Why is there ubiquitious loud music?

September 6, 2007 4:59 PM

Why do bars, restaurants, clothing stores and shoe stores play such loud music? Why when I'm buying a pair of business blacks do I have to listen to the latest dance hits at high volume? More inside.

Are there psychological grounds for playing loud music in restaurants and shops? Have people done studies that people prefer this kind of music or is the playing of loud music something that young staff just do? Is it done so that conversations are private? Also, has it gotten louder in the last 20 or so years?

posted by sien to Shopping (31 answers total)

Personally I think it's because the staff likes to listen to it. When I was a kid and my mom took me shopping, I used to be so embarrassed when she'd ask to have the music turned down. Now, I feel the same way - can't stand the loud music blaring, and that makes me feel soooo old.
posted by Kangaroo at 5:08 PM on September 6, 2007

Also, has it gotten louder in the last 20 or so years?

Well, CDs have gotten a lot louder in the past 20 years, so that could have something to do with it.
posted by ludwig_van at 5:14 PM on September 6, 2007

In mall stores, they're not targeting you inside the store, they're targeting the shoppers walking by outside the store. If people walking by hear the music, they'll at least notice the store, and that increases the odds that they'll walk in and peruse the merchandise.
posted by chrisamiller at 5:14 PM on September 6, 2007

It's subterfuge, so you will overlook the lame people/food/sweaters, and perhaps even buy into it, based on the perceived coolness of the scene.
posted by iamkimiam at 5:19 PM on September 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

I can't cite the book offhand, but it was a marketing/advertising book (no surprise) in which I read that studies showed loud music was disorienting, and make it more likely that the shopper would feel the need to ask for assistance from the salespeople. Urban Outfitters was the chain specifically called out for doing this, and in general it's one of the reasons you won't see clothes in many unisex stores marked for guys or girls (they want you to be confused and ask for help, so that the salespeople can push you to buy more than you need.)

Not all stores take that approach, by the way; some go the opposite route, making the atmosphere calm and inviting and friendly so that you'll stay (and browse) longer.

It's rare these days to find a (chain) store of any kind that does not utilize some sort of psycological tricks to increase revenue. So, if you're going to shop at chain stores, try to find one that goes for the inviting approach rather than the disorientation approach.

Oh, and music in this case has gotten louder in the last 20 years, specifically because the disorienting effect requires that volume to work properly.
posted by davejay at 5:21 PM on September 6, 2007

Best answer: Dollars to donuts that the book davejay refers to is one of the ones by Paco Underhill, store layout and purchasing guru with lots of interesting books like Why we Buy and Call of the Mall, which include other favorites like

shoppers, especially women, hate to be bumped while shopping and if bumped (aisle too narrow, for example), are quicker to leave an aisle and the products in it

if you touch something in a store, you are n times more likely to buy it than if you cannot or do not touch it

how to lay out a store to maximize the number of islands or endcaps that get in your way, enticing you into further purchases.
If any of this made you say "wow, neat" or "I hate when they do that," you need to read his books...

posted by whatzit at 5:28 PM on September 6, 2007 [21 favorites]

Lifestyle marketing and economics. If you're partyin' you don't care how much you spend.
posted by rhizome at 5:35 PM on September 6, 2007

I also notice this at Starbucks. I was there last week with intentions to read while enjoying my coffee. I had to leave because the music was so loud I couldn't concentrate.
posted by cleo at 5:42 PM on September 6, 2007

It's gotten louder because they're trying to reach the masses of us who do all our shopping online.
posted by iguanapolitico at 5:42 PM on September 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

One of the things I noticed was that the music is determined and canned from the main office if it is in the States but when in the UK it seemed that the clerks completely ruled the soundtrack. I much prefer shopping in the UK because the music was at least "fresher" than in the US. Now it could be because I am used to shopping in the US and the UK incorporates the same methods but different soundtrack.
posted by jadepearl at 5:45 PM on September 6, 2007

