The Science of the Music Keeping You On Hold
February 1, 2011 10:44 AM Subscribe
After sitting on hold with United for a few hours during this latest travelpocalypse, I've become deeply curious about the science of the music used when a caller is placed on hold. For example, at United, the hold music is "Rhapsody in Blue". Rather than being a lovely full recording of the piece, it is an incredibly scratchy partial recapitulation of the main theme that sounds as if it is being played on a phonograph. It skips, stops and starts, and sounds just terrible. But I found myself wondering, is the annoyance to keep the caller on edge? Are those sometimes looong skips and stops designed to keep me paying attention? While these observations come from United, I've noticed the same thing at other companies. Is there a real reason behind this?
Are you making the call on a cell phone? Cell phones tend to use compression that is designed for human speaking, combine with the fact that it also has a really poor bitrate, this can result in extremely poor sounding music.
If you are using a cell phone, try making the call on a land line and see if it sounds any different.
posted by GhostChe at 10:56 AM on February 1, 2011
If you are using a cell phone, try making the call on a land line and see if it sounds any different.
posted by GhostChe at 10:56 AM on February 1, 2011
Low quality VOIP would be more to blame than the quality of the recording, no?
posted by wingless_angel at 10:56 AM on February 1, 2011
posted by wingless_angel at 10:56 AM on February 1, 2011
I always figured that on-hold badness was just a product of the PBX - that the call system can only handle Y seconds of music encoded at X bitrate (where X is something crappy). The Muzak people, in any case, think that there's A Whole Lot to this sort of audio identity stuff.
posted by jquinby at 10:57 AM on February 1, 2011
posted by jquinby at 10:57 AM on February 1, 2011
There is definitely a science to it.
I found this bit: Modern corporations, with the help of psychologists, have actually made a science out of keeping you on the line, using harmonic soporifics in an effort to subdue your rage. {via}
posted by special-k at 10:57 AM on February 1, 2011 [2 favorites]
I found this bit: Modern corporations, with the help of psychologists, have actually made a science out of keeping you on the line, using harmonic soporifics in an effort to subdue your rage. {via}
posted by special-k at 10:57 AM on February 1, 2011 [2 favorites]
It may be on older systems the music is provided from an old machine, stuck in a forgotten closet, playing the same loop endlessly. The oxide on that tape starts flaking off, and it's nobodies job to take care of it.
I had a job a while back, tearing down an old TV studio. We found a audio cart machine shoved on top of a rack, covered in an inch of dust, still playing. The tape had been worn down until all that was left was the clear plastic base. We figured it must have been running continuously for 25+ years.
posted by Marky at 10:59 AM on February 1, 2011 [22 favorites]
I had a job a while back, tearing down an old TV studio. We found a audio cart machine shoved on top of a rack, covered in an inch of dust, still playing. The tape had been worn down until all that was left was the clear plastic base. We figured it must have been running continuously for 25+ years.
posted by Marky at 10:59 AM on February 1, 2011 [22 favorites]
I was no kidding about to ask a nearly identical question. from landline or cell, when I get put on hold with a business, often the talking part is clear but on hold it's all crackly.
It is not just you and it is not just from cell or from home.
posted by pointystick at 10:59 AM on February 1, 2011
It is not just you and it is not just from cell or from home.
posted by pointystick at 10:59 AM on February 1, 2011
When I worked in a company with a sophisticated phone system, I was put in charge of changing the hold song every month (I was hired as a receptionist at first). No science behind it – it was just whatever I felt like. For what it's worth, one of our tech support affiliates played a different Beatles song each week or so.
posted by halogen at 11:00 AM on February 1, 2011
posted by halogen at 11:00 AM on February 1, 2011
Response by poster: GhostChe I have tried both on a cell and off. I could swear this is the same music they've been using for the last decade, which leads me to believe there is something other than laziness to it. Then again, never attribute to malice what can be attributed to stupidity. But research like this [pdf] make me think there's more going on here. That and the entire discipline of Industrial and Organizational Psychology. But why that choice for United? What are the techniques they are using. That, I'm curious about.
posted by redbeard at 11:03 AM on February 1, 2011
posted by redbeard at 11:03 AM on February 1, 2011
I could swear this is the same music they've been using for the last decade...
