History of Elevator Music

Muzak is the subject of ARTE’s documentary “A History of Elevator Music: From Muzak to Streaming”, a nearly 50-minute film directed by David Ungar that examines the history of functional music. The documentary draws on archival material and features interviews with Brian Eno and Jean-Michel Jarre. It traces the development of Muzak from early background sound experiments to its adoption as functional music in public and commercial spaces. The film presents the institutional and musical history behind that evolution without offering conjecture beyond the documented record.

The documentary records that Muzak began as a US company founded as Wired Music in 1922 and was renamed Muzak in 1934, and it notes the company’s early use of elevator background noise in the 1920s to help people overcome fear of elevators. The film documents leadership changes in the mid-1930s and the development of musical programming intended for continuous background use in environments such as department stores and offices. It includes observations and quotations addressing the purpose and effects of functional music and situates those practices within a broader history of sound used in public and commercial settings. The film presents these developments through archival documents and interviews included in its narrative.

The ARTE documentary “A History of Elevator Music: From Muzak to Streaming” runs for nearly 50 minutes and is directed by David Ungar. The film draws on archival material and features interviews with Brian Eno and Jean-Michel Jarre. It presents a focused examination of functional music and its historical development across public and commercial spaces.

The documentary traces Muzak’s origins, noting that the company was founded as Wired Music in 1922 and was renamed Muzak in 1934, and it records the early use of background sound in elevators in the 1920s to help people overcome fear of elevators. The film covers leadership changes following George Owen Squier’s death in 1934, including Will Benton’s takeover and the 1935 appointment of Ben Selvin as musical director, and it describes Ben Selvin’s emphasis on catchy, easily digestible melodies at a steady tempo with no dramatic crescendos or rhythmic shifts.

The documentary follows how this form of functional music spread to department stores and offices with aims such as boosting productivity and influencing purchasing behavior, and it includes perspectives that compare functional music to birdsong, sacred music, and military music as well as a remark about music becoming louder near cash registers to affect shoppers’ behavior.

Muzak began as a US company founded as Wired Music in 1922 and was renamed Muzak in 1934; the documentary records the company’s early use of background sound in elevators in the 1920s to help people overcome fear of elevators. George Owen Squier died in 1934, after which Will Benton took over leadership the same year and in 1935 hired Ben Selvin as musical director. Under Selvin, the musical programming emphasized catchy, easily digestible melodies presented at a steady tempo without dramatic crescendos or rhythmic shifts, a style the documentary associates with continuous background use.

The documentary traces how Selvin’s programming was applied beyond elevators to public and commercial spaces such as department stores and offices, where operators used continuous background music designed to maintain an unobtrusive ambiance. The company aimed to boost productivity in offices and to influence purchasing behavior in stores, and the film includes an observation about music becoming louder near cash registers to affect shoppers’ behavior. These developments led Muzak to become the company name associated with musician-oriented background sound, and the documentary presents that corporate and musical evolution as part of the broader history of functional music.

The documentary describes Muzak’s musical style as deliberately unobtrusive and formulaic, emphasizing compositions that avoid startling or diverting listeners and that prioritize steady background presence. It quotes the characterization that there are “no dramatic crescendos or rhythmic shifts, but catchy and easily digestible melodies at a steady tempo,” and it reports the film’s description of elevator music as “not music that sparks a particular creative interest.” The film raises questions about authorship and intent with the line “Who composes here? And for what purpose?” This account presents the musical approach as engineered for continuous, low-attention listening rather than for focused creative engagement.

The documentary connects that musical design to explicit commercial objectives, stating that Muzak aimed to boost productivity in offices and to influence purchasing behavior in stores. It includes the observation that “while browsing, the music remains subliminal, but near the cash register it suddenly gets louder,” and follows that with the assessment that “this choreographs people’s buying behavior.” The film also presents comparisons of functional music to other sound practices, noting analogies to “birdsong, sacred music, and military music.” These elements are presented in the documentary as part of Muzak’s stated purpose and programming strategy within public and commercial spaces.

