribers. So, for pub customers who want to recreate the same ambience at home, they can access the Last.fm “Queen’s Head” profile and play the music that has been chosen and paid for by customers in the venue. Last.fm will even recommend other users to the “Queen’s Head” profile, if they share the same kind of music taste.
“With the Last.fm application on VenueHub, we are extending the pay for play experience beyond the venue itself,” says Chris Black. “We are allowing music lovers to bring their own music into the pub via the Last.fm server and half a million paid-for tracks proves that this is what customers want. But what’s more, we are actually creating a music branding opportunity for bars and pubs that can extend beyond opening hours onto the internet. This not only markets the venue to a new audience but allows loyal customers to enjoy the ambience of a pub, even when it is not open.”
