Background music (

British English British English is the set of Variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United Kingdom, especially Great Britain. More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadly, to ...

: piped music) is a mode of musical performance in which the music is not intended to be a primary focus of potential listeners, but its content, character, and volume level are deliberately chosen to affect behavioral and emotional responses in humans such as concentration, relaxation, distraction, and excitement. Listeners are uniquely subject to background music with no control over its

volume Volume is a measure of regions in three-dimensional space. It is often quantified numerically using SI derived units (such as the cubic metre and litre) or by various imperial or US customary units (such as the gallon, quart, cubic inch) ...

and content. The range of responses created are of great variety, and even opposite, depending on numerous factors such as, setting, culture, audience, and even time of day. Background music is commonly played where there is no audience at all, such as empty hallways, restrooms and fitting rooms. It is also used in artificial space, such as music played while on hold during a telephone call, and virtual space, as in the ambient sounds or thematic music in video games. It is typically played at low volumes from multiple small speakers distributing the music across broad public spaces. Music has proven to improve cognitive processes, enabling the brain to process more information. The widespread use of background music in offices, restaurants, and stores began with the founding of

Muzak Muzak is an American brand of background music played in retail stores and other public establishments owned by Mood Media. The name ''Muzak'', a blend of music and the popular camera brand name Kodak, has been in use since 1934 and has been ...

, or light background music, in the 1930s and was characterized by repetition and simple musical arrangements. Its use has grown worldwide and today incorporates the findings of

psychological research Psychological research refers to research that psychologists conduct for systematic study and for analysis of the experiences and behaviors of individuals or groups. Their research can have educational, occupational and clinical application ...

relating to

consumer behavior Consumer behaviour is the study of individuals, groups, or organisations and all activities associated with the purchase, use and disposal of goods and services. It encompasses how the consumer's emotions, attitudes, and preferences affe ...

in retail environments, employee

productivity Productivity is the efficiency of production of goods or services expressed by some measure. Measurements of productivity are often expressed as a ratio of an aggregate output to a single input or an aggregate input used in a production proce ...

, and workplace satisfaction.Lanza, Joseph. ''Elevator Music: A Surreal History of Muzak, Easy-listening, and Other Moodsong'', University of Michigan Press (2004) Due to the growing variety of settings (from doctors' offices to airports), many styles of music are utilized as background music. Because the aim of background music is passive listening, vocals,

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

interruptions, and complexity are typically avoided. In spite of the international distribution common to syndicated background music artists, it is often associated with artistic failure and a lack of musical talent in the

entertainment industry Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and Interest (emotion), interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but it is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have deve ...

. There are composers who write specifically for music syndication services such as Dynamic Media and

Mood Media Mood Media Corporation is an international in-store provider of music, digital signage, hold music, on-hold messaging, scent, integrated audio/video, and interactive mobile marketing products. It was founded in 2004, and is based in Austin, Te ...

, successors of Muzak, and MTI Digital. Multiple studies have correlated the presence of background music with increased spending in retail establishments.

Types

Incidental music

The use of incidental music dates back at least as far as

Greek drama A theatrical culture flourished in ancient Greece from 700 BC. At its centre was the city-state of Athens, which became a significant cultural, political, and religious place during this period, and the theatre was institutionalised there as par ...

. A number of classical

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

s have written incidental music for various plays, with the more famous examples including

Henry Purcell Henry Purcell (, rare: ; September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer of Baroque music, most remembered for his more than 100 songs; a tragic opera, Dido and Aeneas, ''Dido and Aeneas''; and his incidental music to a version o ...

's ''Abdelazer'' music,

George Frideric Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel ( ; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti. Born in Halle, Germany, H ...

's ''The Alchemist'' music,

Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

's ''Il distratto'' music,

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

's ''Thamos, King of Egypt'' music,

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

's ''Egmont'' music,

Carl Maria von Weber Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (5 June 1826) was a German composer, conductor, virtuoso pianist, guitarist, and Music criticism, critic in the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Best known for List of operas by Carl Maria von Weber, h ...

's ''Preciosa'' music,

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

's ''Rosamunde'' music,

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions inc ...

's ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' music,

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...

's ''Manfred'' music,

Georges Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', w ...

's ''L'Arlésienne'' music, and

Edvard Grieg Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the leading Romantic music, Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwid ...

's ''Peer Gynt'' music. Parts of all of these are often performed in concerts outside the context of the play. Vocal incidental music, which is included in the classical scores mentioned above, should never be confused with the score of a

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

film musical A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

, in which the songs often reveal character and further the storyline. Vocal incidental music sets the tone for a film through using various beats or sounds, portraying the emotions of certain scenes. Since the score of a Broadway or film musical is what actually makes the work a ''musical'', it is far more essential to the work than mere incidental music, which nearly always amounts to little more than a background score; indeed, many plays have no incidental music whatsoever, allowing the actors to express their characters solely through words and their expressions.

