Muzak

The history of the term Muzak dates back to the 1920s, when American inventor George Owen Squier received several patents for transmitting audio signals over electrical wires. Radio technology was just beginning to develop and was not yet widespread, so wired audio transmission was a successful competitor. Squier founded Wired Radio Inc., which offered background music playback at home over the electrical network. Customers paid the bill along with their electricity bill, and the service enjoyed some popularity in the United States until the early 1930s, when radio became widespread.

In 1934, the entrepreneur began working with commercial clients, among whom the technology remained in demand. Background music began playing in doctors' offices, barbershops, and electric elevators. The businessman was very taken with the idea of ​​the fictitious word Kodak, which eventually became a recognizable trademark, and thus the new word Muzak was born. In 1937, the company came under the control of Warner Brothers.

By the early 1950s, greater attention was paid to repertoire — the program was now compiled in 15-minute blocks, with an emphasis on increasing productivity during work hours. This even led to lawsuits, with the company accused of mind control and brainwashing. By the 1960s, Muzak background music was already playing in the West Wing of the White House in the United States and even in Earth orbit, accompanying NASA astronauts during rest periods during space missions.

Competition in the music market was intensifying, and the company attempted to offer a new business model that included both its own artists and a wider genre diversity. However, the label of "elevator music" had already firmly established itself for Muzak, and the company was experiencing difficult times. In 1986, American rock musician Ted Nugent declared that Muzak embodied everything bad in music and expressed a desire to donate $10 million to acquire the company and shut it down permanently. The offer, however, was rejected by management.

Despite attempts at rebranding and introducing new channels to deliver content to listeners, by 2009 the company was forced to file for bankruptcy and underwent restructuring. The management of Mood Media, which assumed control of Muzak, announced that it would no longer use the name.

Muzak's repertoire consisted of instrumental orchestral arrangements of popular tunes performed in a contemporary style. The rotation was carefully curated to ensure that the background music would be acceptable to any listener and evoke a uniformly low negative reaction across audiences. Although Muzak didn't offer listeners anything new in terms of genre uniqueness, its name has forever entered musical history as a collective name for background, unobtrusive, and relaxing music, close to easy listening and lounge.