Music can be a central element of a company's identity, and an important part of the customer's overall experience. But how do you choose the right song at the right time, and what does it mean for sales?
/ 12/10/2021 / Kristian DugstadThe music played in a store, salon or restaurant helps shape the customer's overall experience. But to what extent can playlist selection help strengthen or weaken a company's identity – and sales?
We caught up with James Allen, Creative Director at corporate streaming service and TONO customer, Soundtrack Your Brand.
– Tell us about Soundtrack Your Brand and your vision?
– Ola Sars, one of the founders behind Beats by Dr. Dre, and Andreas Liffgarden, a Spotify executive, founded Spotify Business in 2013 with support from Spotify. The company became fully independent in 2018 and was rebranded as Soundtrack Your Brand. Ola Sars remains at the helm.
We are still based in Stockholm, but today have customers in 75 countries around the world.
Our mission is to be the world's best audio platform for businesses in physical locations. We do this by redefining the commercial music space to deliver better results for customers, artists, record labels and other music rights holders like TONO. So that everyone wins.
Music helps define a space. Businesses understandably care about how their staff interact with customers and each other; they care about lighting and interior and exterior design. But what about what people hear? Why would a business ignore that?
Not playing music is leaving out a fundamental part of the overall experience, and missing a huge opportunity to improve it. But just playing any music is a bad idea, precisely because what people hear shapes their overall perception of a place to such a large extent.
Businesses want people to want to be there – to welcome them, to value their time there, and to come back. As brick-and-mortar businesses compete with online giants, it’s never been more important for them to showcase the benefits and joys of traditional customer locations.
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– Why should companies be aware of the music they play? Why is it important that music and brand are connected? Why not just let employees take control?
– Music in a business acts as a signal to everyone who hears it. It signals that they are in the right place – or not. It makes them feel good, and creates positive emotions for the brand – or not. Companies spend thousands of kroner, sometimes millions, on defining their brand. You can either enrich the brand with the right music, or break it down with crazy music.
This is why letting your employees play whatever they want is a bad idea. Whatever they happen to be listening to at the moment probably doesn’t reflect your brand or resonate with your customers. You should consider your employees when choosing your music – they’re important – but you need to maintain control over what’s played.
Employees also tend to prefer music with higher energy, which translates to music with a high BPM (Beats per minute). This is often a bad idea. Energetic music makes time pass faster, making people feel like they have to rush, that they are spending too much time in a store. In other words, high-energy music can drive customers out the door. If you have a transactional business, like a store, restaurant, or coffee shop, you usually want to avoid this. You want people to stay in the premises, take their time, appreciate what you have to offer… and buy something. Preferably a lot.
– How can a company come up with a musical identity that fits with its brand identity?
– There is no definitive answer here, but here are some general guidelines.
We ignore the energy level, which has already been mentioned above. Then we can look at genre, mood og when the music was producedBut before we dive into these categories, you need to think about what you offer and who your target audience is. That's who you play music for.
Most businesses cater to customers. And fortunately, what you sell and who you sell it to are closely related. Many businesses know who their target audience is and have a clear picture of their target customer. If so, start here. But if not, this is a great opportunity to make sure what you sell is aligned with how you offer it and who you offer it to.
Also consider the visual presentation of your business. The sound design, or music, should complement the visual design. Done right, they reinforce each other and convey the same idea to different senses.
Consider an upscale clothing brand that sells chic, modern clothing and accessories targeting women in their 30s and 40s. Unless you have good reasons not to, consider sophisticated, new, elegant music that fits the venue and the offering. Some genres just won't work: hard rock or gangster rap probably won't do the trick here.
Soundtrack helps customers realize their brand sound in a number of different ways. First, we have over 560 playlists curated by our music team. Creating playlists is what they do, and they’ve created them for different types of businesses, genres, and more. This is a great place to start. Depending on your subscription type, you can add or remove songs from these playlists to further refine your sound.
The system recommends music based on your business type, learning what you like to continue suggesting new music that is closer to your ideal. You can also see what music is popular in other businesses like yours.
But — and this is really cool — you can also click on mood buttons in the product that describe your brand, like the “sophisticated,” “elegant,” and “modern” mentioned above, and then click on buttons to further filter the music by when it was produced, like “2010s” or “latest” for recent years. And then you’ll have a station filled with music that fits your specifications.
If you already have the perfect playlist in mind – and you’re a step ahead of most people – you can create it in Soundtrack with the exact same songs. And if you created the playlist in Spotify? Just import it.
