Essays & research notes.
Essays on music, creativity, and what AI is doing to both. Plus research notes on how sound moves behavior on a retail floor, where I prove it.
On music, creativity & the machine
Every room is already scored
Sound is the input in a space that moves people the most and gets chosen the least. Retail keeps the receipt. The mechanism runs everywhere, and it is about to get designed.
EssayYour worth was never the work
The threat creators feel from AI is real, and pointed at the wrong thing. On separating who you are from your facility with a language.
EssaySoul is an artifact, not a substance
An AI wrote a song that made me cry. What that says about "soul," and about how good we assumed we were.
EssayCatch the good accident
Most originality, in people and in machines, is an accident someone paid enough attention to keep. Cobain, chance, and taste as the real skill.
EssayThe fool's errand
The grievance against generative AI is real and mostly correct. The conclusion people draw from it is the part that fails.
How music moves customer behavior
How does music affect customer behavior in retail?
The umbrella view: how sound moves pace, product choice, emotion, brand perception, and dwell time, all at once.
Research noteDoes music actually affect retail sales, or is it a myth?
Yes, but conditional. A 38 percent supermarket effect, a 140-store null result, and the honest reconciliation.
Research noteDoes background music really increase revenue?
The effect sizes: about 15 percent more per check from volume, 40 percent more at the bar, $4,600 a day in a supermarket.
Research noteCan music actually make customers spend more?
One cheap audio change raised daily sales 38 percent, and no shopper noticed. What lifts spend, and what doesn't.
Research noteWhat music should I actually play in my store?
The research answer isn't a genre. It's fit: music customers like, that suits the brand, matched to the moment.
Research noteWhat's the right music tempo for a retail store?
Slow versus fast, and why the largest study ever run found no overall effect. It depends on key, crowding, and customer.
Research noteDoes slow music really make people shop longer?
The most repeated claim in retail audio, where it comes from, and the conditions the slogan skips.
Research noteWhen does fast music help a store, and when does it backfire?
Fast music has one job it does well. Crowded store, fast tempo. Empty store, it rushes people toward the door.
Research noteWhat is dwell time, and why does it predict sales?
The metric that forecasts spending better than foot traffic, and how music adds about eight minutes to it.
Research noteIs your store's music driving customers out the door?
Silence, familiar hits, and the wrong tempo all shorten visits. The ways music pushes people out.
Research noteDoes background music make customers browse longer?
Priming, the familiarity paradox, and the emotional filter every product on the shelf gets seen through.
Research noteWhy the first five minutes in your store decide the sale
The pleasure a customer feels in the first five minutes predicts how much they'll spend without planning to.
Research noteHow does music set the mood in a store?
Pleasure is the gateway emotion. Why the right feeling for the room beats just playing something happy.
Research noteWhat kind of music triggers impulse buying?
Impulse isn't weak willpower. It's triggered, and coherence with the rest of the store matters more than intensity.
Research noteCan the right music make customers pay more?
Same product, higher price accepted, but only for experiential goods and only when the shopper already feels good.
Research noteCan music make your store feel more expensive?
Genre, volume, and brand fit each move how premium a store feels, and a bad fit actively destroys value.
Research noteCan store music change which products people pick?
French music sells French wine five to one. Musical priming, working below conscious awareness.
Research noteDoes store music influence shoppers without them noticing?
Eighty-six percent swore the music didn't affect them. The sales data said otherwise.
Each note is the written version of a filmed research breakdown. Watch the series on YouTube →