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Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts

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Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts

#71

Post by alehul »

empath75 wrote: post #66
xg15 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Now that you've pointed out that this process exists, I'm super intrigued to hear the playlists of different stores and compare that with the brand image of said stores.

Maybe if I like 'x' brand, I'll also enjoy their store playlist... could be the key to finding lots of great music.

Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts

#72

Post by Legogris »

GuB-42 wrote: post #30

I don't know about Starbucks but have you ever been to a Family Mart convenience store in Japan? I'm wondering how the music didn't drive the employees mad. The Family Mart welcome song is probably the most recognizable but the same goes for stores like Bic Camera and many others.

This one? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igGcWRYhr1Y&index=14&list=RD...

But yeah, I feel for the retail employees in Japan. Several of the franchises and chains jingles really get to you after a while. I think Don Quixote and Lawson are worse, because they actually have vocals.

It's just on a completely different level. The same 45-something-seconds jingle on loop, perpetually 24/7, interspersed with ads.

Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts

#73

Post by maxxxxx »

jniedrauer wrote: post #43
maxxxxx wrote: post #22

In general I don’t understand why people think that it’s ok to pollute every bit of space with noise of their choice (aka music). I view it as a big nuisance.

As with many things, it's profit-driven. As a related example, bars intentionally turn the music up loud enough that conversations are difficult because this causes patrons to buy more drinks.

" loud enough that conversations are difficult because this causes patrons to buy more drinks"

I know that I am weird but this makes me just want to run away,.

Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts

#74

Post by dingaling »

supernovae wrote: post #4

The Starbucks I visit doesn't even seem to play music. It's been a while since I've been to a store that did and when they did it was just coffeehouse playlist with Spotify integration so it was kind of cool what they had set up. I imagine working in an environment where you hear the same music regardless would cause some pain if you focus on that aspect of your work environment. Just imagine being alive in the 80s w…

> Just imagine being alive in the 80s with muzak and really crappy jingles play

I worked in a chain supermarket in the 80s and to this day I know the words and melodies of all the hits of that decade, but not the names of the songs or the artists.

Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts

#75

Post by PretzelFisch »

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…

The way I remember it the store has to buy rebroadcast a license for each song.

Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts

#76

Post by gnicholas »

grawprog wrote: post #6

I went into a Starbucks the other day early in the morning that didn't have music playing yet, it was really weird. It was actually kind of disconcerting. I think that's the only time i've ever been in one with no music. Everybody's voices echoed really loudly. You could hear every conversation going on and people ordering from the other side of the store. As much as I dislike their music choices usually, I kind of u…

Ironically, there are sound loops that remote workers use to make it sound like they're working in a coffee shop (sans music)

https://coffitivity.com

Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts

#77

Post by reaperducer »

alehul wrote: post #71
empath75 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Now that you've pointed out that this process exists, I'm super intrigued to hear the playlists of different stores and compare that with the brand image of said stores. Maybe if I like 'x' brand, I'll also enjoy their store playlist... could be the key to finding lots of great music.

Maybe if I like 'x' brand, I'll also enjoy their store playlist... could be the key to finding lots of great music.

It actually is. My wife has the sort of job where she spends a lot of time in high-end retail stores, and at that level the music is very important so she's very aware of it.

It's not just selecting the right music, but making sure your company isn't playing the same songs as the competition.

CBS Sunday Morning had a nice long piece about this last year.

Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts

#78

Post by naravara »

mc32 wrote: post #44
maxxxxx wrote: post #22

In general I don’t understand why people think that it’s ok to pollute every bit of space with noise of their choice (aka music). I view it as a big nuisance.

I haven’t been to malls in a while, so maybe it’s done stateside too, but some overseas malls go the extra effort and make sure they pump it up to 11 (as if at a bar after hours) It's as if they’re trying to drive traffic out of their stores instead of trying to keep them in.

They're not trying to drive traffic out, they're trying to discourage loitering. If you're there to buy something you're likely to just go in and buy it despite the problem. And if you're on the fence, you're likely to just make a hasty decision instead of considering it if it's too loud to avoid.

The big impediment though, is loiterers. If there is a problem with people loitering in or in front of your store that tends to drive away more people than the music will.

Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts

#79

Post by sevensor »

I attended university in the very early days of MP3s. In a microcontroller lab, the TAs hooked one of the lab computers to a pair of speakers and set up their collection of MP3s to loop indefinitely. I still remember the whole playlist:

* White Wedding by Billy Idol

* I Am The Walrus by the Beatles

I may have the order reversed.

Re: Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts

#80

Post by chobytes »

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 had a similar experience working at Macys during the holidays many years ago. I had to listen to about 100 different versions of whatever that “last christmas I gave you my heart” song is every day, and to this day it drives me bonkers when I hear it.
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