The term Jukebox is today used to describe anything from radio shows where the listeners select the songs, to sophisticated machines, often using broadband technology to access a vast range of songs in bars.

However much the machines and technology have evolved, there is still a rich history behind the Jukebox name/brand, which is often called upon to feature in everything from retro music videos to Hollywood movies. With nostalgia for the classic jukeboxes still going strong, there are also many opportunities for fans to indulge their passion through museums and memorabilia.

Although Wurlitzer , the worlds most legendary Jukebox manufacturer made their last model in 1973, the brand has since been taken over by Gibson, who produce replicas of classic Wurlitzer models. They also run a comprehensive online museum. Visitors can explore adverts from Wurlitzer’s heyday, a comprehensive gallery of all their famous models, and a chart of all time Wurlitzer jukebox hits.

Along with these classic advertisements, other collector’s items include coasters and button badges with the 1950’s slogan ‘Gee Dad it’s a Wurlitzer’. The United States also released a postage stamp celebrating 50 years of model 1015, one of Wurlitzer’s most popular models.

However, the Jukebox story doesn’t solely belong to Wurlitzer. Museums such as those in Belgium and the Netherlands also exhibit makes such as Rock-Ola, Seeburg, AMI, and lesser known brands like Barco and Tonomat.

Internet searches also reveal a large number of dealers who sell and/or restore classic jukebox machine. These range from the Wurlitzer ‘One More Time’ model, the only 7inch vinyl machine on the market, to models moving with the times and supporting mp3 connections.

Apart from Museums and dealers, one of the best places to see Jukeboxes is at a Jukebox show, and there are several held across the world. Chicagoland in the U.S.A is one of the biggest, attracting visitors and dealers from across the world. It exhibits not only collectable jukeboxes but also slot machines, coke machines, arcade games. There is also a large Jukebox show held annually at Rosemalen in The Netherlands.

Jukeboxes are most representative of the 1940’s/1950’s, and these eras are celebrated in style with a Jukebox show held at Brighton Racecourse, and Jukebox Madness at Kempton Park in Surrey. Jukebox Madness has been running since 1987, and every year offers visitors a host of Jukeboxes, retro clothing, records, live bands, and a rock and roll quiz. The Jukebox show in Brighton has also added Neon Signs, Diner Furniture, and Classic American cars to its exhibits.

Internet shoppers are not forgotten, with famous fashion site ASOS (As Seen On Screen) offering a colourful Jukebox T-Shirt for sale this season.  Many items of memorabilia follow their trend featuring the more colourful streamlined Jukebox designs.

To buy a jukebox today could cost anywhere between £6,000 and £10,000, if not more, but as their popularity continues, so do the many opportunities to indulge in some Jukebox nostalgia.

There are fears for the mental state of singing superstar Amy Winehouse after she reportedly lost the plot at a recent recording session for her up and coming third album, ‘Back to Black’ (dubbed ‘Back to Blake’ by many in the media).  (more…)

Another week and another Red Bull Bedroom Jam, this time the live feed heads down to London, for the interestingly titled ‘Why Whiskey Why?’ (more…)

Red Funnel, the Isle of Wight specialist, has announced that tickets to the 2009 Isle of Wight Festival are now on sale!

Taking place over three days from 12 – 14 June 2009 (more…)

Honey Ryder have today been announced as special guests for the forthcoming Will Young Winter Tour. After a series of arena dates, city halls to the Royal Albert Hall in October this is the one of the key tours running into the Christmas period.

This will be the perfect showcase for the band to play their forthcoming single ‘Fly Away’ out 10th November (Digital available from 1st December) and their debut album ‘Rising Up’ out on the 17th November. The single has been garnering major support from The Box and 4 Music, as well as national radio support from the likes of Radio 2 and 5 Live

The band will be performing as special guests to Will on the following UK dates:

Sunday 16/11/08 Newcastle City Hall Newcastle
Monday 17/11/08 Harrogate International Centre
Tuesday 18/11/08 Philharmonic Hall Liverpool
Thursday 20/11/08 Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
Friday 21/11/08 Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
Sunday 23/11/08 Manchester Apollo Manchester
Monday 24/11/08 Manchester Apollo Manchester
Tuesday 25/11/08 Sheffield City Hall Sheffield
Thursday 27/11/08 New Theatre Oxford Oxford
Friday 28/11/08 Nottingham Royal Centre Nottingham
Sunday 30/11/08 Portsmouth Guildhall Portsmouth
Monday 1/12/08 Colston Hall Bristol
Wednesday 3/12/08 Ipswich Regent Theatre Ipswich
Thursday 4/12/08 Brighton Dome Brighton
Friday 5/12/08 Cardiff St Davids Hall Cardiff
Sunday 7/12/08 Symphony Hall Birmingham
Monday 8/12/08 Symphony Hall Birmingham
Tuesday 9/12/08 Plymouth Pavilions Plymouth
Thursday 11/12/08 Bournemouth International Centre (BIC)
Friday 12/12/08 Roundhouse London
Saturday 13/12/08 Roundhouse London

The London-based duo, Martyn Shone and Lindsay O’Mahony have worked
on debut album ‘Rising Up’ with London’s Goldust Productions team (Bryan Adams, Natasha Bedingfield). The album has been mixed by Brad Gilderman, (Madonna, Outkast) and Bob Kraushaar (Pet Shop Boys, Robbie Williams).

