AMI’s Phantom Jukebox Small But Mighty

Billed as “The Jukebox You Can’t See, But Can’t Ignore,” AMI’s award-winning Phantom is a product that engages new possible locations while also being a great option for existing ones.

Phantom won an AMOA Innovator Award at this year’s Amusement Expo and the company is excited for the possibilities at non-traditional locations like craft breweries.

The new jukebox fits in the palm of your hand at a weight of 1 pound and measures 5.125” squared and 1” tall. The product eliminates cash box collections, reduces hardware maintenance and significantly shortens installation time, the company noted, and all at a fraction of the cost of conventional models.

Like their traditional jukes, operators can still hook up the location with connected TVs and audio equipment that can play music videos via the AMI Play app, run AMI Trivia games and also use AMI Ad Manager to display unique advertisements. There’s also Amusement Connect payment integration via their MobileMech platform.

“We know that the market is shifting a little bit from traditional jukebox locations,” said AMI’s Vice President of Sales Chris Owens. That was the inspiration behind the Phantom – to let operators grow their footprint in new markets. It’s also a way to combat illegal streaming and unlicensed music in locations.

“I think this is the first product that operators will be able to go after locations streaming music,” Owens said. “There’s a lot of unlicensed auxiliary platforms out there. This product gives the operator the opportunity to pursue those locations.”

With younger proprietors coming in having grown up with free or nearly free music, he added, “They need to see the relevance of licensed music.”

And with lower-cost hardware, it’s a no-brainer for operators trying to get into those new locations. “Everybody’s looking for a product that’s going to grow the market for them,” Owens declared.

Phantom will begin to ship in limited quantities this summer and will be made available to the wider industry in Q3, said AMI’s VP of Product and Marketing Kapil Mistry.

“It’s low cost, low maintenance and an easy install,” he explained. “It fits in any and every location and it’s all of the functionality you see with the mobile app, plus all of our Co-Pilot features.” (Co-Pilot is the company’s backend app for operators to manage their jukeboxes.)

“I think most of our music products have been evolutionary. This is disruptive, too. It’s going to change the landscape and in the areas that operators can use this product and expands their business quite a bit.”

Owens added that it gives the operator a chance to place other equipment in such locations as well.

Jukebox play is trending in the mobile direction, of course, with AMI juke users playing songs from the AMI Music app. With Phantom being 100% mobile driven, it obviously encourages app use.

The TV or TVs also make the consumer totally aware of the Phantom’s capabilities.

“The jukebox screen is going away but you’re getting a more prominent space on the walls,” Mistry said, noting it’s constantly promoting which songs are in the queue, prompts to play music and much more.

“The digital signage industry has a stale content problem, and we are solving it with dynamic content that’s relevant to the location on the TV.”

While the focus is on new locations, the Phantom can just as easily work in existing locations looking for a change. Owens detailed that existing operators could simply connect it to their existing audio platform and control the jukebox the way they would now.

For locations getting set up with audio for the first time, they can add a 4-channel amp.

“It’s our job as a manufacturer to continue to innovate, Owens said. “It’s our job to also deliver on that innovation.” With enhanced hardware and software, and outside partnerships that will “help our partners grow and continue to make additional revenue,” AMI thinks it has the right formula with Phantom.

“Developing hardware that’s close to production-ready doesn’t happen overnight,” he said, adding that there was nearly a year of work put into the new product.

Winning that AMOA Innovator Award was a great first step in raising attention for Phantom and showcasing its low price point and modularity. “There was some steep competition, so it was good to see,” Owens said of the award win. “It shows we have a product that’s going to be well-received.”

Learn more about it at www.amientertainment.com/new-phantom.