Looking for a way to help your customers feel calm and relaxed? Classical music could be your secret weapon.
According to research quoted by Mic, listening to classical music for as little as 30 minutes can lower blood pressure and stress levels. Those shifts can help your customers to enjoy their time with you just a little more, and that could mean they will spend more and come back again.
Before you load up your playlist with Mozart and Brahms, here's what you should know about classical music and companies like yours.
Classical Music and Business
Customers expect a match between the sounds they hear and the experience you offer. This affinity between sound and experience helps consumers feel at ease on a subconscious level, so they can pay attention to what is happening around them rather than looking for an explanation for the mismatch.
In the minds of many consumers, classical music is associated with affluence. For example, in research cited by The Daily Mail, researchers found that classical music made diners feel wealthy and powerful, and that made them tempted to spend more money. When the researchers changed the music to pop, diners spent less money.
Similar studies have been performed in retail environments, including wine shops and clothing stores. Again, when the soundtrack was classical, people felt more affluent and more likely to spend more. And as an article on ThinkGrowth.org points out, the difference did not involve quantity but quality. People listening to classical music in a retail environment did not buy more products. Instead, they spent more on the products they had already planned to purchase.
Associating your brand with affluence could be wise if you run any of the following:
- Luxurious restaurant
- High-end spa
- Expensive retail shop
- Real estate office
There are some times, however, when affluence could be a mismatch. If your company focuses on saving money or enhancing value, playing music that seems sophisticated and wealthy could be off-putting for your customers. They might hear the notes and wonder what you are trying to tell them about the products you sell.
Classical music can also come with a whiff of safety. For example, the Los Angeles Times reports that one convenience store chose to play classical music outside of the facility at night to discourage homeless people from congregating. People interviewed, including staff, said the music shift also made them feel just a little safer while inside and outside of the store.
If you are selling products associated with safety, classical could be wise. But if you run a shop that capitalizes on danger, such as a skateboarding shop or a tattoo parlor, classical music might send the wrong message.
Classical Music to Play
Musical tastes tend to shift as years pass, and classical music is no exception. Modern classical music incorporates unusual chord progressions, clashing notes, strange time signatures, and other elements that seem new and fresh to fans. People with just a passing understanding of classical music may not be charmed.
According to a music critic writing for The Guardian, many people simply detest modern classical music, and they prefer to hear the composers they are accustomed to, such as:
- Beethoven
- Brahms
- Mozart
- Chopin
This is very old, conventional music that is unlikely to seem strange to people who have heard classical music in the past.
Since this music is old, you might think that it belongs within the public domain, and you can play it without paying royalty fees. Unfortunately, this is not the case. As the U.S. Copyright Office points out, copyrights can cover both composition and recordings.
In the case of a Mozart symphony, the composition might be within the public domain, but a recording of the piece may not be. If you play that recording, you are required to abide by copyright law and pay the holder of that copyright.
We can help. At Cloud Cover Music, we have a deep library of classical music that is just right for a variety of business applications, and we have procedures in place to pay the holders of copyright for those songs. With one agreement, you will have the legal protection to play the classical music you crave. Contact us to find out about how to sign up for a free trial.
Sources
- Research Has Great News for People Who Love Classical Music. (October 2014). Mic.
- Diners 'Spend More with Classical Music.' The Daily Mail.
- Stores Are Using Music to Make You Spend More. (January 2016). ThinkGrowth.org.
- This 7-Eleven Is Blasting Classical Music to Ward Off the Homeless. (May 2018). Los Angeles Times.
- Why Do We Hate Modern Classical Music? (November 2010). The Guardian.
- Copyright Registration of Musical Compositions and Sound Recordings. U.S. Copyright Office.