W hat I need is a good defense, 'cause I'm feeling like a crim inal..." The deep voice of Fiona Apple floats around Ann Taylor Loft in the Barracks Road Shopping Center, enticing people to share her burden. Whether it's soulful, jazzy, classical or pop, the music retail stores and restaurants choose to play usually has some sort of a purpose. While some businesses allow their employees to choose the tunes for the day based on personal preference, others send their stores specific tapes to attract and satisfy particular customers - regardless of employees' tastes.
And what about volume? Loud, soft or in between? Again, different stores seem to use different tactics, and depending on the music, employees may make necessary adjustments.
"I don't like it loud because I want to hear my customers talk," said Teresa, an assistant manager at Bath and Body Works in the Barracks Road Shopping Center.
Although employees at their store have the option of leaving their "mellow and upbeat" tunes at any volume they desire, Teresa keeps it as background music because "the company-sent tape gets annoying and boring to employees." This is especially the case since Bath and Body Works plays the same tape over and over for three months, until the company sends in a new one.
Teresa said the songs vary from "really, really old" to a few selected current Top 40 hits.
"Customers never say anything negative about the appropriate, non-vulgar mix," said Teresa of the repeatedly played CD. In fact, some popular comments included, "I like that song!" and "Where did you get that song?"
But contrary to Teresa's comments, Emily Del Greco, an employee at Banana Republic, also in the Barracks Road Shopping Center, loves the company-sent music. "I would even consider working for them," Del Greco said about the company, MUZAK, that sends a monthly CD to the clothing store, "because they do such a good job of finding interesting and unique music to put on their mixes."
The music at Banana Republic usually includes a wide variety of artists and songs, ranging from Diana Ross and Ella Fitzgerald to more contemporary artists such as Nicka Costa and Jill Scott.
"If it's good, I really don't get sick of it!" Del Greco exclaimed about the store's CDs, despite the fact that the store plays the same CD for an entire month.
"MUZAK pulls together music from obscure and forgotten-about places," Del Greco said. She continued to say that she loves the fact that she wouldn't normally listen to the music at work because it is eclectic. These collections include international beats, songs by popular artists that are not played on the radio and "songs from the '80s that you haven't heard in a long time," she said.
In general, Del Greco said Banana Republic's clothing is geared toward a mature, formal group of people, so the mixes sent in by MUZAK often target an older audience, including music that people "listened to when they were in college." Customers frequently make positive comments about the contemporary background music, including inquiries about what song the store currently is playing.
Because of this interest, Banana Republic occasionally markets CDs compiled by MUZAK. Currently, they are promoting "an eclectic mix of international music" called "Soir
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