Music as a Brand Asset
Achille Forler, founder
What sparked the creation of Music Curator?
I was impressed by the musical selection at a fashion show. I sought out the sound designer and thus met Arnaud Azzouz, a former producer and manager of a renowned band. During our talk, we shared anecdotes on the random quality of music, unsuitable music systems, and often dreadful acoustics in luxury hotels, and how they diminish the overall guest experience. I was a music publisher controlling over one million compositions, and he was open to work. That’s how Music Curator was born, reflecting our mission to curate music for iconic venues, akin to selecting artworks for an exhibition or museum.
When we started, we were lucky to have some exceptional general managers as clients in charge of the renovation or re-opening of sublime heritage properties. When you work for timeless destinations such as these, the key is to crack each property’s code while keeping a sonic commonality because they belong to the same Group, and the music must reflect that.
Why is music becoming a vital asset for brands?
To switch off the music in a hotel is like switching off the soundtrack in a movie. Music in the hospitality industry is a Ferrari abandoned in a field. The hospitality industry doesn’t see it this way because it is not taught in hotel management schools. I saw this as an opportunity for brands to implement a music strategy to communicate with their guests and the world at a negligible cost.
Enough evidence has been collected in the last 70 years to show that background music impacts customers’ behaviour. Recent research has sharpened our understanding of how music works: we have a musical brain that is different from, and predates, our verbal brain. Beethoven sensed it when he said,
“Music enters our brain through an entirely different door.”
Research has shown that music significantly amplifies our emotions, just as a soundtrack amplifies the scenes of a movie. More brain areas are assigned to music processing than language. Man is truly a musical species. Why not address it?
The traditional offer of genre-based — smooth jazz, lo-fi, etc. — or context-based background music — relaxation, Mexican, coffee house, etc. — has no purpose other than to discreetly mask unpleasant sounds—voices, ambient noise—or, at its best, create an emotional ‘feel good’ among guests and staff. You can hear this predictable, algorithm-generated music everywhere, in a grocery store or a hotel lobby. Sadly, this algorithmic approach is still the ‘default option’ in the hospitality industry because that’s the easy option on offer from music suppliers.
How can music design, a relatively young discipline, help brand differentiation?
Music can be your best ‘value for money’ overhead. To start, the client should know exactly what the brand stands for. This itself is a challenge for some companies. Companies that don’t do well usually have lost their narrative or maybe never had one in the first place.
A brand is made of several parts or assets, and music is one of them. Neglecting your music asset is like not paying attention to interior design or F&B assets. Brands that one cannot identify with eyes closed are mute brands. When a brand fires on all cylinders across all its properties, then the stage is set for the highest experience within the price band in which the brand operates. Within the same price range, people instinctively go for a better experience. Music is undoubtedly one such differentiator.
When you work with a brand in the lower price range with little to differentiate itself from its competitors—and there are many—music can be the key differentiator. Restaurants have been doing this for two centuries when they hired well-known orchestras. In this case, the key is to create an original sound base that allows for continuous evolution because, in this market, a year is a long time; as with radio, the programming needs to be regularly refreshed. This is also the case for gyms.
How, then, should music branding be approached?
If we consider music design to be an art form, then one should approach its artists. A music strategy has three pillars:
Curation. When music is curated in tune with your brand’s other assets, it becomes your brand’s voice and conveys your corporate identity emotionally.
Sound quality. Can hotels or restaurants still serve sound mush to a hi-fi savvy clientele? If you want customers to experience the nuanced feelings composers put into their music, you must transmit it as they recorded it in the studio. That’s not possible with ceiling speakers, whatever their brand. Looking at the Mona Lisa in the Louvre or on a postage stamp doesn’t produce the same emotion!
Acoustics. We love historic buildings because acoustics are an integral part of their design. When I walk into a building, I see sounds where others see colours. In structures built after the Second World War, I see chaotic frequencies that assault my ears and make me want to leave. Acoustics should be an integral part of architectural design. Unfortunately, this is not the case today.
Audio is the hospitality industry’s Achilles heel.
What would be the best advice?
Don’t underestimate your guests. My advice to all architects, general managers, or F&B directors is this: imagine that the guest standing next to you is Philip Glass, Hans Zimmer, Kirill Petrenko, Sir Simon Rattle, or Dany Elfman, and ask yourself: is this what I want him to hear in my hotel, in my restaurant?