THE HISTORY OF MUZAK

Let’s start at the beginning. Where does the name Muzak come from?

When General George Squier founded the company in 1934, he combined the name of his favorite technology company of the time with the word “music” to create Muzak. Music plus Kodak equals Muzak.

GEORGE SQUIER AND THE CREATION OF MUZAK

Born in Michigan in 1865, General George Squier was a scientist, an inventor, and a Signal Corp Officer. Throughout his military career, Squier served as a military attache, and he later was named head of the Aviation Section of the Signal Corp. As Chief Signal Officer, he contributed significant research and advancements in equipment. His inventive mind would continue down this creative path, specifically in the field of information transmission.

In the early 1920s, Squier discovered a method of transmitting information via electrical wires and realized that this new method could be used to distribute music. When tuned to the correct frequency, a phonograph at one end of the line could transmit music to receivers on the other end. At the time, music was only played via AM radio transmissions. But radio equipment was temperamental and expensive. Squier was granted several patents for his ideas, realizing that wire transmission had great potential for delivering music to a large audience. He sold these patents to a utility conglomerate called the North American Radio Company, and a new company was formed called Wired Radio Inc. The plan was to sell music subscriptions to the power company’s existing utility customers.

And in 1934, the music subscription service known as Muzak was created. 

But there was just one problem. 

General Squier and Wired Radio Inc. had the technology, but no music. 

TRANSCRIPTION MUSIC SERVICES

Even in the 1930s, music licensing was a difficult beast to tame. At the time, music played on the radio was broadcast live, while recorded music was only licensed for personal use at home on gramophones. For Muzak to succeed, they needed to find a way to legally broadcast their music service. The solution to this problem was a process called “transcription.” Electronic transcription was a then-new process that allowed for higher-quality recordings than what was typically available. These recordings were longer in length and used primarily for broadcast purposes. Generally speaking, the use of eclectic transcription was geared toward recording live radio programs, as well as commercials and jingles. However, this meant that broadcasters were only allowed to distribute music and other recordings if they were recorded specifically for airplay and not for personal consumption. Muzak saw this as their opportunity to create a catalog of music recorded specifically for their new broadcast technology. But General Squier and his team were scientists and engineers. They didn’t know anything about the music industry, certainly not enough to build an entire library.

Enter – Ben Selvin.

By the 1940s, Muzak’s exclusive transcription library totalled over 7,500 recordings, all available and licensed for broadcast into homes and businesses across the country.

MUZAK AND EARLY RADIO

William Burnett Benton was already a success when he took over ownership of Muzak. Born in 1900 in Minnesota, Benton was a Yale graduate, advertising guru, encyclopedia publisher, and politician. In 1929 he founded Benton & Bowles advertising agency with his partner, Chester Bowles. Their agency would be best known for the creation of soap operas. Soaps were originally created as radio programs sponsored by soap manufacturers – hence the name. Benton & Bowles radio division would eventually produce three of the most popular radio programs on air in the 1930s.

Benton saw the potential in Muzak. While serving as vice-president of the University of Chicago, he took over full ownership of the company in 1939. Drawing on his advertising and marketing background, Benton put lots of effort into research to help bolster Muzak’s efforts.

MUSIC FOR BUSINESS AND WWII

A major factor in Muzak’s growth came in 1939 due to the beginning of World War II. The large growth in industrial production during the war was a major window of opportunity. Thousands of factories dedicated to wartime industries were wired for Muzak commercial music services. Employee morale was boosted with the sounds of patriotic music like John Phillip Sousa marches and inspiring messaging from President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill.

In fact, Muzak was so closely tied to the war efforts it even had a hand in developing secure speech technology for Allied communication. In effect, the war efforts allowed for a large-scale study of Muzak music playlists in the workplace with the goal of increasing worker productivity.

