AI Can Elevate In-Store Music
Elevator music may get a bad rap for being bland, but background music, when done right, is quite beneficial, enlivening retail environments and perking up the mood of customers. In-store radio or background music is important for a variety of retail and service establishments, such as coffee shops and restaurants, coworking spaces, retail outlets and malls, gyms, spas, senior living spaces and hospitals, airports, and so on. Academic research shows that in-store music makes customers spend more time in stores; makes them more likely to visit again; makes them more likely to recommend places to their friends; and increases customer loyalty.
Retail outlets license music from background music provider companies that in turn have agreements with performance rights organizations and music copyright owners. The retail company gets access to a large catalog of different genres of music and songs, and based on business type, target customers, location, and other factors, custom playlists are curated, which employees then play in their stores. For the most part, this process relies on human input. Only recently, though, a few providers have started using artificial intelligence to generate recommended playlists.
With the rise of generative AI and AI music generators, it is possible to take customization to the next level. All the elements that go into creating a music track—yrics, tunes, composition, and vocals—can be auto-generated from natural language prompts in English. You can even specify that phrases and terms, like the name of a brand or a customer, be woven into the lyrics. If previously you had to hunt for the right song for a mood or an occasion, now it can be made for you on demand. This increases the extent of customization and personalization that’s possible. You are not limited by what’s available in the catalogs; you can create your own library of music for your brand. Such customizations need not be complex. Leveraging AI tools, my MBA students were able to create an album with multiple songs for an artisanal café by mapping the brand’s positioning and characteristics and converting them into music generation prompts. This is an excellent demonstration of the business use case of AI music generators.
While there are certainly numerous possibilities for AI music, there are gray areas and legal questions about generative AI. Lawsuits against AI music companies raise legitimate questions about whether they violated copyright laws. Similar questions swirl around other areas of generative AI. For example, while some AI image generators are being similarly sued, there are also AI image generators that have been created in compliance with copyright law. We may see a similar thing happening in the AI music realm, too.
The next question for AI music generators is what happens when the generated music is very similar to existing music. Would that attract plagiarism charges? While the technology and law are evolving, there are a few guardrails and checks you can use. If song recognition technologies identify a new AI song as an existing song, that’s a red flag. The lyrics can be checked using text plagiarism detection tools. Meanwhile, new solutions are emerging that let you check both lyrics and tunes against existing music catalogs. We can expect that eventually such tools and features will become part of the AI music generation ecosystem, for use by retail stores, music providers, and copyright owners.
Beyond these issues, there are many questions about AI music quality. As my co-authors (one of whom is a Grammy-nominated music producer) and I have argued, AI has passed a Turing test for music (and keeps getting better). The adoption of a powerful technology like AI, which can upend the status quo in the creative domains, is going to be contentious. But we will soon find a new balance of man, machine, and music. AI music will have an important role in redefining the retail experience. Stay tuned.
Companies spend millions of dollars in enhancing and communicating their brand’s visual identity but too often ignore the potential of the audio medium to boost their brand appeal. That’s not a sound strategy. Retail outlets and service establishments can elevate customer experience and improve customer satisfaction by incorporating AI music and custom soundscapes into their store environments.
Kashyap Kompella, CFA, is an industry analyst, author, educator, and adviser. He is the founder of the AI advisory outfits RPA2AI Research and AI Profs and is a For Humanity Certified AI Auditor.
Related Articles
Plan for both the short term and the long term.
14 Oct 2024
The tensions and undercurrents in the wake of genAI should be better understood.
30 Aug 2024
AI-based voice apps can help in the early diagnosis of disorders such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
09 Jul 2024