This is a relatively new technique that has been brought to us courtesy of large city, bohemian upscale stores. Other designers took hold of it, such as Diesel and other upmarket brands. The reasons for doing this for designer brands or brands which command a premium is different than the A&F, American Eagle chain stores. Those want to invite teenagers into the cool shop in the mall. I am about one year behind on this type of marketing, but for higher end retails or upmarket brands the reasoning is to:

(1) Put younger customers at ease to the location and make the high price tags inviting. This is done by evoking the sense that the store they are in is cool, vis a vis the loud indie music, and to drown out other customers. It creates an intimate purchasing cocoon. Have you ever been to a traditional upscale store? The ones where all you see are Upper East Side moms or women who look like their husbands are hedge fund managers? That's rather intimidating and off putting to a lot of people. The loud music and the young saleswomen (almost always women) who look like they are having fun makes you feel you're at a friend's cool loft party. You would be surprised at the test market data that shows otherwise progressive, indie BoBos are put at ease buying $500 slacks at a store that has exposed brick, blasts indie music and seems like a discovery. The same person would be markedly less likely to go to a J. Press or equivalent.

(2) It creates disorientation, along with non-intuitive product placement, that forces you to go to a salesperson. This again is forcing those who wouldn't otherwise be prone to ask for personal assistance. The difference in final sales figures from those who have a sales assistant help them and those that do not are usually quite large.

Again, I don't put too much scientific credibility in such marketing theories, due to the lack of falsification. They do make intuitive sense. It is all about courting a demographic that is very lucrative: young trend-setters with deep pockets. I always imagined the demographic to be Mary Kate Olsen-ish, and it is usually not too far off. The lack of store credit and other amenities usually suggests that such stores cater to the type of clientèle who cannot afford to line their wardrobe with Prada shoes, but can splurge every 3-6 months on a piece of clothing. A finicky, but lucrative market.
posted by geoff. at 6:01 PM on September 6, 2007

Good music makes you happy. It's loud because you can't ignore it. If it's annoying you, that's a sign you're shopping in the wrong stores.

(Another interesting retail trend is dark cluttered stores. Have you seen a Hollister lately?)
posted by smackfu at 6:12 PM on September 6, 2007

American restaurants are sometimes designed to be loud on purpose. Hard floors, hard walls, no fabrics, loud music. Partly because it feels like "buzz" and partly because if a space is loud, people leave sooner and they can turn the table faster.

Yes, this is evil.
posted by Nelson at 6:29 PM on September 6, 2007

Also, has it gotten louder in the last 20 or so years?

Consider also that it could just be that you're getting old.

Seriously. No snark intended. Teenagers and young people generally have better, stronger ears. It's may not be loud to them.

It can creep up on you. I first noticed something funny when in my late 20s, I couldn't handle extreme roller-coasters anymore. I learned later that the vestibular stimulation involved can make an older person dizzy and sick, while a child or teenager will be thrilled and energized, because of physical, age-related changes to the ears and vestibular system.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 6:40 PM on September 6, 2007

Response by poster: A part of this is me getting older but I'm wondering if there has been some change as well. Splitting the two causes is difficult.

I've always loathed most public space music. FWIW I can still hear the high pitched noises from some silent ring tones so I think my hearing is still OK.

Loud music in dance clubs and at shows is a good idea, but deliberately making it harder to hear others in restaurants, pubs and bars annoys me no end.

And I won't get started on the stupid screen in pubs and bars that distract me.

I'll just take a break now to go and get the kids of my lawn.
posted by sien at 6:54 PM on September 6, 2007

Teenagers and young people generally have better, stronger ears. It's may not be loud to them.

The dynamic range of records mastered for CD in the last 20 years has become increasingly more compressed. This results in a louder perceived sound.

So, yeah, they have become louder, for all intents and purposes.
posted by secret about box at 7:10 PM on September 6, 2007

I've heard one theory that the loud volume in bars is meant to discourage conversation, leaving people with nothing to do but sip on more drinks.
posted by Durin's Bane at 7:38 PM on September 6, 2007

Echoing Nelson: I've also heard that louder and upbeat music encourages tables to "turn" faster in restaurants.