And it worked. Benton’s research strategies showed that music in the workplace had positive effects on the workforce. In fact, productivity went up by more than 10 percent at factories where Muzak music was played. Muzak was no longer regarded as background music, but functional music. Muzak had finally found its niche.

After WWII and throughout the 40s, Muzak would continue its push as functional music in the workplace. During the 1950s, they would introduce their next big idea called Stimulus Progression.

SHRUGGING OFF THE STIGMA OF ELEVATOR MUSIC

The 60s were the Golden Age of advertising. Companies were starting to embrace the idea of not only being a business, but a brand. Companies now felt they had a story to tell and began to not just offer products, but experiences.

Now under the ownership of the Teleprompter Corporation, Muzak’s President Bing Muscio wanted to change the conversation around its stereotype as only easy listening music. Muscio felt that music was something that should draw the attention of the audience and not be relegated to the background.

Muzak’s first push into their new era began with introducing instrumental covers of popular songs by well known artists. The idea was to broaden the catalog of music by adding new genres and styles, while still applying the concepts of Stimulus Progression. In lieu of traditional covers, Muzak instead produced light classical covers of popular hits, thinking that lyrics and heavy instrumentation would only serve as a distraction in the workplace.

These easy-listening instrumental covers would become another hallmark of the Muzak style, one that many people still (incorrectly) associate with Muzak today.

With the sound of Muzak now spread worldwide, with it came the challenges of changing with the times. It was the 1970s. A time of rock and roll and rebellion. Especially for Americans living through touchpoints like Woodstock and the Vietnam War, the banality of easy-listening felt out of touch. Muzak would spend the next few decades working toward shrugging off that stigma.

There were several technological advances in the 1970s, as well. Muzak uploaded its large database of music onto computers for the first time, allowing for faster and easier catalog access. It was around this time that Muzak also launched its first broadcast satellite, making it the first satellite subscription radio service, beating out XM and Sirius radio by several decades.

Mark Torrance

MUZAK EXPANSION, RELOCATION, AND REBRANDING

But the biggest change was a philosophical one. Muzak’s relocation had put the business right in the heart of the Seattle music scene during the 1990s, attracting many musicians looking for steady work in the music industry. This influx of creative minds shifted how Muzak saw itself as a brand. The company started bringing attention to the individual employees who put together the playlists. They were promoted as more than just DJs arranging song orders. They instead were viewed as musicians and artists who harnessed the emotional power of music and carefully curated branded playlists. These Audio Architects, as they were called, became the face of the company. This new focus on expertly designed playlists, along with a new logo and a new attitude, helped to shed some of the elevator music stigma of the brand and instead position the company as leaders in the music industry.

WHERE IS MUZAK TODAY?

In 1999 Capstar purchased Muzak and it was merged once again, this time with Audio Communications based out of Orlando, Florida and a relocation to Fort Mill, South Carolina. In 2011, Muzak was purchased by a company known as Mood Media.

Mood Media began in 2004 as a Toronto, Canada based company called Fluid Music. Fluid Music rebranded as Mood Media in 2010 after taking over a European media group of the same name. In addition to purchasing Muzak in 2011, it also acquired Muzak’s largest competitor at the time, DMX (based in Austin, TX), in 2012, and by 2013 all entities were working — and continue to work — under the Mood Media brand name. Additional, more recent acquisitions include Technomedia, focus4media, South Central AV, and PlayNetwork. In January 2021, Mood Media was acquired by Vector Capital, a San Francisco-based private-equity firm that focuses exclusively on technology companies.

Through its series of acquisitions and positive growth, Mood Media is now the world’s leading in-store media solutions provider with a global presence that extends across 180 countries. It has moved well beyond music and messaging and offers a holistic set of media solutions that are all designed to engage, elevate and maximize Customer Experiences. These solutions include professionally designed music playlists, custom music for business, digital signage and video solutions, on-hold and in-store messaging, scent marketing, drive-thru technology,and audiovisual systems.

MUZAK MILESTONES