Ta strona wykorzystuje ciasteczka (cookies) w celu zapewnienia maksymalnej wygody w korzystaniu z naszego serwisu. Czy wyrażasz na to zgodę?

Tak Nie Read more

Muzak, or „more than music”

How to manage the listener’s auditory attention so that music becomes background? Explore a selection of background music concepts: artistic and functional ones. This time let’s explore acoustic engineering by Muzak.

From Wired Radio to Muzak

The history of the American company Muzak begins as early as 1922. It was then that the innovative idea of launching wired radio and using electrical lines to transmit sound emerged. Thanks to Wired Radio, news, music and advertising could reach the homes of private users directly.

The project was initiated by American general George Owen Squier (1865-1934), who successfully combined service in the army with his work as a scientist and engineer. He conducted his research for the army. He had a huge budget and was generously supported by the US Congress.

In 1936, two years after Squier’s death, Wired Radio was officially transformed into the Muzak Company. Initially, it provided music to hotels and restaurants located in the New York area. Over time, the catalogue of venues expanded to include banks, shops, medical offices, post offices, workplaces and even lifts.

Music by Muzak

Muzak built its promotional campaign around the claim that music in its original version could not contribute to the same results as the company’s product. The company relied on arrangements of well-known and well-loved songs, but these were to be prepared according to a strict set of rules.

Firstly, Music by Muzak was purely instrumental. It was believed that words made people think, which was an undesirable reaction. Sudden twists, changes of key and mood were avoided in the musical narrative. Passages of an improvisational nature were also forbidden, as were any expressions of spontaneity.

A well-known and catchy melody came to the fore. All dynamic and agogic changes that could have a surprising effect were restricted. A monotonous and predictable rhythmic pattern dominated, with no syncopation.

From success to bankruptcy

Muzak‘s audio-architects relied on creating an ‘anonymous sound space seemingly devoid of directly discernible musical meaning’ (Radano 1989: 450). They used the mechanism of directed stimulation, using suitably prepared musical material to produce immediate effects primarily in the area of arousal, emotion or mood.

Behind the company’s success was also an attentiveness to the issue of the listener’s musical preferences. The company operated according to the principle “we like what we know”. The entire strategy was based on the chain of relationships that could emerge between appropriately selected music and various types of reactions – at physiological, affective, cognitive and behavioural levels.

The fiasco of the Muzak formula was sealed by the trend of playing mainstream music, but in original versions. Technological developments and the presence of an increasing number of competing solutions led to the company’s bankruptcy in 2009.

Formally, Muzak brand disappeared from the market in 2011. However, the name muzak (written in lower case) still functions as a kind of symbol of an imposed ‘acoustic wallpaper‘, which the listener only notices when the music stops playing.

Author: Sylwia Makomaska

 

#psychologiamuzyki #musicpsychology #strefapsychologiimuzyki #musicpsychologyzone #muzykatła #backgroundmusic #Muzak #GeorgeSquier #sylwiamakomaska

 

In the Music Psychology Zone, you will find out how (background) music affects customers at points of sale. In subsequent publications, we will explain what strategies are used in audiomarketing and why (background) music can also evoke negative emotions.

See also: The effect of “acoustic wallpaper” in audiomarketing and How to “furnish” a space with music
More information:
Muzak czyli coś „więcej niż muzyka”