Why Music Makes You Buy More

Summary

Experts of Experience: Why Music Makes You Buy More

Episode: Why Music Makes You Buy More
Release Date: July 16, 2025
Host: Lacey Peace
Guest: Lauren Puffpath, President and Co-Founder of Feed Media Group
Presented by: Salesforce Customer Success

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Introduction

In this enlightening episode of Experts of Experience, host Lacey Peace delves into the profound impact of music on customer behavior with Lauren Puffpath, the president and co-founder of Feed Media Group. Sponsored by Salesforce Customer Success, this discussion explores how businesses can harness the power of music to enhance customer experience (CX), drive engagement, and boost sales.

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The Power of Music in Customer Experience

Lauren Puffpath opens the conversation by emphasizing music as an "emotional shortcut" that can regulate mood, reduce stress, and create emotional stickiness among consumers. She shares intriguing insights from various industries:

Lauren Puffpath [00:00]: "Music is kind of an emotional shortcut. It taps into your brain's control panel and helps regulate mood, reduce stress, create emotional stickiness."

She highlights studies showing that slower music in grocery stores can increase spending by encouraging longer browsing times, while up-tempo music in fashion retail environments can lead to increased purchases.

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The Science Behind Music's Impact on the Brain

Lauren provides a deep dive into the neuroscience of music, explaining how different components of music engage various parts of the brain:

Lauren Puffpath [11:56]: "Music is kind of an emotional shortcut. It taps into your brain's control panel and lights up so many different areas of the brain, which is why it's so powerful."

Key areas affected include:

• Amygdala: Regulates mood and reduces stress.
• Auditory Cortex: Processes musical information.
• Motor Cortex: Syncs brain and body rhythms.
• Nucleus Accumbens: Activates the brain's reward system, releasing dopamine.

These interactions not only influence emotions but also drive decision-making and memory formation, making music a powerful tool for brands to connect with their audience.

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Implementing Music Strategies in Various Industries

1. Fitness Industry

Lauren discusses how music is integral to workout experiences, noting that 95% of consumers believe music can make or break their exercise routines. Feed Media Group collaborates with leading fitness brands like Hydro, Tonal, and Beachbody to synchronize music with workout scripts, enhancing engagement and motivation.

Lauren Puffpath [16:33]: "So driving fast, fast rhythms that map to the heart rate you're trying, heart rate zone you're trying to get to is really important for exercise."

2. Retail Industry

In retail, music is used strategically to influence shopping behaviors. For example, American Eagle integrated AEO Radio into their app, resulting in increased app engagement and higher purchase rates.

Lacey Peace [02:35]: "We worked with American Eagle to while you're shopping, you can listen to the American Eagle radio and actually be shopping on your phone, on your device, listening to the brand's curated radio."

3. Health and Wellness

Lauren highlights the benefits of music in healthcare settings, such as reducing stress levels before surgery, sometimes more effectively than medications like Valium.

Lauren Puffpath [59:23]: "There's so much research around how music can impact stress levels prior to surgery. Better than Valium, by the way."

Feed Media Group is expanding into science-backed music compositions designed for specific purposes like sleep, focus, and relaxation, collaborating with health and wellness companies to enhance user experiences.

4. Social Media and User-Generated Content (UGC)

Music plays a crucial role in enhancing the enjoyment of viewing and creating content on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. Feed Media Group is launching a new product to help brands incorporate music seamlessly into their social media strategies, addressing the high expectations set by major digital platforms.

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Challenges in Licensing and Global Expansion

A significant challenge Lauren identifies is the complexity of music licensing across different platforms and countries. Licensing music for physical spaces differs vastly from streaming through digital apps, and each country has its own licensing laws.

Lauren Puffpath [06:05]: "Licensing music for, let's say a physical studio is completely different if you're streaming it through a phone or an app, completely different."

Feed Media Group navigates these challenges by providing end-to-end solutions, managing licensing, curation, streaming, and compliance to ensure brands can implement music strategies without legal hurdles.

