Today NY Post looks into one of my favorite pasttimes: investigating the music that’s played in retail stores.
More retailers are playing original mixes in their stores that are tailored by expert tastemakers to represent the brand’s individual style. The practice is called “audio branding,” and for many of today’s most popular stores – including H&M, Nike and Abercrombie & Fitch – the company behind it is DMX.Leanne Flask, VP of Audio Content at DMX, credits the talent of her staffers. “I always talk about identifying a musical DNA,” Flask says. “A lot of our programmers can actually see something and hear what it sounds like. It’s something special that not everyone has.”
Here’s some playlists currently in rotation:
NIKE STORE
Jurassic 5 featuring Dave Matthews Band – “Work It Out”
The Teddybears – “Cobrastyle”
Fatboy Slim – “That Old Pair of Jeans”
Madonna – “Get Together”
Gnarls Barkley – “Gone Daddy Gone”
H&M
Jamie Lidell – “When I Come Back Around”
Mylo featuring Freeform Five – “Muscle Car”
Maximo Park – “I Want To Stay”
Roisin Murphy – “If We’re In Love”
Anthony Hamilton – “Sista Big Bones”
Abercrombie & Fitch
Jewel – “Only One Too” (Lenny B. Club Edit)
LeAnn Rimes – “And It Feels Like” (Friday Night Posse Remix Edit)
Gnarls Barkley – “Crazy” (Richard Vission Remix Edit)
Bananrama – “Look On The Floor” (Hypnotic Tango) (Solasso Remix Edit)
Kathy Phillips – “When You Say Nothing At All” (Radio Mix)
That’s what they play at Abercrombie?
Tell us if you heard anything good, weird, or brand-inappropriate on your last shopping spree. Or if you can see a sweater and hear what it sounds like, tell us how that works, and whether you use your powers for good or evil.
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I couple of years ago, I heard Paranoid Android at the Penn Station K-Mart
I’ve walked past Abercrombie both times I’ve gone to the mall in the past year, and each time I’ve taken note of the ridiculously loud club music pumping out of the place. Reminded me of walking past Rage in West Hollywood.
The Safeway near my house uses a music station with a disproportionate amount of Disney music on it. I think every third song is from a Disney movie. The rest of the music seems to be classic rock, so the playlist will be something like: Skynyrd, Journey, The Little Mermaid. It’s disconcerting.
I remeber hearing Spoon in The Guess store located in my local mall. That made me happy, I started singing.
I go to concerts a few times a week and stand up front near the speakers. No problem. But the music in the A&F store in Manhattan was so deafeningly loud that I had to leave.
i’ve heard
the boy least likely to at gap (be gentle with me does not make me want to buy jeans)
hard fi at forever 21 (don’t ask)
the20goto10 at express men.
True Story: I was in a CVS once and heard “Quinn the Eskimo” by Bob Dylan. A nice surprise to hear in a CVS, especially considering it’s not even one of his more popular songs. I also happened to be wearing a Dylan tee shirt that day. Then I’m standing in line at the rx counter (while the song is playing) and they call the guy’s name in front of me and his last name is Zimmerman! It really freaked me out for about 10 minutes.
lcd soundsystem at aandf, that pissed me off
Will someone please tell me how I can become an “expert tastemaker”?
lcd soundsystem at aandf, that pissed me off bloc party at the gap, that was cool.
When I was recently in a Target (in Tucson, Arizona) there was no music being played. An amazing, and enjoyable, shopping experience! People actually seemed capable of shopping without tolerating piped-in music.
Flaming Lips at the Gap (multiple times, the same song, different Gaps, different visits…), and the Yeah Yeah Yeah song, no less. I nearly died.
Jimmy Eat World at a passing Abercrombie, and that made me want to cry.
Metric at Forever 21.
Weirdest one yet: Belle & Sebastian in a London punk clothing inspired boutique in China, while on the big screen the band that’s playing is most definitely not B&S.
Download DJ Riko’s “Music To Buy Furniture By” mix from his website. He made it for a friend who worked in a furniture store so she would have something interesting to listen to while she worked. It is a sweet mix.
