THE 'BACKGROUND MUSIC' MYTH
By Nathan Green
Background. Music. Provider.
String the above three words together and it makes me cringe every time I hear or see it.
I’ve worked my entire adult life in the music industry, the last 12 years with New Level Radio. During that time, we’ve helped numerous clients from an array of different industries create unique, living, breathing radio networks for their business. These targeted music and messaging programs have proven to trigger tangible results. So much so that our client retention rate is above 90%.
Yet, when I tell people about New Level Radio, or when I meet with a prospective client, I’m often asked, “What’s the difference between you and a background music provider?”
In all honesty, it’s a fair question. The growth and popularity of online streaming services has been astronomical in recent years and if a business owners think they can get away with firing up their own playlist instead of using a service like New Level Radio, I don’t blame them.
But every time I’m asked, I take a deep breath, walk it back, and explain that while basic “background music” strategy will be cheaper and more simple, it will have zero impact on their customer flow and guest satisfaction. That’s right. Zero.
And in the long run, it will cost those businesses money, not save them money.
So, to break it down even further, here are just five of the many advantages that a program carefully crafted by New Level Radio will have over a background music provider.
1. Hit the bullseye!
One of the greatest advantages of a well-thought-out music and messaging strategy is that we take the impersonal and generic medium of “background music” and make it a client-driven relationship.
In other words, we take aim at your targeted demographic and nail it!
By working with our clients closely and crunching the numbers, New Level Radio discovers what the core demographic is at your business and then we make sure that our programming speaks directly to them.
The idea is to make music a part of the whole experience. When you walk into the casino, you immediately smell, taste and hear something. The audio is a huge part of that. If they’re playing Metallica and Slayer at a time when a bunch of Baby Boomers are at the bar or playing the slots, it’s not going to work. In fact, it will more likely be such a turnoff that they will eventually get up and leave.
2. Industry experts
I’m not the only New Level Radio employee that lives, eats and breathes music.
Our talented staff has more than 100 years of experience in music production, marketing, promotion, on-air radio, programming, and many other fields that ensure each business we work with the best possible music/messaging/video environment as possible.
You can be sure that we’re not just throwing 500 songs against the wall to see what sticks. Yes, there may be other companies out there that have similar tech expertise, but our experience in the music industry is unparalleled.
3. Constantly evolving
With our on-going consulting and personal attention, each program is constantly evolving and changing. We know the intricacies of each property and all of our clients have direct contact with a real person from our company.
Casinos, in particular, see their clientele change on a daily and sometimes hourly basis and every section of the property can be completely different in terms of the environment you want to create.
For example, one of our New Level Radio clients is MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas, which has an enormous footprint. For a property of this size, we create more than 20 zones throughout, with specific music and messaging tailored to the kind of customer that comes in at different times of the day. Think about, the music being played at Morimoto, the fabulous Japanese restaurant at MGM, should not be the same as what people are hearing at the craps table. A specially crafted music and messaging program guarantees that will never be the case.
4. You’re not breaking the law
As we pointed out in a recent blog article , the global music industry loses out on more than $2.5 billion per year because small businesses misuse personal music streaming services, according to a study by Nielsen Music from October 2018 .
That’s right, under existing copyright laws in many countries, places of business require a license to stream music. Yet, only 17% of surveyed businesses have those licenses and a 71% of U.S. small business owners surveyed believe that having a personal music account gives them the right to use it for on-property background music.
So, instead of wearing out that personal playlist you mashed together for your business and risk being on the wrong side of the law, entice your customers to stay longer and spend more by hitting them with timely and targeted music and messaging.
5. Seamless messaging
While every property is different, typically our programming features some sort of promotion or messaging after every four to eight songs, or about every 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the type of business.
The messaging is always professionally done and seamless, as opposed to those annoying announcements we’ve all heard at a casino where someone with a loud voice with scratchy audio suddenly cuts into a song and announces a huge jackpot winner or the Happy Hour specials.
Talk about driving customers away from your property!
Also vital to your messaging is being strategic about the content. If your property is hosting a Brad Paisley concert next week, our programming will ramp up the amount of country music being played as the date draws closer as well as announce tickets sales and specials.
Here’s the bottom line: Obviously, you can’t please all people, all of the time. But when you utilize a carefully calculated and well-researched music and messaging program you will not only reach your core demographic, but you will capture them, engage them, enhance their experience and entice them to remain at your property property longer.
Needless to say, those other services will never, ever be able to accomplish any of the above.