Echoing whatzit: There's a lot more about Paco Underhill at his company's web site. Some ten years ago or so, I read some of his work and then wrote a paper trying to apply some of his principles to e-commerce web-site design. Thank goodness it didn't have to include loud music!
posted by Robert Angelo at 7:56 PM on September 6, 2007

And I won't get started on the stupid screen in pubs and bars that distract me.

And does anyone else have doctors or dentists or eye care people who have these obnoxious flat screen tv's, pitching teeth whitening, and lasik and god knows what else? And not only are they running these back to back commercials, they continue to play the insipid muzak that has always been there. I look around and it seems that I'm the only person bothered by this. They're gaslighting me, I tells ya!
posted by jvilter at 8:09 PM on September 6, 2007

I was just in the West Elm store in DC and the old bad techno was so loud and overwhelming I couldn't concentrate to even think about buying any of their products.
posted by chickaboo at 6:33 AM on September 7, 2007

Personally I think it's because the staff likes to listen to it.

As a former retail veteran, this is exactly wrong. Do you remember the bit from 40 Year Old Virgin about Michael McDonald? That wasn't an exaggeration, that fucker is nigh ubiquitous.
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 7:06 AM on September 7, 2007

I love that the strategy with loud music is to get people to leave faster. My family has more than one restaurant where the music was so loud that we left and never went back. Good job, consumer psychology.
posted by crinklebat at 7:18 AM on September 7, 2007

I too, do not patronize restaurants or stores where the music is obtrusively loud.

And you know what? At my age, I have more money to spend than the people who choose the music and the volume.

Money that doesn't get spent there.
posted by Savannah at 7:25 AM on September 7, 2007

as for bars and clubs, i believe that the loud music, combined with alcohol, is meant to cultivate a detached sense of space, a decontextualization, which encourages people to just party - be entirely absorbed in the surroundings - rather than be aware of anything else going on outside. this, i figure, keeps people buying booze. it sort of creates a non-alcoholic intoxication that generates increased sales and whatnot.

and branding. clubs brand their spaces with layout, sight, smell, and sound.
posted by entropone at 8:13 AM on September 7, 2007

Seconding the recommendation for Paco Underhill's books. They're great and *very* interesting. I don't recall anything about music volume in them though.

This may or may not be related, but I once heard a restaurant consultant addressing the issue of why restaurants have become so loud (e.g., hard surfaces, no sound absorbing interior elements, etc.). He said that though everyone complained about loud restaurants, people keep coming back to them because the high ambient noise connotes excitement, and you feel like you're in a place where exciting things are happening.
posted by jasper411 at 9:50 AM on September 7, 2007

At the bar I owned part of for a while, the music wasn't blaring, but it was louder than I would normally set it to. It was done this way to encourage conversation. The music was loud enough you could talk to the few folks around you, but without fears of broadcasting though the entire bar.
posted by alikins at 9:57 AM on September 7, 2007

You know, in Europe people have conversations in quiet cafes and bars all the time. They don't fear broadcasting through the entire bar, because they don't shout to their friends like obnoxious Americans so often do.
posted by Nelson at 11:16 AM on September 7, 2007

Because everything is better in Europe, yo.
posted by smackfu at 11:19 AM on September 7, 2007

I've lived in the US and Europe, and I can assure you that being loud and obnoxious transcends nationality.

Whatever the psychology of loud places means for most shoppers, for me it means I turn around and walk back out. The only restaurants that get our repeat business are the ones where we can enjoy a quiet dinner. Excitement shouldn't be served with food.
posted by happyturtle at 3:00 PM on September 7, 2007

I hear you, Savannah (or I would, if they'd turn down the damned music)
posted by nax at 8:00 PM on September 7, 2007

As another retail worker, the Michael McDonald bit from "40-Year Old Virgin" struck a chord with me too, although I actually like McDonald. But hearing the contemporary pop station at my last job play Celine Dion and James Blunt day after day after day has almost scarred me to the point where I want to walk out of any establishment whenever I have to listen to one of those all-too-familiar songs again. Thank God for mp3 players. Hell, having to live through that makes Muzak much more preferable. At least it's easier to ignore.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 8:42 PM on September 7, 2007