AMI Jukeboxes

The history of the AMI jukebox begins with the National Automatic Music Company, which was founded in 1909 as a producer of automatic player pianos. Their player pianos employed vinyl music rolls similar to those used in early coin-slot phonographs, and they soon developed the technology to put multiple music rolls into their player pianos.

In 1927, the same technology was adapted and used to create the first AMI jukebox. Early AMI jukeboxes were very popular and influential because they could play both sides of the 78-rpm records that they used. This technology was employed for nearly three decades with the only changes coming in the form of increased capacity.

AMI employed popular architectural styles of its time to create the aesthetic feel of their jukeboxes. The "Top Flight" model, which was produced in 1936 and 1937, is Art Deco in its design and calls to mind many early New York City skyscrapers.

AMI even produced a jukebox called "Singing Towers," which took the company's employment of Art Deco and skyscraper aesthetics to new levels. This model was topped with lights similar to those atop a skyscraper and new technology allowed the lights to change color as the music played.

AMI continued to be influential in the design of jukeboxes from their inception right through the Golden Age of jukeboxes. They continued to borrow styles from fields of design. For example, they modeled 1957's Model H jukebox after popular automobile styles of the time, complete with chrome bumpers. And The Continental jukebox of the early 1960s exploited the "Mod" fad of the time.

In the 1950s, AMI created licensing agreements with overseas companies to produce and market jukeboxes in Europe. The BAL-AMI is the most famous and successful of these ventures. BAL-AMI was the largest British manufacturer of jukeboxes in the 1950s and '60s.