The
Please Don’t Laugh
Next Chapter – Muzak in the ‘40s
William Benton
After only five short years in existence, Muzak had amassed a music library of over 5,000 original recordings, larger than any other music entity or record label of the time. By the late ‘30s the company’s unique means of content distribution, telephonic multiplexing, had also gained wide-spread recognition. Muzak was ripe for growth and expansion. One of the most dynamic figures of the 20th century liked what he saw and had the money to grow Muzak’s business.
Born in 1900, William Benton was an advertising prodigy and at the young age of 29 became co-founder of the New York ad agency Benton & Bowles, one of the biggest ad agencies in the US for 56 years. He moved to Connecticut in 1932 and served as vice president at the University of Chicago, then as state senator. For several decades he served on the board directors for Encyclopedia Britannica and was the main organizer behind “Voice of America.” Bill Benton was one of the country’s most respected and well known marketers, politicians, businessmen and socialites in the pre- and post-WWII years.
With an eye on communication, education, business and serving the public Bill Benton purchased Muzak in 1939. He immediately set to work on building a business that would have made founder General George Squier, who died in 1934, very, very proud.
Over the next several blogs (we’ll count after I’m finished), I plan to expose the impact this one man had on our business, our music and our country. The Muzak journey continues.
Contributed by Bruce McKagan, Muzak Archives Director
…And Now on to the ‘40s
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Industry’s First Recorded Music Program
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Little Brother Crosby Makes His Mark
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Music to My Ears
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The Elevator Music Company?
I’ve been digging through our historic archives over the past 4 years looking for any real reference to elevators. Sure, we’ve all learned about music’s role in soothing the nerves of those early elevator riders in the 1920s and ‘30s. But I have not found any internal documentation that links Muzak with providing that service in our initial days. Not that we didn’t, I just couldn’t find any evidence. I’ve located all kinds of information about our early efforts in building business in the fields of hospitality, restaurants, the workplace and factories, but no specific evidence tying us to the elevator business. I’ve looked through 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s marketing material, board of director’s books, memos, you name it, but I have found nothing. Sure, people have written about it for years, but the evidence in our archives just isn’t there.
So why does everybody know Muzak as the company that delivers “elevator music?”
What I do know is that by the mid-1950s Muzak began to move away from recording popular artists laying down their own music. Instead we started recording studio musicians and orchestras playing Muzak arrangements of pop songs and standards played in an easy listening style. Mood music was extremely popular in the ‘50s and our research clearly demonstrated that soothing instrumentals, programmed in a certain fashion, would improve productivity and decrease absenteeism in the workplace. Over the next 3 decades our music staff dedicated themselves to the production of various styles of mood music. This soon became known to the public as “elevator music.” Whether heard in the workplace, a restaurant, at a hotel or in the elevator, the description became universal. Regardless if Muzak had produced it or not, by the mid-‘60s all mood music was “Muzak” and Muzak was the “elevator music” company.
It’s been almost 30 years since we last recorded instrumental music. Since then we’ve licensed a vast library of almost 3 million tracks from all the music industry’s top major and indie artists. Muzak creates over 400 music programs for over 250,000 business locations, featuring every genre of music known to man. It’s been 30 years since you’ve heard “The Girl from Ipanema” by the Muzak Orchestra playing at your local restaurant.
But the elevator lives on … and so does Muzak. Over the last 24 hours alone there were over 2,000 mentions of Muzak in the media, with 1,500 of those referring to “elevator music”. Someone once said that there is no such thing as bad press.
So, how about one of those campy 1950s treasures right now? This baby hasn’t been heard in over 30 years.
14th floor please!
Contributed by Bruce McKagan, Muzak Archives Director
More Dorsey Studio Time
Ol’ Man River
