Muzak audio architects -- new job opps for underemployed music geeks?

The Soundtrack of Your Life: Muzak in the realm of retail theatre - David Owen, April 10, 2006.

I was vaguely aware of Muzak's transition to using original songs rather than remade instrumentals in the last decade, but didn't know the extent of their new model. They have a database of 1.5 million songs. Seems kind of a waste, given that when they narrow it down to songs that couldn't possibly offend any customers ever, it's the same old 100 songs that are pounded into our skulls in restaurants and shops across the country, which ironically, offend me to no end. Or perhaps there's something more sophisticated going on.

I went through the same imaging process during my visit to Fort Mill. Steven Pilker, a twenty-five-year-old audio architect—he had worked in a record store while in school at U.N.C. Charlotte and, when he graduated, was offered a job by a Muzak executive who had been a regular customer—asked me seven or eight questions, none of which had anything to do with music. (“When you’re not working, what do you like to do?” “If you could choose an actor / actress to star in your biographical movie, who would it be and why?”) A couple of weeks later, he sent me a six-song program, which contained nothing connected to what I think of as my main musical phenotype (“classic rock”); in fact, five of the six tracks were by artists I’d never heard of. Yet I liked all six very much, and later bought CDs by two of them (Sufjan Stevens and Jamie Lidell). Pilker’s selections aren’t definitive, of course; another audio architect surely could have had another take on my “brand.” But I was struck that Pilker, after spending very little time with me, had created an appealing musical program that was based on his sense of who I was, rather than on any direct examination of the music I actually listened to if left on my own.

One might scoff at the music choices, but it's an interesting exercise. I usually make recommendations based on what people already like. But there is the possibility that they've never been exposed to anything like certain types they would like. Though I find that highly unlikely unless that person grew up in the mountains raising yaks, with little exposure to popular music. But outside the tiny world of music cognoscenti, maybe their approach does make sense.

I'd like to know what exactly their process is. Are there any moles out there willing to infiltrate and share?