Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts • Hacker News Board

Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts

#61

Post by bryanlarsen » Mon, Feb 25, 2019, 8:47 PM UTC

balabaster wrote: post #13

save_ferris wrote: post #10

I experienced this working in retail during the holiday season back when I was in college. The little bell intro to Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas is You", will forever haunt my dreams. I rarely listen to Christmas music anymore because of that experience. Nowadays, I get irritated when I've burned through a 2 hour playlist twice at work and need to find something else to listen to, but I totally take the a…

I moved from the UK to Canada 20 years ago this September. Back in High School and University, I worked retail for about 5 years or so. By the time I left, I haaaaaated Christmas music. Couldn't stand it. Now after 20 years in Canada, I really miss it. Nothing here is the same as it is in the UK when it comes to Christmas traditions. There's no carolers, the smells aren't the same, the shops aren't the same. Everythi…

> no carolers

Grab a couple of neighbors and go caroling yourself. In my experience it can snowball quite rapidly if somebody actually gets it rolling...

Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts

#62

Post by Bluecobra » Mon, Feb 25, 2019, 8:50 PM UTC

save_ferris wrote: post #10

I experienced this working in retail during the holiday season back when I was in college. The little bell intro to Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas is You", will forever haunt my dreams. I rarely listen to Christmas music anymore because of that experience. Nowadays, I get irritated when I've burned through a 2 hour playlist twice at work and need to find something else to listen to, but I totally take the a…

I feel you, I used to work in a hardware store and would loathe when it came time to switch over to the repetitive Christmas music. Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime" is my most cringeworthy song. Argh that syth intro...

Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts

#63

Post by xg15 » Mon, Feb 25, 2019, 8:53 PM UTC

ravenstine wrote: post #41

save_ferris wrote: post #10

I experienced this working in retail during the holiday season back when I was in college. The little bell intro to Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas is You", will forever haunt my dreams. I rarely listen to Christmas music anymore because of that experience. Nowadays, I get irritated when I've burned through a 2 hour playlist twice at work and need to find something else to listen to, but I totally take the a…

I was once in charge of the electronics department for a retail store, except for whatever music my bosses wanted to have playing over the speakers. It was one CD with a mix of pop and hip hop. They never would change it, so I decided to commandeer the stereo as I just couldn't handle the repetition anymore. I played new music we got in, both alternative and what was popular. The customers seemed fine with it, and I…

> They did not like this. For whatever reason, which they refused to explain to me, they insisted I played their stupid mix that had been playing for months.

Could licensing have been the reason? Not sure about the US, but in Europe, you frequently need a separate license to play songs in stores, bars or really any kind of public venue. I imagine this is probably even stricted in the US. So the crappy mix might have been the only thing they had bothered buying licenses for - and they might have been afraid to get sued when playing anything else.

I still can feel the pain though, and I have no idea why the bosses didn't even bother to give a reason. So I guess quitting was the best thing to do.

Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts

#64

Post by sonnyblarney » Mon, Feb 25, 2019, 8:54 PM UTC

I read an article recently that telling children what to eat doesn't work well, neither does letting them pick everything. But - if you give them a choice of 'A or B' - it seems to work better.

Perhaps stores ought to a) provide some variety and b) let the staff have at least some influence.

'Here's a massive list of music - you make the playlists from this'

Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts

#65

Post by bogidon » Mon, Feb 25, 2019, 8:54 PM UTC

An elementary school I attended from first to fourth grade would play Beethovan's Moonlight Sonata in the lunchroom as the song that signaled "quiet time," when we'd have to eat our food without talking. Occasionally we would get another song, something by Chopin I think, but in my memory 90% of the time it was Moonlight Sonata. Whenever I hear that song now, ten years later, I get teleported back to fourth grade quiet time where all I could do was stare into my carton of sometimes half-frozen strawberry milk or prod miserably at my collard greens (invariably quiet time came near the end of lunch when I had already eaten everything not terrible). I have an almost physical revulsion when I hear it.

Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts

#66

Post by empath75 » Mon, Feb 25, 2019, 8:55 PM UTC

xg15 wrote: post #63

ravenstine wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was once in charge of the electronics department for a retail store, except for whatever music my bosses wanted to have playing over the speakers. It was one CD with a mix of pop and hip hop. They never would change it, so I decided to commandeer the stereo as I just couldn't handle the repetition anymore. I played new music we got in, both alternative and what was popular. The customers seemed fine with it, and I…

> They did not like this. For whatever reason, which they refused to explain to me, they insisted I played their stupid mix that had been playing for months. Could licensing have been the reason? Not sure about the US, but in Europe, you frequently need a separate license to play songs in stores, bars or really any kind of public venue. I imagine this is probably even stricted in the US. So the crappy mix might have…

A friend of mine made more money from licensing a single song to Armani stores than he made from the entire rest of his sales put together.

Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts

#67

Post by Synaesthesia » Mon, Feb 25, 2019, 8:56 PM UTC

bogidon wrote: post #65

An elementary school I attended from first to fourth grade would play Beethovan's Moonlight Sonata in the lunchroom as the song that signaled "quiet time," when we'd have to eat our food without talking. Occasionally we would get another song, something by Chopin I think, but in my memory 90% of the time it was Moonlight Sonata. Whenever I hear that song now, ten years later, I get teleported back to fourth grade qui…

The first movement is overplayed. The second and third are really awesome actually.

Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts

#68

Post by Synaesthesia » Mon, Feb 25, 2019, 8:57 PM UTC

overthemoon wrote: post #49

I worked at a movie theater and we were supposed to get a new CD every month from corporate to play in theaters before the movie started, but in the year or so I worked there it never changed. I don't remember all of them, but the ones I do remember are a cover of Convoy by Mannheim Steamroller, which is a godawful treacly piece of shit to begin with, and a cover of Girl You'll Be a Woman Soon by Urge Overkill, which…

CONVOY!!

Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts

#69

Post by jrnichols » Mon, Feb 25, 2019, 9:01 PM UTC

xg15 wrote: post #63

ravenstine wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was once in charge of the electronics department for a retail store, except for whatever music my bosses wanted to have playing over the speakers. It was one CD with a mix of pop and hip hop. They never would change it, so I decided to commandeer the stereo as I just couldn't handle the repetition anymore. I played new music we got in, both alternative and what was popular. The customers seemed fine with it, and I…

> They did not like this. For whatever reason, which they refused to explain to me, they insisted I played their stupid mix that had been playing for months. Could licensing have been the reason? Not sure about the US, but in Europe, you frequently need a separate license to play songs in stores, bars or really any kind of public venue. I imagine this is probably even stricted in the US. So the crappy mix might have…

I agree it could have been a licensing thing. ASCAP representatives have been well known to send shakedown letters to businesses that haven't paid their BMI/ASCAP dues, and lawsuits can be very very expensive.

Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts

#70

Post by balabaster » Mon, Feb 25, 2019, 9:02 PM UTC

bryanlarsen wrote: post #61

balabaster wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I moved from the UK to Canada 20 years ago this September. Back in High School and University, I worked retail for about 5 years or so. By the time I left, I haaaaaated Christmas music. Couldn't stand it. Now after 20 years in Canada, I really miss it. Nothing here is the same as it is in the UK when it comes to Christmas traditions. There's no carolers, the smells aren't the same, the shops aren't the same. Everythi…

> no carolers Grab a couple of neighbors and go caroling yourself. In my experience it can snowball quite rapidly if somebody actually gets it rolling...

Nice! I may try that next year. I could be amusing to do that around our village.