Seeburg Corporation

History

Automated musical equipment, such as coin-operated phonographs and orchestrions, were manufactured under the J.P. Seeburg and Company name for most of its early years. Until 1956, the company was family-owned. The company was founded by Justus P. Sjöberg from Gothenburg, Sweden. He moved to the United States after graduating from Chalmers University of Technology and used an Americanized spelling of his surname for the company. In the late 1940s, Seeburg manufactured its popular and distinctive "trashcan-shaped" series of jukeboxes.

When they began to make jukeboxes, the 78 rpm record was standard and only a few selections could be played on one machine. This changed with the Seeburg model M100A, which could play 50 records front and back for a total of 100 selections, an immense variety at the time. In 1950, Seeburg introduced the first commercial jukebox designed to play the then-new 45 rpm records. They later increased the number of records from 50 to 80, then 100 per machine. The classic M100C is featured during the opening of the "Happy Days" TV series.

Seeburg also manufactured background music players, such as the Seeburg 1000, which used special 9-inch, 16⅔ rpm records.

During the 1960s, Seeburg bought many other companies, including Williams (pinball and other games) and the H. N. White Company (King brass and woodwind instruments).

In 1965, the Seeburg Corporation announced that it was establishing a new music performance rights organisation to compete with ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC. The society was called Coin-Operated Phonograph Performance Society (COPPS). The plan was for Seeburg to make recordings solely for play in jukeboxes.

During the 1970s Seeburg was faced with debt and a declining market for their music products. The corporation headed into bankruptcy in 1979 and was broken up by 1980. Their jukebox production was re-organized into the "Seeburg Phonograph Division," which the court closed in September, 1979. Following the demise of Seeburg Phonograph Division, King Musical Instruments passed to ownership by Seeburg's creditors, the Williams Electronics Manufacturing Division was sold, and the corporation was no longer a going concern. The remaining production assets were acquired by Stern Electronics, who began producing "Stern/Seeburg" jukeboxes. This only lasted a few years, as Stern/Seeburg also was forced to close. The parts department stock was purchased by Los Angeles-based Jukeboxes Unlimited in September 1980.

A few other attempts were made to use the Seeburg name, but all failed. A final effort was made to revive the company in March 1984. This effort was called "The Seeburg Phonograph Company" and was composed of some of the original Seeburg employees. It was the first to produce a CD jukebox. It remained in operation for a few years, and several CD jukeboxes were made at that time. Eventually, the company closed and now nothing remains. The Seeburg name lived again on CD jukeboxes produced in Mexico for a short time.

As of February 2010, a touchscreen digital conversion kit bearing the Seeburg name is being offered.