The Behavioural Impact of Music in Commercial Spaces

In physical hospitality and retail spaces, music is often treated as a finishing touch. Something pleasant, but really, something that fades into the background. An afterthought, if you will. 

But is there more to it? We interviewed James Picken, our Creative Director at Startle, on how the blend of science and music can really shape the commercial spaces we all use and love. James explains why music deserves strategic attention and how carefully curated audio can quietly but efficiently shape behaviour, perception, and brand legacy.

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Key takeaways.

• Music is not background noise. When designed intentionally, it subtly shapes how customers feel, move, stay, and spend in a space.
• Behavioural impact beats personal taste. Tempo, genre, and familiarity have consistent, research-backed effects on dwell time, decision-making, and perception.
• The wrong energy can hurt performance. High-tempo music in already busy environments often increases stress and shortens visits, while calmer soundscapes encourage longer stays and higher spend.
• Staff experience matters as much as customer experience. Thoughtfully curated music can reduce fatigue, improve wellbeing, and positively influence morale and retention.
• Human curation still outperforms algorithms. Cultural relevance, brand context, and local nuance remain critical factors AI alone cannot fully capture.
• Small changes can deliver measurable results. Research shows that simply changing music genre can drive statistically significant increases in revenue and staff satisfaction.

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Q: For those unfamiliar with your role, how do you explain what you do and how it supports hospitality and retail brands?

At its core, my role is about helping brands understand how sound shapes experience. I oversee the creative direction of our music strategy, which means working closely with our curators, researchers, and clients to design audio environments that actually support what a business is trying to achieve.

That might involve defining a brand’s sonic identity, rethinking how music changes throughout the day, or helping a multi-site business create consistency without losing character. A big part of the work is translating research and behavioural insight into something practical and usable, so clients are not just relying on instinct or personal taste.

Ultimately, the goal is to help our customers create spaces that feel intentional. Places where the atmosphere supports their brand, their teams, and their commercial objectives, even if customers are not consciously aware of why it feels right.

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Q: Hospitality and retail brands are under real pressure right now, from rising costs and staffing challenges to shrinking footfall. Where does music realistically fit into those problems?

Most brands are dealing with the same core pressures: fewer people coming through the door, tighter margins, and teams that are harder to recruit and retain. In that context, music can feel like a “nice to have” rather than a priority.

But what we often see is that music directly touches those pressure points in subtle ways.

From a customer perspective, it influences how long people stay, how comfortable they feel, and whether they want to return. When footfall is harder to win, experience matters more than ever. Atmosphere becomes a differentiator, not an extra.

From a staffing perspective, music plays a role in wellbeing. Staff spend hours immersed in the soundscape of a space. If it’s stressful, repetitive, or poorly suited, it contributes to fatigue and frustration. If it’s thoughtfully curated, it can genuinely improve how people feel at work.

And from a cost perspective, the reality is that music is one of the few levers brands can pull that does not require major capital investment. You are not rebuilding a store or redesigning a menu. You are optimising something that is already there, and often seeing benefits across customer experience, spend, and morale.

So while music will not fix every structural challenge, it is one of the most efficient ways to improve how a space performs without adding operational complexity.

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Q: Music is everywhere in hospitality and retail spaces. Why do you think it’s still so underestimated?

Because when it’s done well, you don’t notice it. Music that’s working properly just becomes part of the atmosphere. It supports the space rather than demanding attention.

The problem is that this invisibility often leads people to think it doesn’t really matter. But when the music is wrong, everyone notices. People feel uncomfortable, rushed, overstimulated, or disconnected, even if they can’t quite explain why.

Music has a huge subconscious impact. It’s influencing how long people stay, how they move through a space, how they feel, and how they perceive the brand. Just because it’s subtle doesn’t mean it’s insignificant.

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Q: Many brands assume background music is simply about playing “nice songs.” Why is that an oversimplification?

Commercial spaces are dynamic environments. Energy levels change hour by hour. A busy lunchtime crowd behaves very differently from a quiet mid-morning shopper or an evening restaurant guest.

Music needs to respond to those shifts. It’s not just about taste, it’s about intent. What are you trying to achieve at that moment? Encourage dwell time? Reduce stress? Support purchasing decisions? Reinforce brand identity?

There’s also a huge amount of research showing that specific musical characteristics reliably influence behaviour. Tempo, genre, rhythm, and familiarity all play a role. So while music is subjective in personal settings, its effects in shared commercial environments are surprisingly consistent.

The real work is translating that research into something practical, brand-aligned, and scalable.

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Q: One common belief is that high-energy music creates a better atmosphere. Is that actually true?

It’s probably the biggest misconception we come across.

High-energy, high-tempo music doesn’t necessarily create positive energy. In already stimulating environments (full of people, visuals, movement, and noise) it can actually increase anxiety and chaos.

From a behavioural perspective, this often leads to rushed decisions, abandoned purchases, and shorter visits. Lower-tempo music tends to calm people down, slow decision-making, and encourage them to stay longer. Those factors are strongly linked to higher spend and a better overall experience.

It feels counterintuitive, but in many hospitality and retail settings, less really is more.

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Q: With AI and algorithmic playlists becoming more sophisticated, why does human curation still matter?

Algorithms are very good at grouping similar tracks based on measurable data points – tempo, genre, instrumentation, and so on.

What they struggle with is cultural relevance.

Music is a form of human communication. It carries meaning, memory, and context. What feels relevant today might not feel relevant in six months. What resonates in one city might fall flat in another. These shifts are shaped by lived experience, not metadata.

AI can help generate a pool of suitable tracks, but understanding why a song works for a specific brand, place, and moment still requires human judgement. That cultural sensitivity is critical for brands that care about how they’re perceived.

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Q: Startle has conducted research showing a direct link between music and revenue. Can you share an example?

One of the most interesting projects we worked on was with DEBRA, a UK charity retailer. Initially, they came to us for consistency. Different stores were playing very different music, and not all of it aligned with the brand.

As our relationship developed, we partnered with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland to explore whether genre alone could influence sales and staff experience. Over 21 days, we rotated pop, jazz, and classical music across stores, controlling for variables like day of the week.

Jazz significantly outperformed the other genres in terms of sales, with statistically significant results. What surprised people even more was the staff response. They reported feeling calmer, happier, and more positive at work during the jazz periods.

For a sector with limited budgets, that’s a powerful insight. A relatively simple change had a measurable impact on revenue and wellbeing.

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Q: What does that tell us about the wider role of music in physical spaces?

It shows that music isn’t just about customers. It affects staff just as much.

Staff spend far more time in these environments than customers do, and music plays a big role in how they feel throughout the day. If the soundscape is stressful or mismatched, that frustration doesn’t get directed at the music, it gets directed at the employer.

When music supports wellbeing, it feeds into morale, productivity, and ultimately helps lessen staff churn. 

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Q: If there’s one takeaway for hospitality and retail leaders, what would it be?

Move beyond the idea of “nice background music”.

Sound is a strategic asset. When it’s designed with intention (grounded in research, cultural understanding, and brand identity) it quietly supports commercial goals, staff wellbeing, and long-term perception.

The best music strategies don’t draw attention to themselves. They simply make people feel better being there. And in hospitality and retail, that feeling is everything.