Elevator music

Muzak ™ is a trademark of Muzak Holdings LLC, a U.S. company founded in 1934, which is known mainly for its use of music (eg music sound of stores ). The word is in English synonym for extremely simple and shallow music.

" Muzak " is a phonetically modified version of the English word music and has been known since the 1970s, more generally, the background music is usually used in elevators, department stores, hotels and some work environments, often referred to as " Elevator Music " or " elevator music ". It involves functional music to be unconsciously perceived by the listener in order to make him happy and to create a relaxed atmosphere to create when shopping or at work. John Lennon named after the dissolution of the Beatles music Paul McCartney's " Muzak ". The avant-garde pop musician Brian Eno evaluated with his LP Ambient 1: Music for Airports 1978 Muzak again to music on and coined the term Ambient simultaneously.

History

Muzak as an aspect of functional music is named after the American company Muzak Inc.. In 1934, the U.S. retired General George Owen Squier, who was chief of the American intelligence corps during World War I and up for the possible uses of the then newly emerging means of communication interested telephone and radio, the company " Wired Radio", the was later renamed Muzak Inc.. The name is a combination of the word " Music" and "Kodak", a formerly distinguished company, which admired Squier. 1935, the successful orchestra leader Ben Selvin was hired as a music producer.

After a bankruptcy in 2009, the company was in 2011 by Mood Media Corporation. taken. At this time, sonicated Muzak Inc. 300,000 rooms in the United States, while Mood Media supplied 117,000 premises in Europe with music. 2013 notified the new owners to set the brand name Muzak.

The founding year of the company refers to a period of great cultural history of technical innovations and related technology general euphoria. This took place about in the literature in the flow of Futurism reflected while she aimed in the social environment under the heading of social engineering on the methodological control of workforce and customers, on the rationalization of movement and workflows.

The case brought by Muzak Inc. in the 1950s and 1960s efforts to "scientific" support the effectiveness of its (see the " effect " ) are now referred to by their own company spokeswoman as a marketing gimmick. Nevertheless, the company concept met in the middle of the 20th century a widespread in Western societies reception posture and therefore could "work". The onset as in the 1970s, fundamental changes in the reception of music in particular an ever more pressing to the forefront of public perception youth generation brought the Muzak concept as a consumer supporting marketing tool to its limits. The arbitrariness of deliberately avoiding any attention to musical conception was subject to competition with a previously unheard of so active reception of music, in which now began to express a certain attitude about the preferred style of music. An emptied as Muzak their substance music could not stand before this reception entertainment and perverse even into its opposite: Instead of calming and balancing act, created Muzak music due to the unmet aesthetic expectations of the recipients now even aggression.

The move away from Muzak concept expressed in the advertising of the late 20th century overlooked in the circumstance of that advertising is now aware of both original music used as mood instrument, not only popular hit parade tunes are used, but in some cases even reversed in the musical accompaniment of a commercial new hits occur. Still incompatible with Muzak is the use not only catchy classical tunes, but even sophisticated modern classic like Carl Orff's " Carmina Burana ".

In department stores is on vocals usually dispensed to abzuverlangen not too much attention to the listener. The volume is only slightly above the noise level of the environment. In dissonance is entirely dispensed with. The sound is often done indirectly through multiple speakers high-mounted and can be perceived almost identical in every area of the recorded space.

Today is not only distinguished between elevator music and professional background music, but also foreground music. It is not just the " sprinkling " of customers, but in some cases even an unconscious control of the customer or guest and his close ties to the company in the target. For example, modern and contemporary music is often used by companies in lifestyle such as fashion chains, shoe stores, designer hotels and trendy bars. The customer is happy here when it suits the music.

For other companies to the music in the "background " to make a clear statement more about the company, " audio branding", and make the company so that the customer recognizable.

Another application of Muzak serves as a sound and entertainment for patients in the context of hospital- own programs in -hospital cable TV. Will focus more nature shots and easy -to-understand illustrations of surgical techniques, backed by selected music used. ( " C.A.R.E.Channel ").

Digression: Branded Entertainment

The almost paradoxical development in an advertising environment emancipating from advertising music finds its logical continuation in the alliances between art and business, which are reinforced since the turn of the 21st century to observe and are referred to as branded entertainment. It occurred businesses approached prominent artists to benefit from their presence and access to certain target groups exploit:

• The Adam Opel AG bought Eric Clapton in the early 1990s, the rights to the distinctive theme of his worldwide success from Layla, and used it in different variations in its television commercials. However, Clapton wrote it in 1992 Layla to a slow ballad to which henceforth got along without the subject.

As examples from the years 2004 and 2005 are:

• DaimlerChrysler acquired for his Mercedes by singer Christina Aguilera the right to download the song Hello offer on the Internet pages of the group on which the new Mercedes A-Class will be presented. The other exploitation rights to the song remained unaffected and are still the singer or the companies commissioned by it to the music industry.
• The pop group Destiny 's Child has joined for one year contract with McDonald's. The world tour, the group plays with the motto Destiny Fulfilled - and lovin 'it clearly on the slogan of the fast food chain I'm lovin ' it to. While the musicians turn out prominently on their tour logo and products of their sponsor, operates McDonald's active promotion in return for the group on the wards of their tour.
• Director Spike Lee has made ​​a short film commissioned by BMW, the aesthetically convincing on the film festival of Cannes 2004. The film staged a particular urban lifestyle, with a vehicle of the ordering company seems rather random. BMW foregoes any striking advertising message. The brand benefited rather from the aesthetic splendor of the film work of art that can be considered as a subtle form of advertising in the form of product placement.

Effect

The functional aspect of Muzak is the specific change in the acoustic conditions at the respective location to a specific, desired by the principal direction. Muzak for example, serves both the superposition of interfering ambient noise as well as the avoidance of undesirable because perceived as oppressive silence. Motivated by this change is always the desire, mood and emotional state of people ( often random ) residing in a particular environment, to steer it in a positive direction, and so to stop to stay and to make receptive to other messages. Very often it is at these embassies to advertising messages that should incite to consume people. Muzak is also - used in public spaces, in order to influence passersby psychoacoustically (about aggression retardant) - especially in the U.S. or Canada.

In Hamburg, the sound of the main station with classical music to the policy goal of expulsion of there before concentrating Junkie scene serves. The Junkies is signaled by the scene of her alien soundscape to reside place the "wrong " thing - has actually caused the expulsion of the scene from the immediate station environment - along with proper police action. This model also took over other cities such as Munich and Bielefeld.

Muzak is either produced specifically for a particular purpose, or is music that has been composed with a different motivation, but is used after appropriate arranging as Muzak. As an example may be mentioned Für Elise by Ludwig van Beethoven and The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi. Often thereby interpretations of such works are used in the style of the popular classic. The demand for music that heard but not listened to (eg, " to hear but not to listen " ) should be, means that Muzak arrangements practically without exception, purely instrumental music - sung texts are too much attention drag and thus miss their intended effect. Foreground music, in contrast, is to reach exactly the opposite.

While there are several studies on background music and its effect, yet these are very controversial, as are the results of the studies, the times have no effect at up to 30 % of the customers, sometimes attested unique effect.