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The Role of AI in Music Curation

While Feed Media Group doesn't currently utilize generative AI for creating music, Lauren discusses the potential of AI in enhancing music recommendations and personalization.

Lauren Puffpath [36:25]: "We're leveraging AI for a lot of backend work... We use AI for metadata cleanup to make sure that our data hygiene is good."

AI aids in cleaning and organizing music metadata, improving recommendation algorithms, and personalizing user experiences based on listening habits and biometric data from wearables.

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Business Metrics Impacted by Music Strategies

Integrating music into customer experiences has tangible business benefits:

• Increased Engagement: Users spend more time interacting with apps and platforms when music is integrated.
• Higher Retention Rates: Music enhances emotional connections, reducing churn rates.
• Boosted Conversion Rates: Premium music offerings can serve as incentives for users to upgrade from freemium models.
• Enhanced Lifetime Value (LTV): Consistent emotional engagement through music increases customer lifetime value.

Lauren Puffpath [46:07]: "We find that music, when it's integrated properly, typically increases session time... increases frequency and LTV. So coming back more often and reduces churn."

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Negative Experiences and Best Practices

Lauren shares that using music incorrectly can lead to negative experiences or even legal issues, such as the recent infringement case involving Crumbl Cookies and Warner Music.

Lauren Puffpath [53:44]: "From one side of things, using music incorrectly and getting sued. So that's that infringement side is there's loads of examples of those on the specific campaign side to think about that."

Best practices include ensuring music is congruent with the brand, tailoring playlists to specific times of day and audiences, and thorough user testing to gauge both qualitative and quantitative impacts on brand perception.

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Future of Music in Customer Experience

Looking ahead, Lauren envisions a future where music strategies are tightly integrated with biometric data from wearables to provide personalized, real-time music recommendations that enhance daily experiences.

Lauren Puffpath [35:04]: "Biometric feedback... 'Hey, your cortisol just spiked. Go for a walk and listen to this playlist.'"

This integration will allow brands to offer dynamic, context-aware music experiences that respond to users' physiological states, further deepening emotional connections and enhancing overall customer experience.

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Lightning Round Highlights

In the lightning round, Lauren shares practical advice and personal anecdotes:

• Music Misalignment: Lauren expresses frustration when music doesn't match the environment, such as techno in a high-end boutique or inappropriate music in a morning setting.

  Lacey Peace [55:33]: "Boomers don't like techno. Sorry to overgeneralize, but it's true."

• Effective Use Cases: Classical music in luxury settings like Audi dealerships enhances sophistication and aligns with brand image.

  Lauren Puffpath [54:17]: "Classical... it still conveys sophistication for a lot of folks."

• Negative Examples: Misalignment between music and brand can disrupt the customer experience, emphasizing the importance of strategic music selection.

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Conclusion

This episode of Experts of Experience underscores the critical role music plays in shaping customer experiences across various industries. From enhancing retail environments and fitness apps to transforming healthcare settings and social media platforms, strategic music integration can drive engagement, retention, and sales. Lauren Puffpath of Feed Media Group provides valuable insights into the science, challenges, and future of music in CX, offering a roadmap for brands seeking to create emotionally resonant and memorable customer journeys.

For more information on Feed Media Group and their innovative music strategies, visit Feed FM or connect with Lauren Puffpath on LinkedIn.

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Notable Quotes:

• Lauren Puffpath [00:00]: "Music is kind of an emotional shortcut. It taps into your brain's control panel and helps regulate mood, reduce stress, create emotional stickiness."
• Lauren Puffpath [11:56]: "Music is kind of an emotional shortcut. It taps into your brain's control panel and lights up so many different areas of the brain, which is why it's so powerful."
• Lauren Puffpath [46:07]: "We find that music, when it's integrated properly, typically increases session time... increases frequency and LTV. So coming back more often and reduces churn."

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This comprehensive summary encapsulates the key discussions, insights, and conclusions from the episode, providing a clear understanding of the pivotal role music plays in enhancing customer experiences.

