deepstash
Beta
Inside the booming business of background music
Muzak and background music
Muzak, a brand of background music, set the template for background music. It played in retail stores and other commercial premises and sold itself on the basis that it could increase productivity in workplaces.
Muzak's template for background music persisted for decades. The music was a balm to ease awkward silences and to encourage and brighten the mood.
76 SAVES
101 READS
SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
2
Key Ideas
Western pop music
A research team looked at more than 17,000 songs from the US Billboard Hot 100 and found three music revolutions - in 1964, 1983, and 1991.
The researchers looked at the di...
Stylistic revolutions
- In the 1960s, the radical new rocky sound emerged from the Beatles to the Rolling Stones.
- The minor seventh chords were introduced through funk, soul, and disco in the 1970s.
- In the 1980s, there was a blip where the introduction of arena rock meant that music lacked diversity.
- New technology, synthesizers, samplers, and drum machines marked the second major style shift in 1983.
- In 1991, rap and hip-hop went mainstream. This revolution doesn't use a lot of harmonies. Emphasis is on speech sounds and rhythm.
5
Key Ideas
Rising Noise Around Us
- Cities have a noise pollution problem, which is largely unaddressed.
- Noise complaints regarding the high decibel levels of traffic, airplanes, and even helicopters are getting more fre...
Effect Of Noise on Children
- According to the United Nations, about two-thirds of the world's population will be living in cities by the next 30 years.
- The World Health Organization recommends classrooms to be not louder than 35 decibels, which is never the case in big cities.
- Children are facing disruption in their learning, and research points out that those who study in a noisy place are 11 months behind the ones who are studying in quieter places in the same vicinity.
Living In Noise
Most of the city planning is done so that the affluent neighborhoods are in quieter areas.
However, this is also nullified when the ultra-rich who travel frequently stay close to the transit hubs (like Airports), being exposed to high decibels of noise.
7
Key Ideas
K-Pop
It’s hard not to like K-Pop(Pop music from South Korea), with its infectious tunes, doll-like stars, high-production values and great dance moves. In the last few decades, South Korean culture has ...
Origins
The Original K-Pop Stars, The Kim Sisters, were a hit in the U.S. back in 1959.
In the mid-90s, Seo Taiji & Boys became the first ‘modern K-Pop’ stars. K-Dramas or Korean soaps also started gaining traction in Asia and beyond. The South Korean government started exporting popular media culture as an economic initiative, making it a major source of foreign revenue.
EXO BTS and Psy
K-pop has slowly taken over the globe with slick production, military-level discipline and years of training for the promoted pop stars. Boy bands like EXO, which debuted in 2011, were dizzyingly successful due to state-level backing and control.
Psy’s record ‘Gangnam Style’ became an international craze, garnering 3.5 billion Youtube views and praise from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Boy-band BTS became best-selling artists worldwide, earning USD 4.65 billion in 2019 for their country.