Random thoughts - Music in the stores?

[Sydnie]

No, not the holiday music. The regular everyday music that stores play, that's what I was thinking about. I was pondering the age of the music that stores seem to play these days. When I was in my twenties, stores were still playing more easy listening type of music from two decades before (Herb Alpert, Dean Martin, Doris Day type stuff) that would have appealed to the "money demographic" of the day. Now, I notice that more of the music played is not that old, maybe a few years rather than a few decades. I am hearing Greenday and acoustic Cyndi Lauper. It occurred to me that we are hearing contemporary music now in the stores, breaking with the habit of playing the music that was popular with the "money demographic" when they were younger and had more free cash to spend.

I always thought the purpose of the music in the store was to put the shopper in a frame of mind to spend their money, the more impulse spending the better. I always thought that the selection of music was aimed at the money demo, age appropriate to the most affluent customer that they were attempting to attract. For example, if I were in a Best Buy, I would expect to hear music that was much more youth oriented than I would expect to hear in a grocery store.

When did this change? When did the music of the 80's and 90's get replaced with music from the new century?

It's not that it is a bad thing, it just makes me feel older than I thought I was. It's not that the music they were playing was offensive, because it wasn't at all. But, what kind of music will they be playing in the stores when the teenagers of today become the money demo? Will it be a free for all, no holding back, rap fest (with ALL the language that music could contain) or will it be Clay Aiken sandwiched between Brittany Spears?

What's your experience with music in the stores these days and where do you see it going in the next decade or so? As for me, I can't imagine (as the old lady I will be then) thumping a melon to the music of Alice In Chains. ;)

[musette_sf]

1. Cyndi Lauper is 80s and therefore

the "length of time elapsed from MTV to Muzak" ratio would still be correct :-)

i can't speak to the Green Day part, though, as i haven't yet heard any of their numbers whilst buying pet food. Pet Food Express seems to play the 70s decade channel on XM from what I can tell.

"As for me, I can't imagine (as the old lady I will be then) thumping a melon to the music of Alice In Chains."

whaddaya mean ya can't? I can!

"iiii'm (thump) the maaaaan (thump) in the box (thump thump)"

and then i'll hum that "ow-wow-wow-wow" part.

[Sydnie]

3. The acoustic Cyndi is rather new

It's a duets cd with "new stars" singing with her. Even though the songs are 80's songs, the recording is new.

Perhaps I will send you my grocery list then ... ;)

[musette_sf]

4. okay, so now i must share my Cyndi Lauper story

i saw her open for the Kinks at Roseland back in 1983. MTV had not yet put "GJWHF" into rotation so i'd never seen her or heard of her before. the crowd was drunk and ready for Kinks, and they booed Cyndi off the stage. she left the stage weeping. imagine my astonishment to see her on MTV as the Next Big Thing, scant weeks later!

wrong booking, stupid booking agents, happens all the time.

[Sydnie]

5. I wanted to be just like her in the 80's.

I thought she had way more style (in a more whacked out way, of course) than most of the diva's of that day. Once I saw her in Vibes, the movie she did with Jeff Goldblum, I was hooked completely.

Even now, she is under-rated, don't you think?

[novalib]

2. IPODS!!!

The ONLY reason stores have music is TO GET YOU TO BUY! BUY! BUY!!

With Ipods, more and more people will be listening to their own music!!

Stores will eventually stop the stupid music we now hear.

[Sydnie]

6. The music now barely drowns out the cell phone conversations

by the shoppers who are physically there, but mentally elsewhere.

[Kelly Rupert]

7. The only reasons stores in general exist is to get you to buy.

That's what they're there for. Were you ever under the impression that Target was a charity?

[Berry Cool]

8. What music you hear really depends on where you shop

and some of it really surprises you.

I recall being in a supermarket in the mid '80s, one that played Muzak...and recognizing one of the songs as Prince's "I Would Die 4 U."

[Kelly Rupert]

9. I remember laughing when I heard

a muzakified version of Smells Like Teen Spirit as a background segue on NPR.

[novalib]

10. PROFOUND!

My, what a PROFOUND INSIGHT INTO THE OBVIOUS!!

