Talk:Elevator music

Early Comments

Whoever rewrote this -- Nice work! Thanks! --200.165.239.250 13:47, 7 June 2002 (UTC)

It is nice, but BGM should not point here. --216.49.220.19 16:06, 9 May 2005 (UTC)

The Muzak Corporation went out of business in the early 1980s. --70.146.20.34 23:17, 1 November 2005 (UTC)

What about the marketing aspect of muzak?

There should be some information about the psychological reasons why retailers use muzak to distract shoppers so they make impulse purchases:

"The type of music you play can have dramatic and direct effects on your business. For example, researchers found that a slow temp can increase sales as much as 38 percent in retail stores because it encourages leisurely shopping. Alternatively, a fast tempo is more desirable in restaurants because customers will eat faster, thus allowing greater table turnover and higher sales."

- marketingprofs.com

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.165.132.250 (talk) 21:06, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

You're right. for instance, I looked at this article to learn about the effects of muzak in supermarkets. --88.241.176.75 15:50, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

Sorry to be negative but

I really do not think that elevator music is a genre of music.

In my local supermarket they often play punk rock classics from the eighties, because what was "rebellious" then is no longer so. So elevator music is not a genre of music defined by an aesthetic, it is simply a particular use of music.

It is also unnecessarily negative. Why shouldn't people listen to music in elevators? --82.125.117.142 18:22, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Removed Text

I removed the following text from the article because it seemed a bit POV and used a lot of weasel words; it also didn't really contribute to the article.

There is, however a distinct difference between instrumental music that is deliberately created to calm listeners down and to mask noise and instrumental music that truly entertains. Some people are unable to be entertained by songs without lyrics. Others are amazed at the inventiveness and complexity gifted arrangers can put into their instrumental charts.

--Crucible Guardian 16:07, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

The description specifies it as (bland) instrumental music. It was not exclusively so; in the late sixties and early seventies you could tune into 'elevator music' stations that included such mixed orchestral and choral arrangements as performed by The Cascading Voices of Hugo and Luigi's Chorus or Ray Conniff Singers. --Gluefish 21:19, 13 April 2007 (UTC)

The negative view of instrumental music has it's origins in the youth subculture of the 1960's.

Rock became the dominant pop music over the succeeding decades. The excesses of rock, and the general assault on the senses, became the acceptable norm for the majority of music listeners. Hence, instrumental music became "bland". However, instrumental musicians are largely better trained and educated in music than the average rock performer. To say that instrumental music is simple, shows a lack of understanding of music, and is a conditioned response from decades of cultural brainwashing. --Eelb53 (talk) 00:50, 22 March 2010 (UTC)

Functional category of music

According to this article and the above comments, elevator music refers to a method and a context, for listening to music, a kind of music whose features can be suitable for the purpose, that can be moderately relaxing or moderately entertaining depending on the social function of the place in which that music is played. If needed, I could write a sort of diagram. --Doktor Who 21:33, 13 April 2007 (UTC)

Outside the US

Here in the UK, I've never heard any elevator music (or lift music I guess we'd call it). Obviously this is original research, but perhaps this should be referred to in the article if it is true that it is a US-centric concept... Of course, we do have the telephone music etc, but that doesn't really seem like it should belong here... --EAi (talk) 01:45, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

I'm in the US, and I never hear music in the lift (lately, I've been seeing small monitors with newsfeeds on them). Plenty of this sort of music in stores, restaurants, and shopping centers, though. --Logotu (talk) 22:16, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

Redirection

Logically, the keyword "Muzak" should not automatically redirect here. It should redirect to the Muzak Holdings page (that's what common sense dictates, anyways.) Any way to fix this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.42.211.208 (talk) 03:30, 29 October 2010 (UTC)

I absolutely agree—it should be the other way around. "Muzak" was a prominent brand during its time long before it became a genericized trademark. "Muzak" should resolve to the Muzak Holdings page, and provide a link to this article up top. For comparison, look where "Xerox" resolves to. --o0drogue0o 11:52, 17 July 2011 (UTC)

