Research Project Outline
For our research project, we will divide our categories onto pages that can be accessed on the top menu bar. We will have a static “Welcome” or “About” page on our home page that will be similar to our Project Proposal, explaining how we chose our topic and what how to navigate our site. We will also keep our original Project Proposal and Annotated Bibliography tabs, as well as adding a “new” Bibliography and citations tab.
After reviewing the first draft of our Project Proposal, as well as giving a deeper look to the sources available, we have decided to focus on the impact of the jukebox on the American music industry, as there are the most primary sources available on this topic, such as Billboard music charts. At the top of our website, and displayed on each page, we hope to add a jukebox-style media player to our website that plays, if possibly, top songs from the height of the jukebox, or at least, royalty-free versions of this music.
For the bulk of our project, we have divided our research on the jukebox into chronological categories of invention that follow those we have discussed in class. From there, each category will have a selection of guiding questions. The guiding questions will be used to form the tabs of each category’s dropdown menu.
We may decide to add, remove, or otherwise alter our guiding questions for each category. These questions are inspired by the sources we have been reading. Our categories and questions are listed below:
PAGE ONE: INVENTION/DEVELOPMENT: LATE 19TH-EARLY 20TH-CENTURY
Antecedents & Key Technology
- What artifacts were antecedents to the jukebox?
- Player pianos, music boxes, the phonograph, graphophone, and Automatic Entertainer [1]
- What components/pieces of technology allowed the jukebox to be made? Were they new or old?
- Playable/recordable sound, music selection, coin-operation [2]
- (Note: We hope include these answers in a timeline)
The First Jukebox
- Who made the first jukebox? Was it an individual, group, or parallel effort?
- Louis Glass’s invented the coin-in-slot phonograph, development was a “parallel” effort as modifications were added, such as John Gabel’s “Automatic Entertainer” which added music selection [3]
- Where was the first jukebox used?
- Used for entertainment first in saloons in bars, also popular in diners, convenience shops, and military barracks [4]
- What companies then began to produce the jukebox?
- Wurlitzer, Rock-Ola, and Seeburg were the biggest companies. Wurlitzer, a German music company, got their start manufacturing coin-operated player pianos at the turn-of-the-century. In the 1920s, they produced the “Mighty Wurlitzer” at Radio City Music Hall. [5]
Early Record Companies
- How did, if at all, the jukebox impact the music industry?
- Copyright Act of 1909, creation of modern record companies, sales plummeted during the depression but then increased during wartime, at its height in the 1950s, there were an estimated 750,000 jukeboxes in the U.S. [6]
PAGE TWO: RISE TO POPULARITY & GOLDEN AGE – 1930s-1950s
Role in American Popular Culture
- How did the jukebox become popular?
- Popular source of cheap, easy entertainment [7]
- What role did the jukebox fill in American culture?
- Bringing people together in “third” spaces [8]
- What, if any, transformative effect did the jukebox have?
- Revitalized the record industry that waned with the advent of the radio and during the Great Depression [9]
- Did the jukebox “bridge” or “divide” people?
- Brought people together in “third” spaces. Many companies did not want to be associated with African-American artists, but jukeboxes as technology provided a space for black artists to share their music. The word “jukebox” comes from the word ‘to dance” in Gullah, and places where jukeboxes could be seen were first known as “jook joints.” [10]
- How is the jukebox symbolized in American popular culture?
- Quintessential symbol of mid-century America [11]
Jukebox Companies & the Modern Music Industry
- What companies were leaders in jukebox manufacturing?
- Wurlitzer, Seeburg, Rock-Ola [12]
- How did different Jukebox manufacturers compete with each other? Which company sold the most jukeboxes?
- In the 1940s and 1950s, the jukebox industry was profitable and desirable. [13]
- What were the top songs on the jukebox? When were they produced?
- The top ten most popular jukebox songs range from the 1950s-1979/80. Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog,” produced by RCA in 1955 is the number one song. [14]
PAGE THREE – COMPETITION AND DECLINE
Competing Technology
- What pieces of technology competed with the jukebox?
- Portable radio, portable record player, cassette tapes, video games, CDs, and MP3s all acted as competing sources of music and entertainment [15]
- What components of these new technologies made them more popular than the jukebox?
- Portability, individuality [16]
PAGE FOUR – NOSTALGIA AND THE 21st-CENTURY JUKEBOX
Brief “Resurgence” of the Jukebox
- Why did the jukebox decline in popularity?
- Growth of other music-playing devices [17]
The Jukebox Now: Modifications, Museums, & Replacements
- The jukebox has experienced a variety of brief, nostalgic resurgences. Why?
- In the 1980s and 1990s, companies experimented making jukeboxes using CD and MP3 technology. Now, some “digital” jukeboxes exist that utilize touchscreens and large online music databases. [18]
- Who, if anyone, still makes the jukebox today?
- Only Rock-Ola still manufacturers jukeboxes in their “coin-in-slot phonograph” form [19]
- Where can jukeboxes still be found?
- Museums, “nostalgic” restaurants such as Silver Diner and Johnny Rockets (Or Goolricks!) or in “digital” versions at various restaurants [20]
- How, if at all, has the jukebox laid a foundation for how we consume music?
- Popularized individual selection of music
Notes
[1] Kerry Segrave. Jukeboxes: An American Social History. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. 2002. 2.
[2] Kerry Segrave. 4.
[3] Matt Blitz. “How the Jukebox Got Its Groove” Popular Mechanics. June 6, 2016. Accessed September 9, 2019. https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/a21127/how-the-jukebox-got-its-groove/
[4] “Jukebox.” Jukebox – Encyclopedia.com Accessed October 16, 2019. https://www.encyclopedia.com/science-and-technology/computers-and-electrical-engineering/computers-and-computing/jukebox
[5 ] Companies That Made Jukeboxes. Accessed October 16, 2019. http://www.jitterbuzz.com/jukeboxes_companies.html#compa
[6] “Jukebox.” Jukebox-Encyclopedia.com
[7] Kerry Segrave. 20.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Vincent Lynch and Bill Henkin. Jukebox The Golden Age: 1937-1948. Berkeley, CA: Lancaster-Miller, 1981.
[10] Kerry Segrave. 45.
[11] Companies That Made Jukeboxes. Accessed October 16, 2019. http://www.jitterbuzz.com/jukeboxes_companies.html#compa
[12] Ibid.
[13] Kerry Segrave.
[14] Ibid.
[15] “Jukebox – Dead Media Archive.” Culture and Communication. 2010. Accessed October 16, 2019. http://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php/Jukebox
[16] Ibid.
[17] Associated Press. “The Jukebox, It Seems, Is a Hit of the Past.” The New York Times. July 21, 1982. Accessed October 16, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/1982/07/21/garden/the-jukebox-it-seems-is-a-hit-of-the-past.html
[18] Walter S. By. “Now that’s Portable — Nomad Jukebox Holds More than 1,500 Songs.” Wall Street Journal. September 14, 2000. Accessed September 25, 2019. https://umw.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/398762540?accountid=12299.
[19] Allyson McCabe. “After the Vinyl Revival, The Vinyl-Playing Jukebox Is Back.” NPR. January 26, 2018. Accessed October 16, 2019. https://www.npr.org/2018/01/26/579086880/after-the-vinyl-revival-the-vinyl-playing-jukebox-is-back
[20] Michele Lauren Jackson. “Digital Jukeboxes Erode the Dive-Bar Experience.” The Atlantic. May 08, 2018. Accessed October 16, 2019. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/05/touchtunes-digital-jukebox/559784/