Background music refers to a mode of musical performance in which the music is not intended to be a primary focus of potential listeners, but its content, character, and volume level are deliberately chosen to affect behavioral and emotional responses in humans such a concentration, relaxation, distraction, and excitement. Listeners are uniquely subject to background music with no control over its volume and content. The range of responses created are of great variety, and even opposite, depending on numerous factors such as, setting, culture, audience, and even time of day. Background music is commonly played where there is no audience at all, such as empty hallways and restrooms and fitting rooms. It is also used in artificial space, such as music played while on hold during a telephone call, and virtual space, as in the ambient sounds or thematic music in massively multiplayer online role-playing games. It is typically played at low volumes from multiple small speakers distributing the music across broad public spaces. The widespread use of background music in offices, restaurants, and stores began with the founding of Muzak in the s and was characterized by repetition and simple musical arrangements. Its use has grown worldwide and today incorporates the findings of psychological research relating to consumer behavior in retail environments , employee productivity , and workplace satisfaction.
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Send us feedback. See More First Known Use of background music , in the meaning defined above Keep scrolling for more Learn More about background music Share background music Post the Definition of background music to Facebook Share the Definition of background music on Twitter Time Traveler for background music. See more words from the same year Dictionary Entries near background music back gray background backgrounder background music background noise background projection background radiation. Accessed 6 Nov. Keep scrolling for more More Definitions for background music background music. Please tell us where you read or heard it including the quote, if possible. Test Your Vocabulary Where in the World? A Quiz What language does pajama come from?
Any music played in a public space whose main function is to create an atmosphere suitable to a specific occasion, rather than to be listened to. Any music in a film, video game or other medium that establishes mood and is not meant to have the audience's focus. The album was originally released on June 12, through Equal Vision Records under the name American Nightmare, but was later reissued in under the name Give Up the Ghost after another band named American Nightmare filed a cease and desist order. Background Music was also reissued in through Deathwish Inc. The numerical value of background music in Chaldean Numerology is: 7. The numerical value of background music in Pythagorean Numerology is: 8. The background music industry is still quite a thing, music is such an integral part of the store experience.
