Getting the Most from Your Jukebox
AMI Product Manager Details How AMI App Boosts Revenue & Value
Kapil Mistry
By Kapil Mistry, Senior Product Manager, AMI Entertainment
[Editor’s note: In last month’s issue, AMI Entertainment’s John Margold (senior VP of sales) talked about the many ways both major brands of jukeboxes build in features to help operators make more money. From providing background music services through the jukebox (keeping the operator in control and avoiding having the location bringing in a third party) to advertising tools that promote location specials, events and more, AMI says it has a number of features that come at no extra cost and increase the operator’s value to the location. This month, Senior Product Manager Kapil Mistry elaborates on the benefits of the company’s Co-Pilot App.]
From viewing location revenue to getting driving directions, there are a lot of beneficial features of the AMI Co-Pilot app, including five key ways it helps jukebox operators make more money.
1. You can manage your AMI jukebox route from the palm of your hand.
As an operator or technician on the road, having an app that provides fingertip access to vital jukebox stats and remote functions is important. With anywhere-anytime access to your jukebox, you can get more done in less time. Operators save time, prevent and correct jukebox issues, and drive more revenue.
AMI Co-Pilot keeps you up to date on network connection info, current revenue and cashbox details, and gives you remote jukebox controls (like Volume, Power Up, Reboot, Change Background Music, Now Playing Song) – all from your phone.
2. It’s easy to promote your message.
Whether it’s a happy hour deal, a pool tournament or a Saturday night special, a venue always has something to promote. You can build your own or give the bar staff the ability to create digital ads that will run on AMI jukeboxes and connected TVs (where applicable). Co-Pilot is optimized to work with AMI’s Ad Manager creation platform that gets an message up and ready in just four steps.
Digital ads can be a message they’ll want to repeat, like weekly bar specials, or a one-time message like a happy birthday wish to their most regular patron.
These messages motivate the staff to keep the jukebox running and the TVs on the right inputs. Using one of 1,400 slick templates, ads can be created in seconds using the Co-Pilot app – and they can be assigned to one or multiple venues. We recommend you create an ad about your own company that speaks to the services you provide (like pool, darts or ATMs).
3. Your Co-Pilot app is your jukebox remote control and more.
Ever have the remote fall in the sink on a Thursday, but the venue doesn’t call you until Friday night? If the bar staff is using the AMI Co-Pilot app, the jukebox can be controlled using their phone. The AMI Co-Pilot app can change volume, turn the jukebox on or off, cancel songs, pause music and change the background music.
4. You get alerted when a critical issue affects your jukeboxes.
AMI Co-Pilot will send you push notifications for a number of situations like high CPU temperature, a “door open” alert, a jukebox turning off and more. This way, you can address an issue before it becomes a problem and costs you money.
Rick Martin (New Braunfels, Texas) got an overheating notification for one of his jukeboxes, went to the location to discover that the jukebox’s fan wasn’t working. He cleaned it up and saved his CPU.
And that is just the beginning. AMI Co-Pilot also collects and analyzes data and then gives operator insights and recommendations.
5. User management features lets you give location staff access.
Managing the venue’s staff ability to work with AMI Co-Pilot is easy. The operator can add and delete users, and also change their permissions (what functions they are allowed to control) right from his phone.
You might wonder why the staff should have control. There are a number of reasons, but the most important is that the bar staff needs to be your jukebox champions. They’re the ones who keep the jukebox on, have the volume adjusted to the right levels, control the background music and have the TVs set on the right inputs.
All of these things are vital to keeping your jukeboxes up and running and earning money! (And that’s another reason why it’s great to use the on-screen advertising to remind customers to tip the staff.)
Using the Co-Pilot app may seem unfamiliar at first, but it’s not difficult. And when operators have questions or suggestions about how to make the app even more helpful, the AMI team is ready to listen and help.
Whether you operate AMI jukeboxes or another brand, learn about the built-in features and take advantage of them. As John Margold so aptly said last month, “The expression, ‘We all eat from the same cashbox,’ has never been truer than it is with digital jukeboxes. For us to succeed, we must do so together.”
Have questions, comments or suggestions? I can be reached by email at kmistry@amientertainment .com.
Kapil Mistry joined AMI Entertainment in 2007 as a software developer on the team that worked on music content delivery for AMI jukeboxes. Kapil then managed the team that wrote the software for AMI Tech Support that helps operators manage their routes. He was also product manager for the Music Video Jukebox and has been the product leader for all of AMI’s music products. Kapil is a Computer Science major from Pune University and has certificates from Northwestern University for consumer engagement and University of California, Berkley, for product management.