I just noticed this conversation. Please note that a related discussion is now happening at Talk:Muzak Holdings (in which most people are expressing an opinion that differs from those above). —BarrelProof (talk) 00:55, 14 June 2013 (UTC)

Elevator Music/smooth jazz/easy listening/middle of the road

Are these types of music all the same genre? It says used as a generic term for them, but are they really the same thing? I remember I was thinking the same thing once when I listened to a smooth jazz station. Though, I never thought an instrumental version of a song is elevator music, only original songs played as such. --The snare (talk) 07:20, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

External Link

Why is there a link to http://www.nomuzak.co.uk/ in the external link section? It's listed as a "comprehensive site about elevator music," but it is actually a site selling shoes. Margalob (talk) 21:21, 12 March 2016 (UTC)

At some point it was about Muzak, but definitely not a "comprehensive" resource but rather some place to complain. I've removed the link. In the future please don't hesitate to be bold and make the necessary changes. Opencooper (talk) 22:10, 12 March 2016 (UTC)

Merged to Muzak

Elevator music has been merged to Muzak per WP:OVERLAP - overlap, context, and duplicate - the two articles work better together, otherwise Elevator music fails WP:DICDEF. The section is at Muzak#Elevator_music, and will need editing to reduce duplication. SilkTork ^{✔Tea time} 11:54, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

Reinstated as a separate article as there are many queries for specifically "Elevator music"

My feedback (2022)

I think this article is stub-like small and says nothing about elevator-used jungles. And I enjoyed Muzak Orchestra's oldies from the 50's/60's, so I know how non-elevator-ish OG Muzak sounded like. 81.89.66.133 (talk) 08:47, 20 July 2022 (UTC)

History

I cannot recall the source, but I understand that elevator music was created based on a problem-solving exercise. A high-rise office building had continuous complaints about the elevators taking too long. The high-rise owner requested several proposals from external vendors to make the elevators faster. One of the vendors consulted with the employees of the high-rise and determined that the actual problem was not that the elevators were not fast enough; it was that the employees were bored, and the silence made them feel uncomfortable on the elevators. While other vendors submitted proposals for state-of-the-art elevator systems to solve the assumed problem, the winning vendor changed the world with elevator music. 198.7.238.130 (talk) 10:29, 27 September 2023 (UTC)

Small addition

I was wondering if I should add studying into the "Other Uses" sector or if I shouldn't, thank you! AtlanticSalmonLover (talk) 00:29, 14 October 2023 (UTC)

Other uses section is weirdly specific

"This style of music is sometimes used to comedic effect in mass media such as film, where intense or dramatic scenes may be interrupted or interspersed with such anodyne music while characters use an elevator. Some video games have used music similarly: Metal Gear Solid 4 where a few elevator music-themed tracks are accessible on the in-game iPod, as well as System Shock, Rise of the Triad: Dark War, GoldenEye 007, Mass Effect, and Earthworm Jim."

Is this really... Wikipedia-worthy information? This belongs more on TVTropes, not in an encyclopedia. This is such a specific use that I don't think it should be on this page. I am open for debate, if anyone has a contradicting opinion. Gøøse060 (talk) 15:32, 30 October 2023 (UTC)

Citation doesn't seem to support text

"More recent types of elevator music may be computer-generated, with the actual score being composed entirely algorithmically.[2][3]" cites https://qz.com/488701/humans-are-confusing-music-composed-by-a-computer-for-j-s-bach/ and http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/music_box/2010/05/ill_be_bach.html, but as far as I can tell the articles don't support that claim. They do say that computer-generated music exists, but neither article even mentions elevator music in particular, so I think the sentence as written is speculative at best. 2600:8806:6501:4D00:251A:A2ED:4CDD:728 (talk) 19:11, 21 February 2024 (UTC)