New dimension in consumer-music relation: Muzak, İzmir Agora AVM example

Music has been accepted as a part of social life, and with its being recorded, the number of areas in which music is listened to has increased. We come across with music in every part of our daily lives; we have started to listen to music unconsciously due to the fact that it is easily reachable and that its area has expanded. Listening to music unintentionally is referred as being exposed in literature. We are exposed to music in almost every activity of our daily lives. Such that, a background music accompanies every moment. Background music has a particular importance as a sales strategy for business enterprises. The fact that the number of places in which people are exposed to music has increased has lead researchers to study on musical and non-musical environments. Using music as a background has started to become prevalent after programmed music company Muzak entered into retail industry as a marketing element in late 1990s. Muzak came out as elevator music in early 1920s and started to have its place in hotel lobbies, private clinics and hospitals in 1930s. The popularity of Muzak music increased in 1960s and 1970s. The company started to program music according to lifestyle of their clients and entered into retail industry in 2000s. In this day and age, Muzak music has started to be preferred by business operators for shopping centers, fitness centers, companies from various industriesand other public areas all around the world. In this study, it has been expected to understand the effects of Muzak music, which constantly accompanies the shopping activity as a background, on purchasing decision. The sample group of this research is İzmir Agora Shopping Center customers. The results have been deduced from interviews with participants in different days and hours, observations in the shopping center and interviews with the marketing department. Variables such as demographic characteristics of participants, volume, speed and genre of the background music and whether the music has lyrics or not have been taken into consideration.