AMF Bowling Centers, Inc., the world’s largest owner and operator of bowling centers, has selected customized digital jukeboxes from TouchTunes Music Corporation to replace a well-known background music service at many of its U.S. locations.

TouchTunes interactive, pay-per-play broadband jukeboxes will be installed in at least 175 AMF bowling centers by the end of July. The jukeboxes, Allegro models with 19-inch touch-sensitive screens, will be located in high-traffic concourse areas.

“We felt that TouchTunes offers a really good music experience for our bowling customers,” said Merrell Wreden, vice president, marketing, for AMF. “We’re always looking for better ways to entertain our customers, and music is a key component,” Wreden said.

The digital jukebox program for AMF was developed by TouchTunes and the Pelican Group, the independent firm that manages coin-operated music, amusement, and vending equipment for AMF locations and other corporate clients through a network of more than 400 professional local coin-machine operators.

Wreden said field tests at two San Francisco-area AMF locations showed that customers welcomed the switch from “canned” background music and have no objections about paying to play the music they want.

“Pay-per-play jukeboxes have been ingrained in popular culture for a very long time,” Wreden said.

Wreden said AMF’s president & CEO Fred Hipp visited both test sites to hear the opinions of local managers. “He gave them every opportunity to make a case for or against it. The feedback he got was excellent. They loved the sound quality, and the customers really liked the fact that they could choose the songs they wanted to hear.”

“AMF is getting a premium music and marketing service through an arrangement that’s financially attractive for AMF, Pelican and its network of local operators, and TouchTunes,” said Steve Birrell, vice president and general manager of TouchTunes’ national accounts division, which supplies brand-customized digital jukeboxes and other interactive music systems to large corporate accounts with multiple locations, including restaurant and retail chains.

Jason Scherer, vice president of the Pelican Group, said, “The program is a great success with our operators, who have sung the praises of their ability to earn revenues with no equipment costs.”

TouchTunes is responsible for centrally managing and updating the music and marketing contents for AMF.
Birrell added, “In a corporate-wide program like this, customers insist on single-source accountability for the music and marketing content seen and heard on the jukeboxes on their premises, and they want absolute consistency across their locations.”

TouchTunes will produce custom audio and video branding and marketing content for the AMF jukeboxes. For instance, automated, recorded audio announcements from the jukeboxes will alert customers to in-center promotions and special events. An attention-getting audio track will herald the start of “Xtreme® bowling” hours.

The digital jukeboxes will offer AMF’s customers different music genres and song choices at different times of day, tailored to location demographics and preferences. In addition to the initial choices of artists and albums shown on the touch-screen, users can also search TouchTunes’ massive online music library for specific artists, albums, and songs. The searchable choices conform to the music criteria that AMF has set for the location and the various day-parts.

In addition, the units will automatically provide background music when there are no paid plays in the queue, Birrell said.

TouchTunes maintains a digital music library of hundreds of thousands of fully licensed songs from every major record label, plus independent music distributors and a host of independent labels. The company has license agreements covering approximately 1.5 million songs.

TouchTunes provides the “ultimate experience” for its operators, location owners, and end-users. By delivering the best-in-class service, sales, support — and an unsurpassed music library delivered through the industry’s most innovative technology and marketing capability — TouchTunes offers a true 360-degree Digital Customer TouchPoint ™ relationship. TouchTunes continues to pioneer industry-firsts such as MyTouchTunes.com, a Web site where users can create their own personal playlists for the new generation of broadband jukeboxes.

TouchTunes’ online network of 26,000 digital jukeboxes in bars, restaurants, and other establishments throughout North America is the industry’s largest, more than twice the size of the nearest competitor. To date, its interactive digital jukebox network has played more than 1.6 billion songs. TouchTunes introduced the world’s first digital-downloading, pay-per-play commercial jukebox in 1998.

A privately held U.S. corporation, TouchTunes Music Corporation’s principal offices are in Lake Zurich, Ill.; Montreal, Canada; and New York City. The company is backed by VantagePoint Venture Partners, one of the largest venture capital firms in the world with offices in Silicon Valley, New York, and Montreal. VantagePoint has a substantial portfolio of consumer-oriented digital-media companies that complement TouchTunes’ growing leadership in out-of-home, interactive entertainment.

For TouchTunes’ national accounts product and sales information, call Ed Tuhkanen at (888) 338-5853 or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Web site: www.touchtunes.com.

The Pelican Group is a national vending and amusement management company, managing over 30,000 pieces of equipment for its clients through over 400 operating companies covering the entire United States.
The Pelican Group provides custom programs for clients with 25 or more locations. For information, contact Jason Scherer, vice president, at (925) 838-3838 or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it