A small bar that wants guests to choose the songs has four routes — and only two of them cost nothing.
Short answer. The only genuinely free options for a small venue are a shared Spotify or YouTube playlist controlled from one phone, or a self-hosted music server fed with music you already own. A jukebox where guests request and vote costs money whoever runs it: TouchTunes takes a share of per-song revenue, Juke4ME charges a monthly subscription — RM 149 per month after a 30-day free trial, with no hardware to buy.
TouchTunes is the name most venues know because it invented the modern cabinet jukebox: a screen, an amplifier and a payment terminal in the room, a companion phone app, and a network that pays the operator a share of every paid song. It works, and for a high-traffic bar the cabinet can even be the attraction. The problem for a small venue is structural: the business model assumes volume, and the cabinet takes floor space whether the room is full or empty. Below is what replaces it, honestly priced.
| Criteria | TouchTunes (hardware jukebox) | Juke4ME | Self-hosted server (Navidrome, Jellyfin) | Shared Spotify / YouTube playlist |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost to the venue | Revenue share on every paid song; no published monthly subscription | RM 149 / month, 30 days free, 20% off annual | Software free, server and music library on you | A consumer subscription you may already pay |
| Hardware in the room | Cabinet, screen, amplifier, payment terminal | None — any device with a browser and an audio output | A small server or NAS, always on | One phone or laptop plugged into the system |
| Guests pick the songs | Yes, per paid song | Yes, from a QR code in the browser | Yes, through a web interface you configure | No — the venue decides |
| Guests vote on the queue | Limited or none | Yes, votes re-order the queue in real time | No native voting | No |
| Guest install required | App and account | No app, no account | No | Playlist owner only |
| Music catalogue | Its own licensed catalogue | YouTube Music | Whatever you rip or own | The streaming platform's catalogue |
| Licence included | Covered by the network in its markets | No — the venue holds its own public performance licences | No | No |
| Set-up time | Installation visit | Minutes — plug a device into the amplifier | An evening of configuration | Minutes |
Not in the sense of a jukebox that lets guests request and vote for nothing. The two things a jukebox sells are the catalogue and the interaction, and both have a running cost: the catalogue is licensed, and the interaction needs a server, a queue and a screen. What exists for free is either software without a catalogue (a self-hosted server, which shifts the whole music question onto you) or a playlist without interaction. If the requirement is "guests choose the music and the room votes", the honest answer is that it is a paid service — the useful question becomes how much, and whether the first month is free enough to test it. That is the model Juke4ME uses: 30 days with every feature and no card, then RM 149 per month per venue.
TouchTunes does not publish a monthly subscription price, because it does not sell one: the venue receives a cabinet and the operator shares the revenue from songs guests pay for. The cost is therefore the floor space the cabinet occupies, the per-song price the guests see, and the split. For a venue with enough footfall that guests insert coins all night, the model can be neutral or positive. For a small bar, a café or a restaurant where the same twenty regulars come every week, the volume is not there — and that is precisely the case where a flat monthly subscription with no hardware is cheaper and simpler. Check TouchTunes' own site for the current terms in your market before comparing.
Be honest about the size of the room. A café with twelve seats and one person in charge of the sound does not need a jukebox, and paying RM 149 per month for votes nobody casts is waste. A small bar where the music is part of the offer — where guests ask "who chooses the songs?" — is exactly the case where a collaborative queue earns its subscription. The 30-day trial exists so the decision is made on a real week of service rather than on a feature list: see the full comparison, the pricing grid and the 12 apps compared.
Only two routes are genuinely free: a shared Spotify or YouTube playlist the venue controls from one phone, or a self-hosted music server such as Navidrome or Jellyfin fed with music you already own. Any jukebox where guests request and vote costs money to run.
It does not publish a monthly subscription price: the venue receives a cabinet and the operator shares the revenue from the songs guests pay for. The cost is the hardware footprint plus the share of per-song revenue.
Yes, on a browser-based jukebox: the guest scans a QR code, the queue opens in the phone browser, and they search YouTube Music and vote. TouchTunes and other store-distributed apps require an install and an account first.
30 days free with every feature, then RM 149 per month for one venue, 20% off on annual billing, declining rates for multi-venue accounts and a Founder rate of RM 99 per month for the first 50 venues. No hardware, no installation fee, no per-song charge.
Free of charge does not mean free of licensing: the venue still needs the public performance licences of its territory — MACP, PPM and RPM in Malaysia — whatever the source, including a consumer Spotify account or a self-hosted server.
Third-party descriptions are based on the public information published by TouchTunes, Rockbot, Navidrome and Spotify as of 24 October 2026; features and prices change, so check their own websites before deciding. Juke4ME is not affiliated with TouchTunes, Spotify or YouTube. Prices for Juke4ME are those on the pricing page. Published by Okit Technology, the publisher of Juke4ME — see About.