Furniture music

The term ''furniture music'' was coined by

Erik Satie Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (born 17 May 18661 July 1925), better known as Erik Satie, was a French composer and pianist. The son of a French father and a British mother, he studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, Paris Conservatoire but was an undi ...

in 1917, and demonstrated by him in three sets of compositions: ''Musique d'ameublement'' (1917), ''Sons industriels'' (1920) and ''Tenture de cabinet préfectoral'' (1923). It fell into disuse when the composer died a few years later, and the genre was revived several decades later. After his death, furniture music was reinterpreted and programmed in concerts; many individuals found that it filled the awkward pauses, allowing audiences to become better immersed into the performance. Typical of furniture music are short musical passages, with an indefinite number of repeats.

Muzak / Elevator music

Elevator music Elevator music (also known as Muzak, piped music, or lift music) is a type of background music played in elevators, in rooms where many people come together for reasons other than listening to music, and during telephone calls when placed on ho ...

(also known as

, piped music, or lift music) is a more general term indicating music that is played in rooms where many people come together (that is, not for the explicit purpose of listening to music), and during telephone calls when placed on hold. There is a specific sound associated with elevator music, but it usually involves simple instrumental themes from "soft" popular music, or "light" classical music being performed by slow strings. More recent types of elevator music may be computer-generated, with the actual score being composed entirely algorithmically. The term can also be used for kinds of

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to the 1970s. It is related to middle of the road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit s ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

solo,

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

or middle of the road music, or what are known as " beautiful music" radio stations.

Corporate music

Corporate music (or corporate ''production'' music) is a term for background music, made to work with company presentations: rather subtle, understated and unobtrusive. However, it should not be confused with "corporate pop" -

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

music produced by corporations and that "blurs the line between independent and mainstream".

Video game music

Video game music Video game music (VGM) is the soundtrack that accompanies video games. Early video game music was once limited to sounds of early sound chips, such as programmable sound generators (PSG) or FM synthesis chips. These limitations have led to t ...

(VGM) is a

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

for

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

s. Songs may be original and composed specifically for the game, or preexisting music licensed for use in the game. Music in video games can be heard over a game's title screen, menus and during gameplay.

Website music

The early

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

website

Myspace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

has supported a feature where specific songs chosen by the user would automatically play on their profile pages.

Group fitness music

With the proliferation of boutique fitness classes in the late 2010s, a new emphasis is being placed on properly licensing music to be used by instructors in a group fitness environment. As it is more interactive than traditional background music, the licensing and cost structures differ.

Internet delivered background music

Internet-delivered background music was delivered by companies as

(which had acquired

Trusonic Mood Media North America (formerly consisting of Muzak, LLC, DMX and Trusonic) is a commercial music company and a wholly owned subsidiary of Mood Media Corporation. Founded in 1999 as a small business unit (SBU) of the now defunct MP3.com, Truson ...

, which had acquired

). This allowed the retailer to instantly update music and messages which were deployed at the store level as opposed to using older

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of hol ...

and

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

technologies. Using this technique enables the creator to include more meaning in their work and effectively convey their messages. Playing music that affects the mood of the audience urges many emotions, making the work more memorable.

Background non-music

Business audio

Business audio, also known as copyrighted material, refers to a type of service that provides audio content that is licensed for use in a commercial setting. Business news can be one example. The term ''background music'' is another example. Providers of the latter include: *

Muzak Holdings LLC Muzak is an American brand of background music played in retail stores and other public establishments owned by Mood Media. The name ''Muzak'', a blend of music and the popular camera brand name Kodak, has been in use since 1934 and has been o ...

* DMX *

PlayNetwork PlayNetwork, Inc. is a provider of in-store music and entertainment for retail, restaurant, and hospitality environments. PlayNetwork merged with TouchTunes in May 2017, but in September 2021, TouchTunes sold PlayNetwork to Mood Media. History T ...

* MTI Digital * XM for Business *

Music Choice Music Choice (abbreviated as MC) is an American television music service that digitally broadcasts audio-based music channels and video-related content to cable television providers in the United States. In 2019, it reached 65 million household ...

Applied Media Technologies Corporation Applied Media Technologies Corporation (AMTC) was a Tampa, Florida-based provider of commercial sound equipment, "on hold" messaging to US and Canadian businesses under the brand name TelAdvantage, and background music for businesses as a partn ...

In the United States, the terms "elevator music" and "Muzak" are commonly used to refer to business audio services that provide background music in retail settings.

