Customers also have clear expectations of the music they should hear in commercial premises. How would you feel if your local Indian restaurant started playing Strauss waltzes? Celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal agrees with you that the music should fit the food: order a dish in his restaurant and you will also be served an iPod pre-loaded with music that complements the haute cuisine.
And it’s important that businesses don’t violate customers expectations of the music. Playing unfamiliar, inappropriate country music in a gym distracts people so much that they can’t even work out how long they worked out.
I could go on, but you get the point. This stuff really works. And it is really good value for money. The “right” music typically increases sales by between 10% and 20%, representing potential profits of millions, but costs only a fraction of that.
Pressure groups such as Britain’s Pipedown have anti-Muzak celebrity backers such as Stephen Fry and Joanna Lumley, who agree with comedian Lily Tomlin’s fear that the guy who invented piped music might be inventing something else.
They argue that using the high water marks of Western civilisation to flog baked beans is like using a photograph of your grandchildren to promote cocaine.
I disagree. Playing music in a supermarket devalues it no more than does painting the walls blue devalue Picasso’s blue period. Putting the staff in a nice uniform doesn’t make Vivienne Westwood’s 1970s punk fashion any less culturally significant.
Others ask whether it is ethical to use music to influence shoppers, apparently making them buy things they didn’t even realise they wanted.
In reality, music only affects shoppers when they are undecided or unwilling to think about what they are going to buy. You would never favour a Toyota over a Porsche just because the dealer played Japanese music.
And is playing music any more devious or subliminal than using other aspects of the store environment to persuade customers? It is not a coincidence that in-store staff dress nicely, that the walls are painted a certain colour, or that the milk is usually located at the back of the store, but we seem happy to accept these marketing tricks.
Adrian North is the Head of the School of Psychology and Speech Pathology at Curtin University. This article first appeared on 
The Conversation.