As to that, Rhapsody in Blue has been United's theme song for a long time (since the 1980s, according to wikipedia)
posted by jquinby at 11:05 AM on February 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
As to that, Rhapsody in Blue has been United's theme song for a long time (since the 1980s, according to wikipedia)
posted by jquinby at 11:05 AM on February 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
Newsweek, August 2009. On Hold And In Hell: Inside the young science of keeping callers on the line.
"Modern corporations, with the help of psychologists, have actually made a science out of keeping you on the line, using harmonic soporifics in an effort to subdue your rage.
...
Time on hold seemed shortest for women exposed to alternative rock and for men exposed to classical music," he says."
Some interesting reading in there.
posted by cashman at 11:09 AM on February 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
"Modern corporations, with the help of psychologists, have actually made a science out of keeping you on the line, using harmonic soporifics in an effort to subdue your rage.
...
Time on hold seemed shortest for women exposed to alternative rock and for men exposed to classical music," he says."
Some interesting reading in there.
posted by cashman at 11:09 AM on February 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
is the annoyance to keep the caller on edge?
And/or to use every possible opportunity for advertising?
I wouldn't know about United's specifics, but seems like no big company can tolerate setting up a hold system that just plays continuous music -- instead, every minute or so the music must be interrupted with some announcement the caller doesn't really need to hear, either straight advertising or "Your call is very important to us..." boilerplate. This certainly keeps me on edge, especially at home where I'm unable to put the on-hold call on the speaker.
posted by Rash at 11:11 AM on February 1, 2011
And/or to use every possible opportunity for advertising?
I wouldn't know about United's specifics, but seems like no big company can tolerate setting up a hold system that just plays continuous music -- instead, every minute or so the music must be interrupted with some announcement the caller doesn't really need to hear, either straight advertising or "Your call is very important to us..." boilerplate. This certainly keeps me on edge, especially at home where I'm unable to put the on-hold call on the speaker.
posted by Rash at 11:11 AM on February 1, 2011
Response by poster: Oh, jquimby, I don't mean that song. I mean that exact same scratchy awful popping shuddering recording. As one former travel-agent called it, "...a real fork in the eye experience."
posted by redbeard at 11:16 AM on February 1, 2011
posted by redbeard at 11:16 AM on February 1, 2011
I design automated phone systems and I can tell you 95% of the time hold music is outside of the designer's responsiblity and ability to influence, and is put in place by a developer who has no clue about user interface issues. Based on my experience, hold music is an afterthought in most cases. Flood is right, you are giving these companies too much credit.
posted by Dragonness at 11:20 AM on February 1, 2011
posted by Dragonness at 11:20 AM on February 1, 2011
A few parts of the answer from Mister Fabulous (who works on business phone systems, and worked in call centers):
- Many phone systems are actually set up for the Music on Hold feature to loop after 2-3 minutes. In the call center world, "No customer should be on hold longer than three minutes to make sure customer satisfaction is kept high." Reality is that outside of the Quality Analysts special world, we all know people get stuck on hold for more than 3 minutes/call, but that doesn't seem to change things. On older systems, the loop length was kept small to keep memory to a minimum.
- Licensing. United probably bought the license to that particular version of Rhapsody in Blue 30 years ago and sees no reason to spend even a dime to get a new song. The licensed songs usually cost at least a few hundred dollars for the no-name hold music variety to several thousand for an actual artist. Often the prices are negotiated based on individual sales, so a big name like United would drive the cost higher (more customers hear my song, more I charge for it).
- Quality of the song depends on the system (VoIP vs. Analog, brand) and there are a lot of variables in that. The variable that doesn't change much is that telephone quality is 8kbit/s, 8KHz, way under typical music quality you'd be listening to. The suggestion is actually to never use classical music for hold music because it tends to not come across very well.
I'm not a psychologist, so I can't really speak to that end.
posted by Mister Fabulous at 11:20 AM on February 1, 2011 [2 favorites]
- Many phone systems are actually set up for the Music on Hold feature to loop after 2-3 minutes. In the call center world, "No customer should be on hold longer than three minutes to make sure customer satisfaction is kept high." Reality is that outside of the Quality Analysts special world, we all know people get stuck on hold for more than 3 minutes/call, but that doesn't seem to change things. On older systems, the loop length was kept small to keep memory to a minimum.