OF COURSE the reason stores in general exist is to SELL STUFF.

But music in stores is PURPOSELY PUT THERE in order to get you to BUY MORE stuff that you did not intend to buy and which, in most cases, you really do not need.

And, FYI -- Target IS a charity. It has signs up saying that for every dollar you spend, Target donates some money to local charities.

(Of course, Target does this not out of the goodness of its corporate heart. It does it so as to reduce it taxes!! Don't believe me??? Ask Target if it will reduce its prices so that YOU can give the money directly to the charities of your choice!!!)

[Kelly Rupert]

14. Well, yeah. Obviously so. Again.

The music is there to get you to buy things. So is the layout. So is the packaging. So is the very fact that there are things to buy. Stores are purposefully designed to sell you things. They exist to sell you things. It's a good bet that every single thing that is in a store is there to either cut costs, encourage sales, encourage throughput, or encourage positive store branding.

I don't really see why people get so hyped up about "THE STORES TRY TO GET YOU TO BUY THINGS YOU DON'T NEED!" Of course they do. That is why they are stores. They want to sell you things. My point was that mentioning that music was there as a sales tool was as redundant as mentioning that a baseball team only hires a first baseman to help them win ballgames. Of course they do; they're a ball team and they exist to win ball games, so it's a good bet that whatever they do is done to win ball games. Similarly, a store exists to sell you as much as possible, and it's a good bet that whatever a store does is done to sell you stuff.

And along that line, of course Target's corporate giving is done for tax and advertising purposes. That is equally obvious. As is every single company's charitable giving. Because there is not one thing that goes on in a corporation that is not aimed at increasing its profits.

[brer cat]

11. It could be just what they could afford to play.

We have a small "sister and sister" shop, and we found out that we can't play any music at all without paying a fee to ASCAP or another licensing agent, unless we are playing music that we sell. We are quiet now, but looking at music we could possibly sell in order to just get some sounds in the shop. We have an antique shop and will look for older sounds, probably 50's and 60's, but everyone has to make that choice based on the demographics of their shoppers.

[Sydnie]

12. Not even a classical radio station?

I thought you could play anything as long as you hadn't copied it without permission. I know the bigger stores all buy prepackaged music and play that with their store ads added to the loop to play every x number of minutes. I was just amazed that the stuff they were including was relatively new (therefore more expensive to purchase I would imagine).

[Kelly Rupert]

16. My fiancee's family owns a little candy store.

We're just playing Christmas CDs right now. Also, we don't pay licensing fees for our mickey-mouse chocolate pops. We generally assume nobody gives a damn about a tiny operation on the South Side.

[brer cat]

19. We can only play radio or music that we sell.

[KansDem]

13. "Rockzak"

I find it amusing that the Rock 'n Roll revolutionaries of the 1960s and 1970s are now the elevator music of the 21st century. "Peace" and "freedom" have given way to corporate consumerism.

Do you think they were really recording MUSAK all that time?

[musette_sf]

15. CC companies are really dipping into the bins for their ads

they have repelled me completely by using "Revolution" and "Dandelion" in their ads.

on the other hand, AmEx also has a radio ad for a new product that uses a Spinal Tap song, and for that i have to say, pretty cool. it's "Gimme Some Money", which according to the Legend of Spinal Tap, was recorded by the Thamesmen, an early band that included the ST members. Ed Begley Jr is the drummer in this clip from "TIST"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOAXPFs_lyk

[Sydnie]

17. I must admit

I was very put off by the Target ad that uses "All You Need Is Love" this holiday season. Their message was all you need is love, and something in a target box. :puke:

[Kelly Rupert]

18. All you need is Love!

http://www.amazon.com/Love-Beatles/dp/B000JK8OYU
And it's only $11.99!

Seriously, great record. Well worth the purchase price. Don't get it off iTunes; this thing sounds too gorgeous to listen to at 128kb/s.

[Sydnie]

20. I saw that CD in the store the other day

but I didn't have my reading glasses with me, so I couldn't check out the playlist.

Thanks for the link. :)