Scruffy Murphy’s in Birmingham (aka Scruffy’s) is renowned as one of the best Rock venues not only in the West Midlands but in the UK. In fact, it is known all over the world, by music lovers.

Scruffy’s has built a great reputation for its music and particularly as a live music venue. The whole pub is decorated in rock memorabilia and has a real good vibe.

At Hire Jukebox, we have done some research on popular Rock Venues. We made a call and managed to speak to the owners of Scruffy Murphy’s; Paul and Lorraine.

We discovered they were paying a monthly subscription for Spotify to play music through their sound system. At first they were quite happy to stay with their current system. But once I had explained the benefits of the RockBox digital jukebox and its massive potential, they were intrigued.

The RockBox is like no other jukebox. It has over 10,000 hand picked tracks from a wide range of genres including Rock, Ska, Metal, Reggae, Indie, Alternative and Punk.This jukebox has been specifically designed to suit venues that don’t want mainstream chart music.

The simple-to-use, touchscreen display allows the user to select and play their music by searching by artist, song title or genre.

In addition to the impressive music library, the RockBox is updated every month with new music including pre-release singles and new album titles.

What impressed them was the fact we can upload local bands and artists – and this is at no extra cost. We suggested they stop paying for Spotify and use the jukebox as background music system instead.

When we provided them with a list of music that was on the jukebox they were blown away. They never expected any digital jukebox to be able to cater for the type of music that their customers wanted.

Within seven days of confirming the order, we had installed a brand new Rockbox at Scruffy’s. I explained the importance of positioning the jukebox in the right place.There was a perfect spot where it could be seen throughout the pub. They already had an ATM machine there but they agreed this position would be perfect for the jukebox so they arranged to have the ATM machine removed.

Working together with their Sound engineer – Mez we connected their jukebox via their existing sound system – it sounded amazing. We explained to Mez how to advertise on the touchscreen display – he is now uploading jpeg posters advertising upcoming gigs and photos of the staff and customers.

Working with Mez we also profiled the jukebox to play the background music to suit them. He has already complied a list of music he wants adding and he gave us some CDs of local bands and we added the tracks to the “Venue Favourites ” section.

Unlike Spotify, there is no cost to have a digital jukebox installed from Hire Jukebox nor is there any binding contract.

We are pleased but not surprised to find that the jukebox has been a massive success. They are not only saving money but also making money. This is great but it wasn’t all about the money. They wanted a jukebox for their loyal customer base (something that they would feel is right for them, as they are real music lovers). That’s why we have worked with the venue to get the music content exactly right for them. The benefits don’t stop there either. It is proven that jukeboxes will keep people on site longer, so wet sales have also been given a boost. Moving the cash machine was worth it – with its rock-themed cabinet, the jukebox has added to the atmosphere of Scruffy Murphy’s, blending in with the memorabilia and ensuring that the reputation of the site as a music lovers’ venue goes on!

Check out Scruffy Murphy’s Birmingham.

You can find out more about jukebox hire for pubs here.