Muzic as Manipulation
by Abigail Garnett
We live in an age of corporate manipulation. As consumers, we are bombarded every day by perfectly choreographed assaults on our senses. Our televisions, our computers, and even our grocery stores are all carefully designed to maximize profits, usually with subtle appeals to specifically targeted demographics. Background or environmental music has been a part of this phenomenon since the creation of the Muzak Corporation in 1934. However, its approach has changed greatly in recent years. These days, its understated application has become increasingly creative, and its uses continue to grow.
The archetypal creator of environmental music programs, Muzak, has become nearly synonymous with the bland, soothing tunes that are commonly heard in elevators and grocery stores. Everett True of the Village Voice, a popular New York City publication, labels Muzak the "legendary elevator music plant," and in fact the term, "muzak," is often used to describe any music that is boring or unexciting, even if it has no relation to the actual company. As David Owen of the New Yorker writes, George Owen Squier's company probably acquired this reputation as a result of the fact that early skyscrapers utilized its soothing music in their elevators to relax nervous patrons. Squier's real breakthrough was his introduction of Stimulus Progression, which, among other things, proposed that "most workers would be more productive if they were exposed to music of gradually increasing intensity, in fifteenminute cycles."
Today, however, this conception of the company is almost entirely inaccurate, as Muzak has completely remodeled itself to fit a more modern and discerning consumer base. Muzak now sells customized playlists of popular songs to businesses. Containing over 1.5 million commercially recorded songs, Muzak’s database of music can cater to any kind of business or demographic. Stores like Old Navy play upbeat music aimed towards young people, while grocery stores and offices will play mellow music which targets an older crowd. The colossal selection which Muzak has access to means that you could listen for days at a time and never be aware that the music was anything more than a radio station.
With the rise of handheld music players like iPods, we have become even more accustomed to being constantly accompanied by a musical soundtrack. The effect of Muzak is therefore, subtle. However, because Muzak's effectiveness relies somewhat on going unnoticed, we are more susceptible now than ever to its slight influence.
Muzak's website refers to this type of customized programming as "audio architecture," emphasizing not only the carefully structured format of each package, but also the expectation of a predetermined response from those who experience it. Muzak's programming does indeed represent architecture in the sense that it creates a purely functional structure which overrides the artistic aspect of its fundamental elements. However, the difference is that if Muzak's programs are created correctly, then customers won't be able to tell that it's Muzak at all. They'll simply nod their heads to the pleasant music as they move through the store, happily loading up their carts with products.
