291–300 of 321 posts
I am never in a Starbucks for long enough to really notice the music. There usually isn't any place to sit, as the place seems to turn into an office or study space, with Macbooks (rarely something else) taking up nearly every seat.
That's the whole idea of Starbucks - it's the third place.
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.
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...
Roughly explained in this excerpt:
> "Corporate big bucks and avant-garde music aren’t the most obvious bedfellows — but throw user experience into the mix, and you’ve got a viable cultural phenomenon: kankyō ongaku. In 1980s Japan, as the country continued to enjoy an unprecedented post-war boom, it became the world’s second-largest economy; companies like Sanyo and Muji pumped cash into the arts to enhance the experiences for its consumers."
For anyone interested I highly recommend the physical editions of the release as they include twice as many tracks (digital rights for japanese music are very complicated), some of them very rare and released for the first time outside Japan. In addition they come with a hardcover book featuring extensive liner notes and an essay explaining the circumstances and setting. However there are digital versions with a limited track selection: [2][3]
[1] https://lightintheattic.net/releases/4088-kankyo-ongaku-japa...
[2] https://daily.bandcamp.com/2019/02/15/kankyo-ongaku-japanese...
[3] https://open.spotify.com/album/0rrRvu7ObcLgxbuGGkx3Rn?si=V5Y...
They modernized the gas pumps at our local Speedway by adding video players. Instead of news like I've seen in California they play endless commercials and the volume is loud. I remember stopping one time when it was twenty below zero this winter, no one was at the pumps and the same commercial was playing and not a single pump's sound was in sync with another. I felt like I was in a movie about a dystopian future.
Probably just a sidenote and maybe not that relevant, but I think 80s Japan had the right idea of environmental music which was considered as a meaningful part of a location, building or space - regardless of if it served artistic purposes or corporate interests. The reason this comes to my mind is this [1] recently released, utterly fantastic compilation that focuses on this very topic: Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambie…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a form of pollution, really - and a sign that there are a set of perverse incentives which can cause it. Somewhere out there, advertisers are paying dollars for those commercials, and in many cases no-one is listening, or worse - it's causing active irritation to the people who are. If you think of the commercials as oil, and the speaker systems and infrastructure as pipelines, then cases like this where commerc…
I found a mute button behind the screens. I got so mad, I muted every TV thing in the gas station. Visuals you can look away from. Audio is a form of torture. I really appreciate Costco gas stations for their no bullshit, pay money, fill gas strategy.
Kind of like an open plan office, you mean.
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…
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.
