As NSM Music puts the finishing touches to its “game changing” Phantom product, its immediate predecessor the Atom shows no signs of slowing down, with 700 units sold this year already. Ahead of ARE, sales manager Alex Kirby described how the first quarter of 2026 has been “just incredible” for the company.
Coinslot: It’s been a tough start to the year for hospitality and leisure. What are you hoping to get from the two days in Manchester and what will be the main topics of debate?
Alex Kirby: We go to these shows to touch base with the operators who see first hand what the industry wants, what it requires, what’s going on, and to get feedback on how we’re doing, how our products are doing, how they could be bettered. That’s primarily why we do these shows. A byproduct of the show is getting future sales, future business, and future thinking. That’s why we’re going, it’s more of a networking thing. The majority of people who go to the shows are people we already deal with and people we see through the year during our visits up and down the country, but it’s also a good opportunity to show what’s coming.
Coinslot: In terms of product, what innovations and new launches will visitors be seeing on your stand next week?
Alex Kirby: We’ve got the Phantom, we’re still previewing that, it’s not launching till later on at the end of this quarter/start of the next. We are doing trials with a number of companies on the background element of the Phantom and also the Quiz element, so that side of the product is getting trialled at the moment. We will have that on our stand to show people, as well as the Curve, and the Atom. And we’ll also have the collaboration jukeboxes with Sound Leisure, the Rocket and the Nostalgia.
Coinslot: We’re now into the second quarter of 2026, what have been the highlights of the year so far in terms of business development and product launches?
Alex Kirby: It’s been a really strong year, and we foresee this continuing certainly to the end of the year, maybe even into the next, as we swap areas across the country from Windows XP operating systems to Windows 10/11, to improve security.
We haven’t seen much more than a smidge in dropped connections from legacy jukeboxes to newer models. Ultimately, everybody has replaced their jukebox, and because of that, this last year has matched the busiest time of Atom. This year we’ve already sold more than 700 units. That is just incredible, we’re still getting orders for new sites and locations.
Beside that, after launching Phantom at EAG I have to say people were quite disappointed… disappointed that they couldn’t have it today! We were getting Pubcos, we were getting customers saying: “we want it now.” Unfortunately, it’s not ready. There were some challenges we had to overcome, extra things we wanted to add, we wanted to make sure the product was right for the market by doing trials, and all these things take time. The response has been incredible and we just can’t wait to get the product out. It’s going to be a game changer for us, and for operators.
Coinslot: Looking ahead, what do you think the hospitality and leisure industries need to realise their growth potential?
Alex Kirby: There are a few things that would help the industry. I know to help the economy and the cost-of-living you need to increase the minimum wage. I get that. People should get fair reward for the work they do. However, it’s making it very difficult for the hospitality sector, because the increase in NI contributions have come to a point where businesses are saying: “I can’t afford to employ two people on the bar tonight, so I’m going to have to reduce that to one.” It’s not helping growth, it’s not encouraging people to invest because it’s a hit that they can’t get round. They have to recoup that money somehow to cover those costs. The government really needs to look at that, alongside the business rates issue. It’s almost like they’re trying to punish the hospitality sector.
For us, we also need governing bodies to start policing Spotify and illegal streaming services. We don’t seem to be getting anywhere, though we’re fighting on a daily basis. These governing bodies do not realise how much money people like us, operators and they themselves are losing. It’s ridiculous the amount of people who are using the likes of Spotify and streaming services, and they don’t even realise it’s illegal for commercial use.
Phantom of the jukebox
Alex Kirby said… “The response [to Phantom] has been incredible and we just can’t wait to get the product out. It’s going to be a game changer for us, and for operators…
