Shopping Music by Tom O'Brien on The Pipeline at IndieMusicPeople

Shopping Music
I was a kid before Muzak happened, when you would shop in a store and there was no soundtrack. These days, every store seems to have music playing, but it isn't elevator music anymore. There's one grocery store that I can't wait to get out of because it plays nothing but hits you've heard a million times. I think the rationale is that people like to hear the familiar. But I like to hear the unfamiliar. I want to hear new sounds. Being a musician, I can't just ignore music when I'm shopping. I'm always actively listening and sometimes it's painful.

Do any of you go crazy with shopping music like I do?

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Stoneman

5/9/2018 2:39:51 AM

I suppose it depends on where you are shopping but occasionally I go with my wife when she is shopping clothing and I must say that the women clothing stores have the best music. I sit there in a "man chair" (most women stores have them you know) and party to the music while she shops. It make the whole experience so much more enjoyable. The women stores have got it going on and they are full of women (I'm a girl watcher) Can't beat that right? However, the big department stores play that boring shit you have heard a million times. Wretched sounds for sure!

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Richard Scotti

5/9/2018 9:57:10 AM ---- Updated 5/9/2018 3:28:26 PM

Whenever we shop in the local supermarket it feels like walking into a time machine. Over the years I think I've heard them play every song Jackson Browne ever recorded but "The Prentender" is the song played there most often. I too wish they would vary the playlist but it seems that 60's -70's music has become the new "Muzak" -music played in stores that is supposed to be relaxing and unobtrusive.
It's somewhat ironic as Browne and the other artists they play seemed to be rockin' back in the day but have now been consigned to the dustbin of musical history - "easy listening". It's somewhat disconcerting. They also play "Landslide" by Stevie Nicks a lot which is OK but it's such a poignant song that always touches me and when it's played over and over it kind of loses it's specialness.

Hearing music in stores is also kind of an occupational hazard for those of us in the music field. I often find myself critiquing the production or performance of songs being played. While my wife is asking me if I want egg beaters or real eggs I'm asking her if the snare drum sounds too loud on a particular song that's blaring through the store speakers. She'll reply "which is the snare drum?"

Some stores play new age music which can be equally annoying. I often wonder
how much money these new age artists make as they just noodle the same few notes or chords repeatedly. Seems too easy, not to mention boring.

Sometimes there are songs played in stores that are just plain bad and that really gets on my nerves. I often come up with ideas for my own songs as I'm riffing in my head while out and about but then I'll hear some crappy song in a store and it kills my inspiration.

Some restaurants play jazz which is pretty cool for dining.

But for the most part I can tolerate music in public places but only in small doses.

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