Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Muzak to your ears

My story in today's paper (and, of course, online) about Fort Mill-based Muzak's move to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy was more about dollars and cents than pop and rock. But the weight of the company's "elevator music" past is such that it seems just about every time we or any other media outlet write about Muzak, we're duty-bound to mention that the company-circa-now is not, we repeat, not, Your Father's Elevator Music Provider anymore. Since the 1980s, Muzak has strived to reinvent itself as a modern, knowing source of custom playlists for business environments, particularly retail, featuring songs performed by their original artists (as opposed to, say, a smooth jazz combo, or, well, you get the picture). The hope, of course, is to provide the soundtrack to your shopping (and, merchants hope, spending). For an excellent picture of this (and suggested soundtracks for several Charlotte neighborhoods), check out my erstwhile colleague Jeff Elder's fine 2007 feature story on the company's reinvention, and the work of its "audio architects."

That said: It was still rather awesome to find, after a bit of online hunting yesterday afternoon, that not only is the much-maligned Elevator Music of old still available, amid Muzak's 90-odd other programs, but that you can also listen to a sample of it online, in case you wish to evoke memories of, I don't know, instrumental pop-rock covers drifting over the dentist's waiting room. Yes, that's right, sax solo fanatics/sadists/ironic fans of aural Velveeta: The program is called "Environmental" - why, I cannot say, as to me the word suggests more "nature soundscapes featuring waves hitting the shore" than "easy listening instrumentals" - and apparently, it's quite popular in Japan. You can find the info and clip here: Just scroll down a bit to "Environmental" and hit "sample." Yes, that's right. Think Hall & Oates couldn't get any smoother? Well, you thought wrong.

Though I wouldn't want to listen to it for an extended period of time, there was nonetheless something weirdly nostalgic about the sample - a reminder of a not-so-distant era when mainstream shopping environments perhaps weren't as aspiring-hip, and a trip to the produce section didn't mean hearing a micro-programmed tracklist featuring Aimee Mann and the Foo Fighters playing faintly overhead.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a non news item. After reading the first 3 sentences I said who cares and went to the comments. You probably won't approve this but my main objective to you is; whats your point?

Anonymous said...

uh, sorry - but I agree with 1:36 - what's your point?

Anonymous said...

Welcome to blogging...

Anonymous said...

This company employs 500 people in its Fort Mill office and it looks like the place is successfully coming out of bankruptcy. That sounds newsworthy to me in this economy.

Play on, Muzak!

Anonymous said...

okay 2:13 - show me where (in this piece above) it states anything about

1) 500 Employees
2) Successful Bankruptcy

This piece is quite successful in covering all the butt's of anyone who has malaligned Muzak with elevator music....a tune I am SO tired of hearing.

We get it - Muzak does more than play instrumental music for Otis riders of the world.

Anonymous said...

This is a BLOG. There's clearly a link to the original news item (with all the facts and figures you could want) in the first sentence. I would think that this blog post is meant to be supplemental to (and commentary on) that.

Anonymous said...

Blogs and news are in the eye of the beholder.

Story? Sure. Something to Blog about? Sure. But does this deserve to be on the homepage of CharlotteObserver.com?

Way to go - World Class.

Anonymous said...

we had joy we had fun

Anonymous said...

I've been to the Muzak office in Ft. Mill. The place is way cool, and depending on the day you visit, you might just catch a glimpse of a recording artist or someone in the music industry. The time I visited I got to meet Weird Al Yancovic who was in town promoting an album. My friend still works there and is constantly talking about what fun things she did at Muzak that day. And she still has a job while a bunch of my other friends are recently laid off. I hope the Observer keeps Muzak in a "mainstream light" because that's what it deserves after being a household name for over 75 years and not shutting its doors when the going got tough.

Anonymous said...

I guess Ted Nugent didn't buy the company after all.

Anonymous said...

I used to work at Muzak. Got laid off. Learned that SC unemployment benefits pay a lot less than NC unemployment benefits. That's why SC can lure companies just across the border. It's cheaper, however if you live in Charlotte, but work in SC, you get shafted! Lower Unemployment checks since you earned your income in SC vs NC. BEWARE!!!

Charley said...

Man, they have really nice websites.

Anonymous said...

There ain't no free lunch in america.