DJ Riko
Music To Buy Furniture By
1. Backini – Pyramid
2. Handsomeboy Technique – Adelie Coast Waltz
3. Bostich – Tengo La Voz
4. Nouvelle Vague – Just Can?t Get Enough
5. Dr. Rubberfunk – Hundred and One Keys
6. Cut Copy – Future
7. The Shortwave Set – Is It Any Wonder
8. The Avalanches – Etoh
9. Ulrich Schnauss – Knuddelmaus
10. Lemon Jelly – Ramblin Man
11. Aim – Cold Water Music
12. My Bloody Valentine – Sometimes
13. Rolled Oats – Oats
14. The Futureheads – Danger of the Water
15. The Shortwave Set – Slingshot
16. amillionsons – Misti Blu (Breezeblock Mix)
Cold War Kids are already playing in Urban Outfitters. They must read blogs.
The Gap kept playing The Smiths last spring, which was weird because they were doing a big promotion on color, and I kept thinking the line “black is what I wear on the outside ‘cuz black is what I feel on the inside”.
I worked at Bath and Body Works over the holidays, and they had a Hilary Duff song on their Christmas soundtrack. It was miserable.
i was in mike’s bikes in SF and i swear i heard a musak version of ‘Faith No More – The Real Thing’ — wtf is that?
The Gap kept playing The Smiths last spring, which was weird because they were doing a big promotion on color, and I kept thinking the line “black is what I wear on the outside ‘cuz black is what I feel on the inside”.
I worked at Bath and Body Works over the holidays, and they had a Hilary Duff song on their Christmas soundtrack. It was miserable.
Topshop (UK) regularly plays:
dungen
midlake
bright eyes
sigur ros
pretty girls make graves
the concretes
plus other random obscure stuff that i have forgotten now but went a bit crazy over at the time…
Wilco at Ralph’s Supermarket. It was in Silver lake -LA, so perhaps they have a special selection for the neighborhood.
Believe it or not there are some ‘cool kids’ that work at the above mentioned specialty retailers and yes we do read blogs.
i love how everyone who tells of having heard such and such song at abercrombie claims to have just been passing by.
Wilco at Ralph’s Supermarket. It was in Silver lake -LA, so perhaps they have a special selection for the neighborhood.
a few months ago i heard both arcade fire and wolf parade in gap.
This one time when I was standing outside of an American Eagle, enjoying an Orange Julius and definitely NOT going inside to browse clothing, I overheard The National.
The VU’s Loaded at American Eagle. If it didn’t hurt my hipster cred enough to just be in there, hearing the Velvets was just disheartening.
The Replacements – Bastards of the Young at the GAP 2 weeks ago.
Of Montreal at American eagle.
Neil Finn at Stop and Shop grocery
The VU’s Loaded at American Eagle.
I know they were just trying to show some cred, but it struck me as a little off having a store that peddles cliquey high school type clothing doing so by using smack-influenced NY art rock…
The Replacements – Bastards of the Young at the GAP 2 weeks ago.
Of Montreal at American eagle.
Neil Finn at Stop and Shop grocery
I go to Abercrombie and Fitch a few times a week and stand up front near the polos. No problem. But the music in the concert venue in Manhattan was so deafeningly loud that I had to leave.
I was just passing by.
We play a Wilco mix I made at the movie theatre I work at.
okay.. all of these stores suck. so where is one supposed to shop??
Dance Dance by fallout boy at a funeral home.
just kidding.
Dance Dance by fallout boy at a funeral home.
just kidding.
Wolf Parade music/video at American Eagle this past weekend…pleasant for shopping and waiting with my 11 and 15 YO daughters.
They had no idea who they were, but I was happy.
Abercrombie’s music totally did a 180. When I was in highschool (8 yrs ago), they played indie/alt college rock.
Now its crazy clubbanngazzsss…LONG ISLAND STYLE!
Abercrombie’s music totally did a 180. When I was in highschool (8 yrs ago), they played indie/alt college rock.
Now its crazy clubbanngazzsss…LONG ISLAND STYLE!
Abercrombie’s music totally did a 180. When I was in highschool (8 yrs ago), they played indie/alt college rock.
Now its crazy clubbanngazzsss…LONG ISLAND STYLE!
