Music in Stores

[malden]

I want quiet when I am in one.

same here

 

[arts]

I've noticed this as well. My local Value Village was playing the Pixies "Where is my Brain" the other day. This is the kind of classic music I want to hear when I am shopping. Stuff that was either B-side or wasn't even in the top 40s of the classic rock stations.

CHOM isn't close to what it used to be. At least it is better than Ottawa's stations.

I think they are just cheap! They put the cheapest music they can get on. Which is the top 40s music. That has been beaten to death. And for that reason, people don't listen to the radio as much. Sad.

You know a station has gone into serious decline when the song rotation never changes. Ever.

CHOM's tagline is (was..) "CHOM ROCKS!". I recently saw a guy wearing a great t-shirt; "CHOM SUCKS!"

 

[YY1]

I've heard Thin Lizzy's Dancin' In The Moonlight twice in six months at two different establishments.

There is a McDonalds near where I work that has a distinctive over 60 demographic.....however, AC-DC, Motley Crue, and even more obscure borderline heavy metal hard rock plays there at an appreciable volume level.

 

[waffleboy]

I crack up every Halloween when they play "ghost town" by the Specials at the local Goodwill.....um...it's not about ghosts?

 

[intro6]

There is a McDonalds near where I work that has a distinctive over 60 demographic.....however, AC-DC, Motley Crue, and even more obscure borderline heavy metal hard rock plays there at an appreciable volume level.

Not surprising, considering that heavy metal dates back to the end of the 1960s and is now an old, well established type of music, so now, in the end, it's really just a matter of
whether you like it or not. Some do while others don't.

 

[Bill Ferris]

There was a satellite company when I was in the business that provided over 40 channels of music you could select from.. Sort of what Directv and Sirus XM radio use to do that gave you plenty of choices for home. A lot of retail stores and resturants used AEI music and AEI paid the royalties for their business customers. Even Muzak when they went with satellite gave teir customers many choice in music type. Some stores tried to use CD changers but when some one showed from the music unions they found themselves in big trouble for not paying ASCAP fees etc etc.

I supose people stream music now days from the internet servers, but you can get in big trouble if you don't pay royalties which pay the musicians playing the music.

DMX music subscription is what it sounds like you are describing, twiiii, that I legitimately used when it was added to my conversion over to digital big dish programing in 1999 with the purchase of a big dish combo digital/analog receiver.
It was a great non audio compressed (free included with my digital programing) 24/7/365 all day playing selectable multi genre digital music service that was non duplicated available on separate C and Ku band sat. transponders !

It was for me my first digital music experience in outside sourced continuous streaming, and thoroughly enjoyed it providing me with uninterrupted with no voice over classic rock, jazz, and classical tracks, depending on my mood`s channel selection.

Sadly with the gaining popularity of the little dish, big dish programming went black in 2010, so for me it was switching over to multi CD cartridge players until I quickly learned how to WAV. rip all my hundreds of CDs to give me my all day playing music back, as ultra slack local FM programing and the stations ultra audio compression thereof was an unacceptable option for me.

 

[mfrench]

Our market has the telephone ringer pumped into the PA system at level 11. When they get an incoming call, we all cover our ears, and take cover; a total fog cutter.

 

[Mr Boochie]

Was in Walgreens a couple of years ago. What came over the sound system? "I Want A New Drug" - Huey Lewis...

Very appropriate!

Sometimes, I think stores throw in these oddball songs just to see if we old-timers are listening.

I heard "Kashmir" overhead, at a PetsMart. It didn't make me want to buy more dog chow.

 

[zenith2134]

Anything is better than the stores piping in local FM with commercials and static fully intact. I guess no one knows how to hookup an antenna anymore. Coupled with the lackluster sensitivity of receiver RF frontends today.

In public, I do hear some favorites from my collection in certain stores. Sirius XM 1st Wave most likely. I love eighties alternative.

 

[Chad Michael]

I'm just happy anytime they don't use these

 

[Hajidub]

I've noticed this as well. My local Value Village was playing the Pixies "Where is my Brain" the other day. This is the kind of classic music I want to hear when I am shopping. Stuff that was either B-side or wasn't even in the top 40s of the classic rock stations.