History

Founded in 1934,

was among the early background music providers. Business audio is produced off-site and delivered to the client via a number of methods including DBS satellite, SDARS satellite,

coaxial cable Coaxial cable, or coax (pronounced ), is a type of electrical cable consisting of an inner Electrical conductor, conductor surrounded by a concentric conducting Electromagnetic shielding, shield, with the two separated by a dielectric (Insulat ...

FM radio FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting that uses frequency modulation (FM) of the radio broadcast carrier wave. Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to transmit high fidelity, high-f ...

subcarrier A subcarrier is a sideband of a radio frequency carrier wave, which is modulated to send additional information. Examples include the provision of colour in a black and white television system or the provision of stereo in a monophonic radio bro ...

leased line A leased line is a private telecommunications circuit between two or more locations provided according to a commercial contract. It is sometimes also known as a private circuit, and as a data line in the UK. Typically, leased lines are used by ...

internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

broadband In telecommunications, broadband or high speed is the wide-bandwidth (signal processing), bandwidth data transmission that exploits signals at a wide spread of frequencies or several different simultaneous frequencies, and is used in fast Inter ...

, and tape. Most audio content is licensed for personal and home use only. Business audio services allow clients to use audio content in public and commercial settings by paying appropriate royalties to performing rights organizations like

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...

, BMI,

SESAC SESAC is a for-profit performance-rights organization in the United States. Founded in 1930 as the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers, it is the second-oldest performance-rights organization in the United States.

and GEMA in Germany.

Historical devices

* The 1959

Seeburg 1000 The Seeburg 1000 Background Music System is a phonograph designed and built by the Seeburg Corporation to play background music from special RPM vinyl records in offices, restaurants, retail businesses, factories and similar locations. Seeburg ...

was a stack

record player A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration Waveform, waveforms are recorded as correspond ...

, playing both sides continuous and repeating up to 1000 songs and up to 25 special vinyl records with a center bore at RPM. * The

Rowe Customusic Rowe Customusic is a background music system from the 1960s and 1970s. Up to six Fidelipac type C endless-loop magnetic tape cartridges can be loaded in the player, allowing up to 60 hours of playback. The case is wide, high, and deep. Like the 3 ...

was an endless tape cartridge player, loading simultaneous six C-type

Fidelipac The Fidelipac, commonly known as a "NAB cartridge" or simply "cart", is a magnetic tape sound recording format, used for radio broadcasting for playback of material over the air such as radio commercials, jingles, station identifications, and m ...

cartridges. * The 1964 3M

Cantata 700 The Cantata 700 is a commercial background music system and corresponding tape cartridge format developed by 3M that was in common use from 1965 until the 1990s. Cartridge The nearly square-shaped cartridges are among the largest built. More th ...

played continuous and auto-reversing one of its large and proprietary

magnetic tape Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic storage made of a thin, magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic film. It was developed in Germany in 1928, based on the earlier magnetic wire recording from Denmark. Devices that use magnetic ...

cartridges, containing up to 26 hours of music. *

Rediffusion Rediffusion was a business that distributed radio and TV signals through wired relay networks. The business gave rise to a number of other companies, including Associated-Rediffusion, later known as Rediffusion London, the first ITV (TV network ...

’s Reditune system was popular in the 1960s UK.

References

Works cited

* * * Sanseverino, Domenico, et al. ““Don’t Stop the Music,” Please: The Relationship between Music Use at Work, Satisfaction, and Performance.” ''Behavioral Sciences'', vol. 13, no. 1, 24 Dec. 2022, p. 15, https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13010015 * Goldsmith, M. “Elevator Music: A Surreal History of Muzak, Easy-Listening, and Other Moodsong.” ''CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries'', vol. 42, no. 6, American Library Association CHOICE, 2005, pp. 1031-. * Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "incidental music". ''Encyclopedia Britannica'', 18 Dec. 2014, https://www.britannica.com/art/incidental-music * BridgeTTC. “What Is Acting?” ''The Bridge Theatre Training Company'', 18 Apr. 2023, http://www.thebridge-ttc.org/what-is-acting/#:~:text=The%20purpose%20of%20acting%20is * Potter, Caroline. ''Erik Satie: A Parisian Composer and His World''. NED-New edition, Boydell & Brewer, 2016. ''JSTOR'', http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7722/j.ctt18gzfkq. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024. * MFP, JEAN. “Importance of Background Music , Music for Productions.” ''Music for Productions, Stock Music, Production Music'', 6 Oct. 2020, http://musicforproductions.com/importance-of-background-music-in-your-videos-2/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Background Music Music cognition Music psychology Cognitive musicology Easy listening music Industrial music services Music in advertising Broadcasting