Muzak Changes Its Tune

(CBS)  Anyone of a certain age remembers the golden age of Muzak — the constant companion in elevators that sounded not quite like music, CBS News correspondent Richard Schlesinger reports.

"For years it was a very positive thing to be Muzak," says Bob Finigan of Muzak. "I mean, we were one of the first companies that figured out that putting music in a business was a good thing to do."

Trouble was that Muzak was to music what Manilow is to Mozart: It went in one ear and out the other.

"We became very lame," Finigan says. "To be the Muzak guy was not a cool thing to be."

But Finigan, who works in a very cool new headquarters, boasts Muzak the company, founded in 1934, has discovered music the art form and now programs real songs by real artists — even some who are up for Grammys this Sunday.

Finigan says the company is "absolutely" hip now, even if people have a hard time believing it.

Muzak chooses songs from a CD collection a teenager could only dream of. The company promises it can help any business build any image.

For example, the music playing in a local ice cream parlor doesn't sound like anything you'd expect to hear from Muzak: It's Madonna.

The old Muzak might have put people to sleep. The new Muzak is supposed to do just the opposite. And believe it or not, there are at least eight marketing studies that show the right music in a store can increase sales.

"Abba is on our program," says Jana Fendly of Cold Stone Creamery. "Who is going to admit that they love Abba? It's there and you're tapping your toes and you don't even know it."

You might find Muzak in a lot of new places, but there's one old place you won't: elevators.

"We actually have music everywhere in our building other than the elevator," Finigan says.

It brings back too many bad memories.

[wpzephyr]

Aside from the issue that any kind of music should be used to put consumers in a buying mood there are actually some people who like what was once called easy listening or beautiful music. As I get older I'm just not into being screamed at by a disheveled twenty-year old about how his world sucks. Music by Mantovani or Percy Faith can melt stress away and take you back to a simpler time, if you let it. I will take instrumental arrangements of standards by Berlin, Kern and Gershwin over anything penned by any rock and roll songwriter, ever.

[billzor]

When I was younger, I worked in retail, and Muzak was the equivalent of Chinese water torture. Imagine listening to Lawrence Welk, or instrumental versions of Christmas carols, for forty hours per week. It was horrible. I will never understand what the higher ups in retail were thinking. It was probably responsible for giving more parents headaches, too, when their children would be driven to the other extreme of heavy metal played so loud that the whole house vibrated, and the neighbors called the police. Why is it that retailers are trying to get us to spend, spend, spend? Is this in anyone's best interest other than the retailer? So much spent on merchandising, graphics, advertising, atmosphere-and the consumer pays for all of it in the purchase price of the product. To me, this is just as wrong as the media irresponsibly joking about Lisa Nowak. Where is America's conscience? What are we teaching our children?

[baye13]

"Muzak chooses songs from a CD collection a teenager could only dream of."

Only teenagers like music?