Transcript

[Lauren Puffpath]

Music is kind of an emotional shortcut. It taps into your brain's control panel and helps regulate mood, reduce stress, create emotional stickiness. In grocery stores, if you play slower music, that actually increases grocery bills because people are walking more slowly and they're browsing in retail like fashion environment. If you play up tempo music, people tend to stay longer and purchase more. 95% of people when we survey consumers say the music can make or break a workout. There's so much research around how music can impact stress levels prior to surgery. Better than Valium, by the way.

[Lacey Peace]

Wow.

[Lauren Puffpath]

From one side of things, using music incorrectly and getting soothed. Crumbl Cookies is actually getting soothed right now by Warner Music. Music is so intensely personal that it can be a disservice to your experience if it's the wrong music. Boomers don't like techno. Sorry to overgeneralize, but it's true.

[Lacey Peace]

No kidding. Yeah.

[Lauren Puffpath]

Brand recall and emotional association go way up when the music is congruent with your brand. So making sure that it actually makes sense relative to every other touch point and everything that's out there.

[Lacey Peace]

That affects my emotional attachment to that brand now. Right. Because if I have this emotional experience now, suddenly I'm really tied to this brand.

[Lauren Puffpath]

Does music serve a clear purpose tied to your product experience? Is this escapism? Is it relaxation? Is it fitness? And is it social connection? Music impacts emotions, which can impact decisions. That's where a music strategy becomes really important.

[Lacey Peace]

Welcome back to Experts of Experience. I'm your host, Lacey Peace. I've got our producer Rose here with me as well. And we just got off the mic with Lauren Puffpath, the president and co founder of Feed Media Group. What a fun convo, Rose. I loved this one and I've been looking forward to this one for months.

[Rose]

I told my partner about this interview this morning. I was like this, this is going to be so fun. We don't get to talk about music every day when it comes to customer experience. And after this conversation I'm like, we should be talking about music way more both in with in person customer experiences and digital customer experiences. Because we're. What I've always thought about was like when I hear, you know, the Beatles or something like that while I'm grocery shopping at heb. Like I think about in person experiences, but Lauren spoke a lot about how music impacts a digital customer experience as well.

[Lacey Peace]

I think we're all familiar with that experience that you mentioned, Rose. Being like in a retailer and hearing music and maybe we hate it, maybe we love it maybe it's too loud, maybe it's totally off brand or off vibe. But we've all had that, like, you know, in person physical experience at a brand and we hear some music. But what Lauren is introducing, and this is not like a new concept, but the way that they're thinking about it and tying all the pieces together is really fascinating. She's proposing that we can take music and wrap it around the entire customer experience and fold it into the digital brand experience as well. So, like, one thing that she mentioned that they're doing is they are working with American Eagle to while you're shopping, you can listen to the American Eagle radio and actually be shopping on your phone, on your device, listening to the brand's curated radio. And I think for brands and for leaders, what's going to be particularly interesting in this episode to hear is the actual metrics of how this impacts engagement, return buyers, how many purchases occur in your app if you've got your radio playing. And overall, the emotional tie that someone has to, you know, and your company and your products that they would not have otherwise had if there wasn't music playing. So there's a lot of interesting ways music interacts with our brains. And the neuroscience behind it is fascinating. And Lauren does share that in the episode. She does explain the neuroscience behind it and how it actually interacts with your brain. And it's really cool as a brand, as a CX leader, as someone who's maybe in marketing or product or sales even can think about how you can take music, fold it into your experience digitally and actually see engagement increase and actually see metrics correlate to that change in how your customer's experiencing your brand.

[Rose]

One question I did ask Lauren was, you know, is this something that could apply to B2B B2C? Like, is this like an industry agnostic strategy? In simple terms, she kind of said yes. Like, it really depends on whether or not your brand wants to create sticky digital experiences for your customer. And I really like that she used that word a lot throughout the interview. Sticky. But it's such a good illustrative word to use because that's what music does. Something I was thinking about too is not only in medical settings, but telehealth settings. I mean, before I meet with my telehealth provider, I sit in like a little digital waiting room and I'm sitting in silence, of course, because I'm logged into Zoom and I'm waiting for them to join the appointment. And they're always 15 minutes late, Joy. So during that 15 minutes, it would be lovely to, like, have some light, you know, classical music playing or something to relax me because, you know, you're going to the doctor sometimes it's for a regular checkup, but there could be a stressful reason you need to speak with your doctor. So there's so many different industries that this music strategy could apply to.