CHOM isn't close to what it used to be. At least it is better than Ottawa's stations.

I think they are just cheap! They put the cheapest music they can get on. Which is the top 40s music. That has been beaten to death. And for that reason, people don't listen to the radio as much. Sad.

Speaking of thrifts I always seem to have weird coincidences happen at mine. If they're playing something "out of the ordinary" over the store system, every once in while I'll find that particular album in the normal wasteland of Herb, Miller, showtune albums. It's only happened maybe 3 or 4 times, but sometimes it's been pretty obscure stuff.

 

[sanford12]

When I worked as a waiter christmas was the worst. Hearing them on an hour loop ruined some of my favorites for me.

 

[BilboBaggins]

Speaking of thrifts I always seem to have weird coincidences happen at mine. If they're playing something "out of the ordinary" over the store system, every once in while I'll find that particular album in the normal wasteland of Herb, Miller, showtune albums. It's only happened maybe 3 or 4 times, but sometimes it's been pretty obscure stuff.

You are connected to the Matrix!

 

[Doug G.]

I don't know if my local grocery store has ever actually played "Star Star" but they do play good stuff like that. I often find myself singing along or bopping.

Doug

 

[Adaboy5]

When I was in college working at a warehouse they played music over head. We voted to have play days. One day was rock, next R&B and so forth. It made the day go by much better.

 

[JP]

Many of the music providers have gone out of business over the years, the likes of DMX, AEI, Musak, to name a few.

Most of them were rolled up under Mood Media, previously Fluid. AEI and DMX ”merged“ in 2001, were bought out by Capstar Partners, and were acquired from Capstar by Mood in 2012. Muzak was acquired by Mood in 2011. I was CTO at DMX and left shortly after the acquisition.

It was a great non audio compressed

It was AC3, and if you had the DCII feed off G10 it was double-encoded AC3.

 

[E2]

I don't know if my local grocery store has ever actually played "Star Star" but they do play good stuff like that. I often find myself singing along or bopping.

Doug

They would never play that. They would never play Some Girls. I have never heard them played on terrestrial radio either. I even tried to get radio stations to play them in the 80's. Maybe I should try to get a station to play The Cocksucker Blues?

(One guy in the neighborhood was calling in to win tickets all the time and was amazingly accurate picking the right time to call to be the right number caller, he made a killing do that for several years)

 

[E2]

I want quiet when I am in one.

What irritates me is a speaker directly above customer service playing something loud, or calling out for something in one of the isles.
And I can't hear the the clerk, or myself talking. This irritates me to no end.

 

[Bill Ferris]

It was AC3, and if you had the DCII feed off G10 it was double-encoded AC3.

I`ll take your word, all I know was the audio output SQ as internally decoded by my General Instrument combo digital/analog C/Ku band receiver`s internal DAC was as good as any of my Mc. CD player with the exception of its audio output level, which was a little bit lower in strength when compared through any of my house`s multi room`s systems that I fed with a HQ L/R audio distribution system via my living room`s A/V rack.
And visiting audio repair customers & friends always complimented about the DMX music track selections and SQ quality, and some would ask me what cool radio station was I tuned to !

Later on after enjoying DMX for several yrs. and hearing it all day while I repaired audio equipment, I remember reading in one of the hifi magazines high rating of DMX`s sat. delivered streaming audio very highly, as not being compressed with excellent overall SQ, but I already knew that, and was already in total agreement.

 

[Fairlane]

Just in our local Safeway the other evening with the wife and they were palying Bette Midler followed by Richard Marx, ugh. We could not get out of there fast enough.
I think like a lot of responses here that music is so polarizing that no music would probably be the best.

And who can stand the crappy music my local Home Depot plays over PA speakers no less, just awful.

Although one of my favorite places to visit is the transfer station up in the Sierras where we have a family cabin. Everytime we go there the old dudes who work there
are blasting the local classic rock station on FM that plays a surprisingly good mix of songs. Rush, The Who, Neal Young were on tap last time we were there. Fun time while you are sorting the recycle and trash and checking the E-Waste. I have gotten some prizes there my self.

(They cobbled together a nice little system with equipment that was put in the E-Waste bins including outdoor Polks)