- Licensing. United probably bought the license to that particular version of Rhapsody in Blue 30 years ago and sees no reason to spend even a dime to get a new song. The licensed songs usually cost at least a few hundred dollars for the no-name hold music variety to several thousand for an actual artist. Often the prices are negotiated based on individual sales, so a big name like United would drive the cost higher (more customers hear my song, more I charge for it).
- Quality of the song depends on the system (VoIP vs. Analog, brand) and there are a lot of variables in that. The variable that doesn't change much is that telephone quality is 8kbit/s, 8KHz, way under typical music quality you'd be listening to. The suggestion is actually to never use classical music for hold music because it tends to not come across very well.
I'm not a psychologist, so I can't really speak to that end.
posted by Mister Fabulous at 11:20 AM on February 1, 2011 [2 favorites]
I worked in a call center in an very large company and for us at least there was no science to it. It was a pain in the neck to change it and we had no control over the quality of the sound. For years we had classical music that wasn't terrible if you liked classical, but after complaints from the non-classical loving customers, we had it changed to something jazzier. The guy who ran the phone system changed it after much begging and picked the music. He was no psychologist.
posted by cecic at 12:13 PM on February 1, 2011
posted by cecic at 12:13 PM on February 1, 2011
It is likely a combination of all of the above. For all we know, the call center you called obtained their on-hold music by calling another pre-existing call center and recording *their* on hold music. This could have happened for who knows how many generations from the original tape it was on.
The cell/voip angle is also valid. A good VOIP system isn't going to reduce quality at all, because it will be using the same (or better) compression than the POTS system is. BUT, your phone, their headset, their phone, their phone system and the various interconnects between them ARE going to introduce noise. And competing, destructive noise cancelling. You know how when you call bad cell centers and you can hear the seemingly impossible din of hundreds of other calls in the background? A phone system tech along the way is going to try to noise cancel that out. It's going to be something simple, like "cut anything below -48 db". Well, when they do it wrong, that's going to affect the on hold music adversely.
Plus, I don't think anyone ever listens to that on-hold music internally ever. I mean, have you ever listened to some of them? The ones with voice-over marketing announcements are the worst. What is supposed to be:
The cell/voip angle is also valid. A good VOIP system isn't going to reduce quality at all, because it will be using the same (or better) compression than the POTS system is. BUT, your phone, their headset, their phone, their phone system and the various interconnects between them ARE going to introduce noise. And competing, destructive noise cancelling. You know how when you call bad cell centers and you can hear the seemingly impossible din of hundreds of other calls in the background? A phone system tech along the way is going to try to noise cancel that out. It's going to be something simple, like "cut anything below -48 db". Well, when they do it wrong, that's going to affect the on hold music adversely.
Plus, I don't think anyone ever listens to that on-hold music internally ever. I mean, have you ever listened to some of them? The ones with voice-over marketing announcements are the worst. What is supposed to be:
"Thank you for calling Generic Technology Solutions. Your call is important to us.Turns into:
Whether you are calling about digital imaging technologies;
solutions for your campus security systems;
copier, printer and scanner maintenance;
mobile VPN and encryption;
or any other diverse technology integration need,
count on Generic Technology Solutions."
"Thank you for calling Generic Technology Solutions. Your call is important to us.posted by gjc at 12:42 PM on February 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
Whether you are calling about digital;
imaging technologies solutions;
for your campus security systems scanner;
copier and printer maintenance;
mobile vihpen;
and encryption;
or any other diverse technology
Integration need? Count on Generic Technology, Solutions!"
From my years of past experience in the corporate world, my guess is that everyone at United is vaguely aware that their hold music is terribly degraded.
But who would be responsible for fixing such a thing? What's the use case scenario? What can the company stand to gain from dropping a newer tape into the machine? A newer tape will cost money, and often you can't spend money without explaining the bottom-line benefit to the company.
And how would you do it, anyway? Most likely, it's part of an ancient legacy system, and everyone who ever knew how to work the machine has long since left the company.