[Lacey Peace]

And, and I think about that with my kiddo whenever I took him to his first doctor's appointment or dentist appointment, how it might have benefited his nervous system to have certain low frequencies playing while he was in the doctor's office.

[Rose]

You have the opportunity to curate an experience for your customer without even being in the same room as them. One customer could really upbeat pop music while they're scrolling Pinterest and somebody else could, like, you know, something slower or even a frequency that I learned you don't even have to license these frequencies.

[Lacey Peace]

Well, and speaking of licensing, that is something that, like, as a business, you need to look out for. There are so many laws, rules, regulations across the board when it comes to music. And you might think, oh, you know, I play this music in my store, that means that I can play it on my app. No, you can't. There's totally different rules and laws for that. So being able to understand those, and Lauren shares that today is really important and to understand all the different little logistical things that you might need about of, oh, I can play this legally in the US but I actually can't play it in Europe because there's a totally different system for how I can get licensing done there.

[Rose]

I loved what Lauren had to say about all of the, not just data that they collect on consumers, but also how biometrics are going to be an even bigger and bigger contributing factor for how music strategy is designed. Because, you know, your smartwatch could say, oh, your heart. Like Lauren used this as an example. Your smartwatch could tell you your, your cortisol is getting a little high. Maybe go for a walk and listen to this playlist.

[Lacey Peace]

Yeah. Oh, for sure. But before we get over to Lauren, hit that like, button, hit that subscribe button. And if you have a recommendation for a company or a guest that you want to see on the show with me, you want to hear all their inner secrets and want to know how they provide a great customer experience, drop it in the comments below or shoot me a DM on LinkedIn and I'll reach out. And now here's Lauren Puffpath, president and co founder of Feed Media. Lauren, welcome to the podcast.

[Lauren Puffpath]

Thanks so much for having Me?

[Lacey Peace]

Yeah. I'm so excited for this episode. Like I. We've been planning it, what, for a couple months now and I've just been sitting on it and I'm like, I can't wait to talk to Lauren about music. And I've been teasing it with all my friends and our listeners that we're gonna have an episode that is going to cover music and how it affects the customer experience. So I'm so excited that you're here.

[Lauren Puffpath]

Thanks so much. I mean, I feel fortunate to be able to talk to something that I personally am passionate about, but brings out so much energy and excitement in other folks too. I just kind of did the conference rounds the last month or so and it's really fun to be at a tech conference and be pretty much the only person talking about music in the room, I have to admit.

[Lacey Peace]

Yes. Yeah. It's such a good thing. So with for our listeners who don't know what is feed media and can you just share a little bit more about. Yeah. What you guys are doing?

[Lauren Puffpath]

Yeah. So we help brands create really sticky, engaging experiences for their customers with music. We're a B2B music platform so we do all of the licensing, the curation, the streaming, the reporting, the payouts, the whole legal side of it is all covered as well. So an end to end solution for music for digital businesses.

[Lacey Peace]

Awesome. And what, because you're a co founder of this company, so what spiked your interest in music? Was it something that at an early age that you're like, oh, I'm so passionate about this, Tell me this journey from. Oh, we had this idea, we had this passion for music and then we created this company.

[Lauren Puffpath]

So yeah, I have always been passionate about music. I was the kid, I was an 80s kid with the boombox recording on cassette the little bits and pieces of my favorite songs from the Sunday top 40. Casey Caser created my mixtapes when I was seven or eight.

[Lacey Peace]

Oh, I love that.

[Lauren Puffpath]

Then learned to play instruments, playing bands and orchestras and then became a dj. And so it's been, I don't know, lifelong passion of mine career wise. I actually started in the advertising industry and then moved into really focusing on growth and expansion and company building for startups. And then about 10 years ago had the opportunity to bring those two things together. Like all of that energy spent trying to figure out how to grow a business combined with the passion for music. And here we are. It's great because our team is generally all kind of crazy about music in a good way and it brings together, it's a through line for the team and for the company that really helps us navigate some of the challenges of growing and scaling.