After working for a sumemr at the sports authority i can no longer listen to “message in a bottle” by The Police. It also made me viciously hate Melancamp’s cover of “wild nights” which i didnt even care for the first time. Hearing both of htem every 90 minutes for an entiere summer, was enought to drive me crazy, and those were the best songs on teh mix
After working for a sumemr at the sports authority i can no longer listen to “message in a bottle” by The Police. It also made me viciously hate Melancamp’s cover of “wild nights” which i didnt even care for the first time. Hearing both of htem every 90 minutes for an entiere summer, was enought to drive me crazy, and those were the best songs on teh mix
i was in a taco bell not too long ago and they played “every time you touch me” by moby….that kinda blew my mind.
These comments must set some sort of Stereogum record for double-posting.
They were playing cuts by Air at the Apple Store in the Grove in LA
Abercrombie’s music totally did a 180. When I was in highschool (8 yrs ago), they played indie/alt college rock.
Now its crazy clubbanngazzsss…LONG ISLAND STYLE!
I think its funny that ppl keep complaining about how loud AF music is …they do that on purpose “turn off” older folks.
YA’LL ARE THE OLD GEEZERS!
Abercrombie’s music totally did a 180. When I was in highschool (8 yrs ago), they played indie/alt college rock.
Now its crazy clubbanngazzsss…LONG ISLAND STYLE!
I think its funny that ppl keep complaining about how loud AF music is …they do that on purpose “turn off” older folks.
YA’LL ARE THE OLD GEEZERS!
I heard Spoon ‘stay dont go’ last time I was in H&M
These comments must set some sort of Stereogum record for double-posting.
I heard The Beach Boys’ Surf’s Up (Muzak version) in Zellers and the local supermarkets. And for anyone who hasn’t heard it, it’s not a surfing song. Anything but.
Weird.
heh heh. i like how peeps “overhear” music by claiming they “walked by” abercrombie…i don’t like malls much, personally, but either we are all ashamed to admit we have gone in the store or they crank up the tunages way too loud. Probably both!
heh heh. i like how peeps “overhear” music by claiming they “walked by” abercrombie…i don’t like malls much, personally, but either we are all ashamed to admit we have gone in the store or they crank up the tunages way too loud. Probably both!
Rilo Kiley at American Eagle.
It’s not uncommon to hear indie rock at ‘hip’ clothing stores these days, but what gets me is when I hear songs I like at supermarkets. Like, I’ve heard World Party, Roxy Music, Ben Folds, etc. And it makes me wonder if muzak is getting better or I’m just getting old.
My sister heard “Saint Simon” by the Shins at AEO and promptly called me since it’s one of my favs and she wanted to rub in just how far the song had fallen.
Scott, have you gotten used to hearing Death Cab everywhere? I heard “Crooked Teeth” in Nordstrom and it was just weird. In the shoe section too, not BP.
Also, once I went to Tasty Delite and heard “Blues are Still Blue” by Belle & Sebastian playing. Not so strange when I checked with the guy behind the counter and it was his tunes playing.
“These comments must set some sort of Stereogum record for double-posting.”
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That’s because the browser hangs during heavy user traffic and people get frustrated and hit post more than once
These comments must set some sort of Stereogum record for double-posting.
I heard PJ Harvey’s “The Whores Hustle and the Hustlers Whore” in American Eagle once. I thought it was kind of an odd choice, though I love the song, and it was certainly amusing when the high-pitched part came in and startled some of the shoppers.
One bag-boy to another, overheard at a supermarket while Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground” was playing: “Dude, check out this lame elevator version of the Chili Peppers!”
Nicest surprise lately: Long Winters’ “Cinnamon” at Cold Stone Creamery.
I heard the sound of my life wasting away at stereogum.com.
