I like the idea of a player activated/controlled gramophone on-board the airships in principle. But like BlackenedPies said, communication is something that would have to be taken into account. Hypothetically were it to be implemented, I feel as though it should be something that the captain controls (whether he/she either turns it on and leaves it there activating it like a ship hard-point and then leaving it be, or having some sort of keybindings to control it at the helm), and the music would have to be IN the game, rather than player imported MP3s. The ships having gramophones playing some soft atmospheric classical-styled music while the ships are otherwise quietly floating around (minus the sounds of the engines puffing away and engineers whacking at components with metal tools) could lend to the game's tension and suspense. Especially while hunting for the other team on maps like Canyon Ambush, and Paritian Rumble.
Further thought: Since the "Drum Sonar" was taken out of the game, it would be interesting if ship gramophones took its place, allowing you to hear the ship's engines/gramophone rather like before where combat drums would start to play if you were near an enemy. Obviously, you could just turn off the gramophone and avoid that problem entirely, but while we're sitting here spit-balling, it would be rather interesting.