[Lacey Peace]

And how. How many years has Speed media been around?

[Lauren Puffpath]

We. 10 in April, so it's been a while.

[Lacey Peace]

10. Wow. Wow, that's so exciting. Congratulations and happy almost birthday.

[Lauren Puffpath]

I know. Thank you. Yeah, no, it's. It's certainly been a journey. I mean, finding product fit is challenging for any business. We've also got this additional challenge of like the supply aspect of working with the rights holders, the labels, the publishers, the pros. There's so many different organizations to work with, so managing what we're trying to do, quite frankly is create a win win situation where we're adding new revenue streams to the labels and publishers, we're making it easier for the businesses and brands to license music and then ultimately making really great customer experiences for their end users.

[Lacey Peace]

Yeah. Yeah. I love that you guys are sitting in this like central spot connecting all the dots, but I can't imagine how complicated it is because each of those three things that you just listed have so many different requirements and that you have to be an expert in to make it all work. So it's really beautiful spot that you guys have created for yourselves.

[Lauren Puffpath]

Thanks. Yeah, not going to lie, definitely tricky. But our, you know, the real value we bring to our customers is the infrastructure tech piece plus all the licensing like that together is. Is pretty powerful.

[Lacey Peace]

Yeah. Well, I want to kind of start before we get into all the technical components there. I want to start a little bit with just music itself and sort of the science behind music, because I know it's something that you're passionate about. So before we get into like how we can use music for business, I would love to just hear from you why music is so powerful. Like what is it doing to our brains that is causing us to have such an emotional impact and also helping us have so many memories tied to music.

[Lauren Puffpath]

Yeah, it's music is kind of an emotional shortcut. Like it taps into your brain's control panel and lights up so many different areas of the brain, which is why it's so powerful. So, for example, the tone of music activates your amygdala, which is your lizard brain, and it helps regulate mood, reduce stress, create emotional stickiness. You've got the auditory cortex, which is sort of the music decoder in your brain. It's processing all of the information. There's the motor cortex, which is rhythm and, you know, getting your brain and body in sync. There's the nucleus accumbens, which is your reward system. So the same system that gives you the dopamine hits that social media companies are trying to trigger as much as possible, but here without any addictive qualities. So it. I think fundamentally it's just that it touches so many different parts of the brain is what makes it so powerful. And it's not just brain actually, but it's body. It's. There's physical sensation that comes from hearing a drop that you love, like getting you excited or a particular tone or a lyricist that you really love. So it's a sort of full body connection, I guess is the short answer.

[Lacey Peace]

Yeah, yeah. And with that, I am curious if you have any perspective on nostalgia that's caused by music. I've noticed this a lot recently that there's been a few really older hit songs that have made their way into TV nowadays. And so I'm just curious how does that activate nostalgia in our bodies? Because I've really been seeing a lot of marketing that's been leaning that way using some older music or they take older songs and like revamp them and make really cool hip songs with them. Yeah, I just would love to hear that.

[Lauren Puffpath]

Well, a good hook is a good hook no matter where you know what's underneath it or who's singing on top of it. So that's part of it. The second thing is there's really interesting research around, particularly for music therapists who are helping folks who have dementia and Alzheimer's, that the music that you are passionate about and really enjoy when you're between the ages of 12 and 24. Ish.

[Lacey Peace]

Yeah.

[Lauren Puffpath]

Is always important to you and it has something to do with the hormones and everything that's going on in your self discovery and in just like that critical phase of life. But this holds true generation after generation. That, that that time segment of your life, you will always have an affinity for the music. So that's part of it too. Is just like generationally as who you know, who's running the ad campaigns right now and what were they listening to when they were between 12 and 24?

[Lacey Peace]

That's good. That's good. I bet we can track that back for sure.

[Lauren Puffpath]

Seriously?

