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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
It was a bright, frigid morning in Ann Arbor, Michigan, two weeks before the University of Michigan let out for winter break, and the college town's numerous coffee shops were abuzz with the gentle tapping of keyboards, the whooshing of espresso machines, the occasional chatter—and the tinny strains of 1980s and '90s pop hits.
It's that last element of the sonic landscape that drives Gina Choe and Libby Hunter crazy. Standing just inside a cavernous cafe where The Smiths' "How Soon Is Now?" competed with a sizzling griddle, jostling coffee cups, and echoing voices, Choe said, "I came in here once, and [the music] was everywhere around me. Everyone was talking more loudly—I couldn't even hear my friend."
As Choe checked a decibel meter on her phone ("65, the level of loud conversation"), Hunter mentioned that the last time she was here, she had asked a counter worker if the music could be turned off. "The manager came over to my table, and she was really nice, but she said no, because of the 'atmosphere.' It's amazing how afraid they are to not have music."
Hunter, a retired middle-school music teacher, and Choe, a 2017 Michigan graduate who is working in a research lab while she prepares to apply to medical school, do not travel in the same circles, and might never have met at all had they not come together over a mutual love of quiet spaces—and a loathing for piped-in background music.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday December 26 2017, @11:33PM (2 children)
True story:
Many years ago, before my tenure, our facilities manager thought it would be a great idea to play christmas music over the loud speakers. So they hooked a radio tuner to the PA amp and mixed in the christmas music. Well, the only thing our senior engineer hateed more than the beatles is christmas music. After only half a day he looses it, grabbed a set of dykes, a ladder, and cut every fuckin speaker wire on the shop floor AND ripped the speaker out of his office ceiling. Since he was senior and cranked out work orders making big money, no one said one peep to him. They fixed the speakers and never put music on ever again preferring to pretend it never happened. I cheered him when he first told me that story at the first christmas party I attended. I still laugh about that every year when I first hear christmas music and bring that story up with him which he proudly owns and retells.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 27 2017, @01:55AM (1 child)
Did they have a license to do that?
ASCAP/BMI gets pissed if you don't pay them.
Years ago, after dance class, a group of us would go to a local coffee shop.
The place was a local hole in the wall startup.
They played recorded background music.
One week, we came in and the recorded music was off.
Instead, they had a live music act performing their own compositions
That pattern continued from then on.
Pretty sure that was because of licensing.
Fiddlers Crossing in Tehachapi, CA (a folkie music venue) is a place I know of which specifies that all acts must perform their own compositions or traditional tunes; nothing that is still under copyright by someone else is allowed.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Wednesday December 27 2017, @03:22AM
Yea, they used a local radio station as music on hold when I first got there. Got them to switch to Muzak for hold music and then they had a service make a custom recorded voice over talking about the company with prerecorded music. Looks like a little car stereo amp with a thumb drive plugged into it and a stereo set of rca jacks.