Jordan O'BrienFollowing over a year of silence, Electric Jukebox, the music streaming start-up that earned the support of icons such as Robbie Williams and Sheryl Crow, is finally launching in the UK – and it costs £169.
Launched as an alternative to the countless music streaming services available on the market currently, including Spotify and Apple Music, Electric Jukebox is a new take on the world of music streaming. Unlike its competitors it doesn’t require a monthly subscription, but it’s also ad-free – meaning for cost-conscious users, it could be the ideal option.
Unfortunately, unlike Spotify and Apple Music it’s not possible to take the music from Electric Jukebox with you, as it’s not available as a mobile application. Instead, the entire music service is linked to a TV dongle that is available to purchase from retailers such as Amazon, Argos and Selfridges.
The TV dongle concept has already received wide support from some heavyweight names. In addition to Robbie Williams and Sheryl Crow, Alesha Dixon and Stephen Fry have also been carted out to pump up support for the product. The dongle itself will be available in a range of colours, including red, blue and charcoal.
To get started with Electric Jukebox, the dongle just needs to be plugged into any HDMI-in port on any display and then connected to the Wi-Fi network. From there an interface will come up giving users access to over 29 million tracks at the touch of a button – or using the included voice remote, at the bark of a command.
While the device will cost £169 to purchase outright, that unfortunately only includes a one-year subscription to the service. After that point users have two options – drop down to the completely free tier, which only allows access to curated playlists, or stump up an extra £52 a year to get access to all the music available on the platform. That’s less than half the price of both Spotify and Apple Music – and works out at around £1 per week.
Electric Jukebox’s founder and CEO, Rob Lewis, says that Electric Jukebox isn’t designed for the Spotify power-user. Instead it’s a product aimed at those who want to access music simply and quickly. After all, the entire interface is centred around the TV – rather than an application on a device.
“Streaming is the future but today only 8% of UK consumers subscribe because it is expensive, difficult and complicated,” notes Rob. “We want to give everyone access to all the music in the world in their living rooms by making streaming as simple as using a radio.”
Electric Jukebox will be available in stores from 00:01am on Wednesday November 9, although it’s likely that users won’t receive it until after that point – as both Argos and Selfridges will be closed.