Being a soon-to-be-former Express employee, I’ll tell you that their mix is pretty identical to the Nike Store mix (if not completely similar). funny when you think that clothing stores try to pride themselves on a singular brand of “cool” that only they can provide.
i remember (mixed in with mind-numbing techno) hearing Phoenix’s “Long Distance Call”, Gnarls, “Dani California” and a remix of “Woman” by Wolfmother that I think wins as worst song (or remix of a song) EVER. As if I didn’t dislike Wolfmother enough already…
the store I manage uses DMX and what they like to call “urban alternative”. it has a mixture of songs you would never hear anywhere else but on that system and some new “tunes” the kids these days might like. and then,randomly,is buddy holly by weezer and i wish by skee-lo. you know you know it.
and as for the abercrombie comments- the store at roosevelt field on long island as well as the one in americana shopping center play their music at ear-bleed levels. i don’t need to go in and my bowels shake. real pleasant.
I love this thread.
no, literally.
2 fave retail aural experiences:
1. Hearing Van Morrison’s “Once in a Blue Moon” when it was recent, a couple years ago in the way-overpriced convenience store (Byrne Dairy/Mobil station) near my old house. I brought my doughnuts home and downloaded the song off Limewire immediately and put it on every mix I made for girls for months afterwards.
2. Hearing Muzak versions of Marshall Crenshaw’s “Someday Somewhay” in a big grocery store and “Mary Ann”– in a Coconuts, of all places.
I told Marshall about it some time later, during an interview. He said he didn’t mind, he liked the idea of people just showing up to work and playing music.
I heard Broken Social Scene in Old Navy once. My face promptly exploded.
I work at J Crew and our Muzak fucking sucks. A bunch of Madonna and Talking Heads, plus the Garden State soundtrack. Thievery Corp stops being cool the fourth time in a day, sadly. Random Death Cab, too. God, terrible.
In the gap I heard death Cab, and the long winters.
Depeche Mode in a supermarket in NW Spain. Seriously.
I was at Chili’s late last year and heard Bright Eyes’ “First Day Of My Life”. That was just weird. A couple of weeks later I heard “Mushaboom” by Feist.
The Sounds is on rotation at Guess.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs at Urban Outfitters. Employees were staring at me when I sang the “ooh ooh” part of “Gold Lion.”
Some crap “techno”/trance song about “everybody around the world, scream with me now!” in Wet Seal. And Abercrombie & Fitch plays garbage that is always entirely too loud. I don’t even go in that store and I can hear it moving the floor…ugh.
And Belle and Sebastian at Hot Topic…I’m not even kidding.
Bloc Party (I don’t even think it was from “Silent Alarm”) and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah at The Gap earlier this year.
I heard Guster’s “One Man Wrecking Machine” in the lobby of the Hotel Hesperia in Getafe, Spain, when I was checking in yesterday.
At 2 AM in a Burger King in Harrisonburg, VA I heard Star’s cover of “This Charming Man”
a lot of gap shoppers then?
I heard the futureheads in BABY gap. I guess nothing accompanies picking up a sweater for your 18 month old like a cheap gang of four rip-off.
When I was in Germany, I heard David Hasselhoff in a a store. Not even joking.
At Urban Outfitters we just get sent a stack of newly released albums every week, which get added to our list of CDs. Every morning the employees pick which CDs they want to listen to for the day. No real science to it.
The Knife at Forever 21!
Air’s “Femme de l’argent” is always playing in the Target electronics section. (I don’t think it’s exclusive to Golden, Colorado, but that’s where I usually hear it.)
I also heard “Lips Like Sugar” by Echo and the Bunnymen at the Broomfield, CO Gap.
I don’t think anything can beat the smiths in the sanrio store for me.
“All Cats Are Grey” by The Cure at Starbucks.
last week i heard the pipettes and maximo park in forever 21. weeeiiiirrrrrrd.
They play gooood music at the Limited, American Eagle and Banana Republic.
i don’t understand everyone’s suprise over the good music at American Eagle. they play good music there!
what’s weird is that i heard Death Cab’s “Sound of Settling” at Loblaws (a Canadian grocery store).
Music DNA? that’s absurd! It sounds like they’re trying to toot their own horn JUST a bit too much! When stores play music and choose a music provider, they’re basically asking someone else to deal with the hassles of licensing. It’s no more than that. There’s no strategy to H&M’s music or Abercrombie’s music. It’s just whatever they’ve got that’s new and can be licensed by the majors. It’s really that simple.
Does any one know the majorty of music they play at express for men, I think its most alt. rock and Indie