Tips from Music Week to The News Of The World, The Daily and Sunday Express to The Times, Metro to OK Magazine, have with the chart success of debut single Numb, which entered the UK Official Charts at Number 32, set the stage for the band’s debut long player “Rising Up”.

Previous form: Singer Lindsay worked at MTV with the likes of Chris Evans, Edith Bowman, Russell Brand and Alex Zane whilst guitarist Martyn, juggled a double life as a banker, at Credit Suisse, in the city and a jobbing musician.

With supporters in the shape of Annie Lennox and Will Young, Rising Up is set to be one of the albums of 2008/9 and will be released on CD and Digital formats through Honey Ryder Music Ltd on 17th November 2008.

For more information on the band please visit: www.honeyryder.co.uk

We have been trawling the internet for the best links for music lovers, and here is our selection for this week:

• www.catwalkfashion.co.uk - Fashion Blogging becomes cool , always update and a great read!

• www.jukeboxes.org.uk - Jukeboxes are cool again, check out the selection on this site.

• www.gizmophobe.co.uk - Gadget Blogger who talks about all the latest gizmos and gadgets!

Music studio insurance, just like any other insurance, is something that you need to think about if you own or run a music studio.  Whether you have a home studio or run a professional business out of a rented space it is essential that you have music studio insurance that will cover you in case of problems that could arise.

Music studios aren’t like many other standard businesses, and the typical insurance should not be used to cover them.  There are not only the building that you need to insure, but the expensive musical equipment, instruments, and the technology that you have set up within your music studio.  This includes not only your gear, but the gear of clients that may be in your space for days or even weeks.  This isn’t even including the media that they are being recorded on, the recordings they are making as well as their actual property.

If you have a moderate home music studio then your typical home insurance may suffice, but if you are running a full fledged business, then you can’t rely on home insurance to cover the damages.  There are many music studio insurance companies that are specifically put into place to cover the exact situation so you don’t have to worry about all the little odds and ends within a typical home insurance that may or may not cover the music industry.

Any agent that you work with in the music studio insurance company will understand what you have and what you need covered, so there will be no miscommunication of any type.  They understand that what you have in your music studio at times isn’t even yours.  It could be borrowed, rented or it could belong to a band or talent.

Essentially, music studio insurance is a form of general liability insurance that is designed to protect you against third party lawsuits from bodily injury or property damage.  It is specifically made for music studios or rehearsal spaces to cover things like someone falling or injuring themselves on your property or if the talent that is recording plugs their equipment into your board only to find that it blows out their electrical instruments.  The clients could then sue you easily.  The fact is people do sue over these kinds of incidents, no matter what type of business it is.  Just by dealing with the public you are opening yourself up to this situation so it is important to deal with music studio insurance to not only protect yourself but your business as well.

Most studio insurance companies have a business policy that works directly with your studio so that if you charge a fee, no matter how little, you can be sure that the business policy covers you for anything that may happen.  This type of liability can not only save your career but the future of your business.  Although rates may vary depending on music studio insurance, the investment that you make into this type of insurance is not only essential to your livelihood, but to your overall success.

If your musical instrument was lost or stolen, would you have the money to replace it?  Well thankfully, that is why they have musical instrument insurance.  Whether you are a solo artist, a collector or part of a band, you can get musical instrument insurance to cover so many facets of your hobby or career.

Millions of people own musical instruments of different kinds, but so few people consider what may happen if the musical instruments that you own get stolen or damaged.  Most people think that they are covered under their homeowners insurance, which may be fine in some cases, but not all.  If you have just a regular old instrument that you keep around for fun, then you are most likely going to be covered.  However, if your musical instrument is part of an investment of some sort or has a large value, then the extra benefits from musical instrument insurance can be quite important.  This can be essential for owners that value their instrument as part of their livelihood such as performers, entertainers or musicians that make money from playing their instruments.

Musical instrument insurance usually covers any type of instrument that you have up to the replacement cost or an agreed upon value if the instrument is considered to be a higher value or antique.  You can also use musical instrument insurance to cover your accessories such as bows, picks, sheet music, strings, instrument cases, sticks, tuning equipment, and more.

Musical instrument insurance policies can be written in a broad form or they can be limited as to what you have exactly.  It can cover your instrument mostly excluding household instruments that cannot be moved such as an organ or grand piano which will be covered in your homeowner’s insurance policy.  The broad musical instrument insurance will cover the more valuable instruments such as haps, violas, cellos and others, while the limited musical instrument insurance covers instruments owned by private individuals or groups to use in drum corps, orchestras, churches, etc.

The premiums that you pay differ depending on what the value of the instrument is as well as whether you are choosing the broad or limited form of musical instrument insurance.  You can choose a broad blanket insurance policy to add to your homeowner’s policy which is significantly lower than say choosing a limited policy that covers specific equipment.  The option to use blanket musical instrument insurance is useful if you have a lot of equipment related to your specific instrument.

Musical instrument insurance covers everything besides wear and tear, gradual deterioration, insects and other damages such as those.  You will be covered from fire, theft, and damage due to acts that were not caused by you.  If your instrument and accessories are valuable to you then you should not rely on your homeowner’s insurance.  Rather, you should get specific musical instrument insurance to make sure you are covered in case any problems arise because you don’t want to be left without an instrument or the money to replace it.