He has big future plans for the newsletter. This includes adding new features for premium users, like building out a digital library, as well as creating community features, like an internet art project in which all subscribers attempt together. And if all that works, “perhaps even provide non-music things to help people focus.”
Overall, he’s hoping to avoid the danger inherent with work music—that is, as we theorized in our piece on Muzak, that the stressful nature of work can conceivably rub off on great tunes, essentially sullying them. “When good music made by inspired artists is put to use by greedy managers to increase profits, people come to hate it. And that's a tragedy,” Marcus says. “I love bossanova music and still whenever I tell someone this or I put on an Astrud Gilberto song, people instantly associate it with elevator music and dismiss it.”
“With Flow State, I hope people discover the music we recommend as art, inspired by something that someone lived through, created while searching for something.”
And we’ll all flow-t on okay...
Meanwhile, over at the Dropbox offices (👋 hey!), enter Davy Rudolph, Associate Creative Director for the Brand Team. He published his own collection of work playlists, also (and totally coincidentally) back in December. Each follows a set theme, featuring its own unique vibe. There’s Flow (“Never distracting, but never dull.”), Focus (“The perfect sound bed for paying serious attention.”), and Creative Energy (“When you need to unleash your best ideas in a brainstorm or tap into your inner artist”). Each comes with its own custom album art, from a new artist each month (the first was designed by Justin Tran).
The idea started as a way of expanding people’s notions of what an enlightened way of working could be beyond visuals. “It’s all about creating an environment for people to work,” he explains. In other words, it’s all about creating a vibe.
The songs on each playlist vary. Flow, for example, features upbeat tracks with a pronounced groove, like Octavian’s “Hands,” rAHHH’s “Dog Days,” and Chance the Rapper’s “65th & Ingleside.” It’s the sound of morning rain clouds dissipating revealing a sunny spring afternoon. It’s enough energy to push you across the finish line while working on a difficult project. “It’s definitely a little bit more lively, but subdued at the same time. It’s kind of like that perfect balance of something you can listen to and work to,” he says. Focus, meanwhile, “is very much like subdued, ethereal, atmospheric music, that’s really trying not to call too much attention to itself.”