The Art of Musak
Musak, also known as lift or elevator music, is a type of background music. It is usually inoffensive, seemingly unimportant and lacks much impact in our lives. However, the sole purpose of lift music has hidden intentions that the majority of us are completely unaware of. Despite the brief amount of time we spend in lifts, and the seemingly irrelevant music played in them, a large amount of planning has been carried out for decades to create music that will benefit places where lifts are essential. Whilst in the consumer’s mind, a lift is nothing more than a kind of transport that takes us from one floor to the next, in the minds of big companies, an act of manipulation begins from the moment the consumer walks into the lift. Que the music, and so it begins.
A WW1 Brigadier general invented lift music way back in the 1930s as a way of manipulating human behaviour for the purposes of companies and retail stores, as mentioned above. Studies have shown that Musak can ‘reduce stress, combat fatigue, create a feeling of well-being, increase sales and boost worker productivity’[i]. This is all well and good for the companies of the world, yet not so good for us — the consumers, the ordinary people of the world. It is again the big corporations controlling us subconsciously — the sneakiest way of all — into buying their goods and buying into an idea.
We are all completely aware of the impact and power of music, but the calmness and even the name and linguistic connotations of background music automatically becomes registered in our minds as ineffective and insignificant, tricking another part of our brains that background music will not affect or impact us in the way other music does so easily.
I am not the only person to have lit the light on this matter. I set out to write a piece on the concept of Musak due to my dismay of the kind of music played in lifts, not for the reasons stated above, but simply because I found it boring and would always rather hear something upbeat, even for just 30 seconds in a lift. With this thought planted in my mind, I began my research; it was not long before I came across an experiment named Really Good Elevator Music which found the whole concept of manipulation a little too sinister for their liking, and so set out to explore ‘the potential of sound to stimulate social interaction and community building’[ii].
Six artists with a connection to the community where the experiment was located, in the Philadelphia neighbourhood of Chinatown North/Callowhill, created innovative tracks for the playlist played in lifts of The Wolf Building along with other spaces in the neighbourhood. The Really Good Elevator Music experiment ‘sought to activate these spaces by filling them with a very different kind of Muzak, the kind that challenges participants to rethink their relationship with these spaces, the neighbourhood, and each other’[iii].
The experiment was monitored through undercover elevator passengers, security camera footage and monitoring social media and email as well as simply asking people for their feedback. The results were mixed; some loved what they heard, others were confused and missed the peace and quiet that traditional Muzak provides in such a busy city. But despite the conflicting opinions, the main goal of promoting the community was achieved through conversations between passengers and via email about a joint dislike or appreciation for the music being played. Thus, despite the differing opinions on this different type of Musak, there is no denying that any kind of connection is better than standing in awkward silence in a metal box.
With my undying appreciation for human behaviour, the mind and the communication between ourselves, inanimate objects, metaphorical and hypothetical concepts and all that surrounds and consumes us every day, this experiment has become important in my own understanding of humans and how as well as how something as ordinary as a lift can become a source for communicative and behaviour studies.
What is your take on Musak? How does the background music make you feel? Is it different now you know the intention of it? Let me know your thoughts. I would love to hear your opinions on the matter, because music affects everyone differently and what better way to build our own community by starting a conversation about the one thing everybody can relate
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[i] R.G.E.M. — Elevator Pitch: https://vimeo.com/86663424
[ii] Experiment on Musak: http://reallygoodelevatormusic.com/
[iii] Experiment on Musak: http://reallygoodelevatormusic.com/
