You may be surprised to know that Muzak the company is no more after being purchased by its new owner Mood Music from Concord, Ontario. The type of background music will remain, but today there's a lot more science behind the product that you ever thought was possible. In fact, what we used to term "elevator music" now also has a new name - "sensory marketing."
It seems that Mood Music is not only into the background music business, but also signs, interactive displays and scents that reach over 150 million people a day at more than 500,000 locations around the world. Essentially they're in the game of being the unconsciously connector between their clients and their customers in such a way that it enhances the buying experience, which hopefully causes the customer to buy more.
The company painstakingly matches the music to the environment to get the desired result, which in essence means "spend more money." The interesting thing is that the music is no longer easy-listening versions of new and old hits. In fact, since 1984 Muzak had been hiring composers to design music specifically for certain environments.
Music is such a powerful device and anyone who loves it knows how much your emotions can be evoked when listening. Is it any surprise that a company has been so successful in manipulating our buying habits as a result?
As far as the Muzak name, it's probably a good thing it's been retired as it's become a bad cliche over the years. Mood Music almost identifies what the music is really all about. The name is missing one word however - how about "Marketing" in the middle?
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