Everyone knows that eventually the tape will just break, making it an emergency situation. (The company must have SOME hold music.) When that happens, upper management will loosen the purse strings a little, and the machine will be replaced.
Until then, well... everyone has their own jobs to tend to first. And since no one's job involves updating the hold music, no one has any stake in fixing it.
posted by ErikaB at 12:46 PM on February 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
But who would be responsible for fixing such a thing? What's the use case scenario? What can the company stand to gain from dropping a newer tape into the machine? A newer tape will cost money, and often you can't spend money without explaining the bottom-line benefit to the company.
And how would you do it, anyway? Most likely, it's part of an ancient legacy system, and everyone who ever knew how to work the machine has long since left the company.
Everyone knows that eventually the tape will just break, making it an emergency situation. (The company must have SOME hold music.) When that happens, upper management will loosen the purse strings a little, and the machine will be replaced.
Until then, well... everyone has their own jobs to tend to first. And since no one's job involves updating the hold music, no one has any stake in fixing it.
posted by ErikaB at 12:46 PM on February 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
Could it be that you're calling an offshore call center? Even in this day and age, international calls never sound that great.
posted by JoanArkham at 12:54 PM on February 1, 2011
posted by JoanArkham at 12:54 PM on February 1, 2011
> have you ever listened to some of them? The ones with voice-over marketing announcements are the worst.
Ugh, well noted, gjc. That's a dead giveaway the voice talent was not coached but simply handed a script to read with no supervision from the original author of the text.
posted by Dragonness at 12:57 PM on February 1, 2011
Ugh, well noted, gjc. That's a dead giveaway the voice talent was not coached but simply handed a script to read with no supervision from the original author of the text.
posted by Dragonness at 12:57 PM on February 1, 2011
I don't know if they still do it, but years ago I called SouthWest airlines and was on hold for about 15 minutes.
It was awesome.
They had skits (excerpts from Waiting For Godot, only it was about waiting for someone to handle your call). They had songs about loneliness (Pink Floyd's Is There Anybody Out There and The Police's So Lonely). I was blissfully entertained for the whole time.
Of course, SouthWest airlines was run by Herb Kelleher at that time, who was well known for being a complete nutball.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 12:59 PM on February 1, 2011 [5 favorites]
It was awesome.
They had skits (excerpts from Waiting For Godot, only it was about waiting for someone to handle your call). They had songs about loneliness (Pink Floyd's Is There Anybody Out There and The Police's So Lonely). I was blissfully entertained for the whole time.
Of course, SouthWest airlines was run by Herb Kelleher at that time, who was well known for being a complete nutball.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 12:59 PM on February 1, 2011 [5 favorites]
Of course, SouthWest airlines was run by Herb Kelleher at that time, who was well known for being a complete nutball.
Apropos of nothing, I have distinct memories of a call queue DJ...maybe with Gateway, back when they were a PC powerhouse? Current hits and in-between songs there'd updates on average wait times. It was surreal.
posted by jquinby at 1:04 PM on February 1, 2011
Apropos of nothing, I have distinct memories of a call queue DJ...maybe with Gateway, back when they were a PC powerhouse? Current hits and in-between songs there'd updates on average wait times. It was surreal.
posted by jquinby at 1:04 PM on February 1, 2011
I have no insight but I feel your pain. I was on hold with United for a couple of hours during the last-Snowpocalypse-but-one, and that stupid recording drove me crazy. I liked Gershwin, once...
posted by mskyle at 2:28 PM on February 1, 2011
posted by mskyle at 2:28 PM on February 1, 2011
There is definitely a science. On some call there were four different voices telling me to hang in there. They said it in very different ways. It was amazingly effective. (I'll come back if I remember.)
posted by salvia at 8:17 PM on February 1, 2011
posted by salvia at 8:17 PM on February 1, 2011
Apropos of nothing, I have distinct memories of a call queue DJ...maybe with Gateway, back when they were a PC powerhouse?
Novell, right? They had the hold music radio, where you could request music from their website.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 9:27 AM on February 2, 2011
Novell, right? They had the hold music radio, where you could request music from their website.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 9:27 AM on February 2, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Flood at 10:54 AM on February 1, 2011 [3 favorites]