Illustration by Justin Tran
Illustration by Justin Tran

Work Culture

Fitter, happier, more productive: The odd history of "productivity music"

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Published on January 17, 2019

There’s a cliche joke about elevator music, found in seemingly every film ever made.

Filed under
Illustration showing tree and telephony patent filed by Major General George O. Squier. Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US1549032

Illustration of tree and telephony patent filed by Major General George O. Squier. Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US1549032

They commissioned “independent” studies, concluding that Muzak gave a 9.1% boost to productivity and could reduce typing errors 38.6%

A study published in the Journal of Marketing found that slow-tempo music increased sales 38.2% compared to fast-tempo music.