The ARTE documentary shows how functional music migrated from elevator installations to broader public environments such as department stores and offices. Muzak’s programming was adapted for these spaces to provide a continuous, unobtrusive sonic background and to address specific situational needs. The film notes that musical directors and companies designed playlists to maintain a steady ambiance rather than to attract focused attention. It documents the application of this approach across commercial and institutional settings.

The documentary describes how operators used musical volume and placement to influence customer behavior, including the claim that “while browsing, the music remains subliminal, but near the cash register it suddenly gets louder.” It presents the explicit framing that “this choreographs people’s buying behavior.” The film situates these practices within Muzak’s stated aims of boosting office productivity and influencing purchasing decisions in stores. It also includes reflections comparing functional music to forms such as birdsong, sacred music, and military music.

CONCLUSION

The ARTE documentary “A History of Elevator Music: From Muzak to Streaming” runs for nearly 50 minutes and is directed by David Ungar, and it uses archival material alongside interviews with artists including Brian Eno and Jean-Michel Jarre. The film examines the history of functional music and traces Muzak’s corporate and musical development from its founding as Wired Music in 1922 to its renaming as Muzak in 1934. The documentary records the early use of background sound in elevators in the 1920s to help people overcome fear of elevators and documents a leadership transition after George Owen Squier’s death in 1934, with Will Benton taking over management that same year. It also records Benton’s 1935 appointment of Ben Selvin as musical director and includes documentary material on Selvin’s programming choices.

The film describes Ben Selvin’s musical approach as emphasizing catchy, easily digestible melodies presented at a steady tempo without dramatic crescendos or rhythmic shifts, and it situates that programming within wider applications in department stores and offices. The documentary records that these practices were used with commercial objectives such as boosting productivity in offices and influencing purchasing behavior in stores, and it includes the observation that “while browsing, the music remains subliminal, but near the cash register it suddenly gets louder.” The film additionally presents reflections comparing functional music to birdsong, sacred music, and military music as part of its historical account.

The ARTE documentary “A History of Elevator Music: From Muzak to Streaming” runs for nearly 50 minutes and is directed by David Ungar. The film draws on archival material and includes interviews with Brian Eno and Jean-Michel Jarre, presenting an examination of the history of functional music. It frames the subject through historical documents and first-hand testimony gathered for the film, focusing on the institutional and musical development of background and ambient sound designed for public environments. The documentary centers its narrative on the evolution of Muzak and related practices without introducing unsourced interpretation.

Historically, the documentary records that the company began as Wired Music in 1922 and was renamed Muzak in 1934, and it notes the company’s early use of background sound in elevators in the 1920s to help people overcome fear of elevators. The film documents a leadership transition after George Owen Squier’s death in 1934, with Will Benton taking over management and hiring Ben Selvin as musical director in 1935. It describes Ben Selvin’s programming approach as emphasizing catchy, easily digestible melodies at a steady tempo without dramatic crescendos or rhythmic shifts, and it follows how that approach was applied to department stores and offices. The documentary further records that these practices were used with commercial objectives such as boosting productivity in offices and influencing purchasing behavior in stores.

The ARTE documentary presents how functional music migrated from elevator installations to wider public environments such as department stores and offices. It reports that Muzak programming was adapted for these spaces as continuous, unobtrusive background tailored to situational needs. The film notes that musical directors and companies designed playlists to maintain a steady ambiance rather than to attract focused attention. The documentary documents the application of this approach across commercial and institutional settings and records these developments through archival material and interviews.

The film describes operators’ use of volume and placement to influence customer behavior, including the statement that “while browsing, the music remains subliminal, but near the cash register it suddenly gets louder.” It follows that observation with the assessment that “this choreographs people’s buying behavior.” The documentary frames these tactics within Muzak’s stated aims of boosting productivity in offices and influencing purchasing decisions in stores. The film also presents reflections that compare functional music to birdsong, sacred music, and military music, and it presents these elements within its archival and interview-based narrative.