Now this is really important: think about whether songs with explicit lyrics fit your brand. If you’re a bar, they’re probably OK. If you’re a family-friendly restaurant, they’re not. This is why Soundtrack allows our customers to remove all songs with explicit lyrics with just the click of a button.
A footnote about the staff: they are also important, but the best thing you can do to ensure well-being is not to play the same songs over and over again.
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Can well-thought-out music choices lead to increased revenue?
– Without a doubt. You can read studies showing how large companies increased revenues by, in some cases, double digits, on our website. The return on investment is enormous. And it's not hard to do it right, either.
– How do you know if you have succeeded or if there is still room for improvement?
– If you have found your brand identity and know your target customer, the music you play should reflect this, without too much change. But you can experiment with different genres at different times, for example. And you can continue to adjust the sound yours over time. And believe it or not, customers are likely to comment on the music when they like it.
– Should different types of businesses think differently about music?
– Absolutely. A bank is not a gym. This goes back to knowing what you are offering and who you are offering it to.
However, all businesses should think about music in the same way when it comes to its importance as a tool. And here’s a tip for everyone: Adjust the energy level to the situation, the day of the week, the time of day, etc. When things are busy and you need to ensure faster customer turnover, a transactional business can increase the energy level of the music. When things are slow, lower the energy to keep them in the store longer.
This means it's a good idea to plan playlists with different energy levels in advance so you don't have to worry about finding the right music in the heat of the moment. Having the right energy level at the right time is very, very important.
– How do other factors affect the effectiveness of music – speaker placement, volume, etc.?
– The general idea is that the music should be noticeable, but not overwhelming.
Speakers should be evenly spaced throughout a room, and it's better to have several small speakers playing music at a lower volume than a few large ones playing at a higher volume. Place them on the ceiling so that they angle downward toward the floor, just like you do with lighting.
The volume should be consistent throughout the room you're playing music in, with one exception: it should be lower where staff often talk to customers, like at the checkout, so they can easily communicate.
Beyond technical considerations, consider playing a mix of popular and lesser-known songs. It can be tempting to just play hits, but don’t! We conducted a massive study with a large international restaurant client to study this. The client played only random hits, then only hits that fit the brand sound, and finally a mix of popular and lesser-known songs that fit the brand. It turns out that just playing random hits actually reduces sales. Playing hits that fit the brand improved results somewhat, while playing a mix of hits and lesser-known songs that fit the brand increased sales the most.
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What are the advantages of using licensed music over royalty-free streaming services?*
– You simply get better music. We’ve already explained why music is important for businesses and why it’s crucial to have music that fits your brand and customers, not just any music. And while some royalty-free music is undoubtedly okay, you want quality and variety. The best music is written, performed and produced by professionals. These professionals reasonably expect to be paid for their hard work and creativity.
There are relatively few royalty-free songs overall. So how are you going to find the perfect music for your business if you're forced to settle for a smaller catalog with lower overall quality? It's impossible.
You also won't be able to play any of the hits you want in the mix – and that's important.
Finally, many customers want to play specific songs by specific artists. Why not, if they fit the brand? You can do this with Soundtrack, but not with a royalty-free catalog.
All of this is why it is a key point that Soundtrack offers the absolute most songs licensed to businesses – 58 million. This gives our customers quality and variety, ensuring they have the right music that aligns with their brand and target audience.
*By royalty-free streaming services, we mean services that have pre-licensed or purchased the rights to the music in their library.
– Why pay for a corporate streaming service and not just use your personal subscription?
– It is against copyright law, and depending on how these laws are enforced around the world, it could result in large fines.
Playing music in your business is significantly different from listening to it in your home; the former is about making money, and the latter is about your personal recreation. Since background music is typically used to achieve business goals, different licenses are required. Soundtracks provide these licenses, and personal streaming services do not.
And what about supporting the people who actually make the music you play? Artists earn up to ten times more per stream with a soundtrack service like Soundtrack Your Brand than when someone streams the same song at home. Unique among soundtrack providers, Soundtrack tracks every song played. So, every artist gets paid fairly and can continue to do what they, and you, love.
In addition to the legal and ethical considerations, a good background music service is designed for business use. You will be able to schedule what music plays when. You will be able to monitor what is playing in all of your locations or zones within those locations. You will limit staff control over the music while giving them the ability to respond in the moment.
People often think that the only way to play the music they want is with personal streaming services. But with Soundtrack, you don't have to choose between playing exactly the music you want, and following the law, acting ethically, and having access to the tools that optimize your business. You can get it in a bag and a bag.