[Lacey Peace]

Yeah, yeah.

[Lauren Puffpath]

Well.

[Lacey Peace]

And then part of this thing, part of what you guys are offering at feed is an analysis of how music affects the brain or the different types of components of music and how they sort of affect behavior and consumer behavior specifically. Could you talk to me a little bit about the. I think it's four components that you guys have that you analyze.

[Lauren Puffpath]

There are so many different Ways that, as I mentioned, music affects humans. But we think about four fundamentals of human musicality to simplify a little bit. The first is tone. That's really the emotional color of music. That's what can trigger dopamine release or empathy or introspection. There are a couple examples I use around tone and their emotional impact. One is Norah Jones, Come Away With Me. Just beautiful, melodic, really soothing, and it actually can lower cortisol and bring your heart rate down. Another is Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana, which has this intro guitar riff that is really dissonant and harsh. And it's actually the chords they use. That interval is actually called the devil's interval in classical music because it is so dissonant. For our brains, tone makes a huge difference. The other is rhythm. So our brains really love patterns. Right. Rhythm's all about predictable timing. When we hear a really strong beat, especially in, like the 120 to 140bpm range, it lights up our motor cortex. So driving fast, fast rhythms that map to the heart rate you're trying, heart rate zone you're trying to get to is really important for exercise. And we work with a ton of fitness companies that makes sense, help get their end users to the state they want to be in. With.

[Lacey Peace]

With music, you can't have like a slow, like slow flow class with like this hard rock beat going on at all. Yeah.

[Lauren Puffpath]

Although there are some contrarians. So we do work with some companies doing, like, metal yoga, which.

[Lacey Peace]

Oh, my gosh, I've never heard of that.

[Lauren Puffpath]

It's a thing.

[Lacey Peace]

Wow.

[Lauren Puffpath]

It's not. For me. It's. It is actually a thing. But the third is the reward system again. When we hear music we love or even anticipate music that we love, it helps release or trigger a dopamine release in the brain. Then the fourth one that we think about a lot is connection. Music is a neurological connector. There's so much discussion right now around digital isolation and divisiveness. And at the brain level, being able to get two people's emotions and activities aligned through music, it's really important to create some we ness, if you will. One really great example of the connection that togetherness is Dance Church. So Dance Church is a boutique class that does in person dancing on Sunday. It's movement for all different skill levels taught by a dancer, but it's really community and movement together. And in 2020, after lockdown, we were working with them to take their experience to digital online and through their app. And the virality of this class is Just insane. It really caught on because we were all. We were lonely. We were so lonely. And so having 45 minutes together. Together through a screen in your living room to experience movement and get some endorphins flowing was really important.

[Lacey Peace]

Yeah. Oh, for sure. And I also. When I think about this connected connectiveness that music allows us to have, it's like, it doesn't matter my religious belief, political perspective or anything. When I'm at, like, a concert enjoying music, whoever's standing next to me, we're all here for this, the same experience. And so I definitely agree and echo that, that this, like, unity that music brings us together with, like, it's. It's fascinating and it really does bridge all gaps.

[Lauren Puffpath]

It boosts empathy as well. Boosts empathy and trust to things that we need more of right now.

[Lacey Peace]

Oh, that's richer. I mean, we always need more of it. Like, endless amounts, please.

[Lauren Puffpath]

Yes.

[Lacey Peace]

Awesome. Well, I. So I love this, like, perspective you've given us on how the brain sort of operates with music. Some of the components of how you guys are thinking about analyzing music, you've given now this example of fitness and how you're taking music and sort of pairing it with fitness. I would like to stick with that a little bit more. Could you dive a little bit deeper into other ways you guys have, you know, taken music in the fitness industry specifically, and then we can talk about other really cool, interesting avenues. You guys have done this elsewhere?

[Lauren Puffpath]

Yeah. I mean, fitness is such an obvious pairing. I mean, 95% of people, when we survey consumers, say the music can make or break a workout. So how do we find a way to represent the instructor's brand? Because they are the talent. Right? The fitness instructor is the talent, the brand of the business map the rhythm, the tone, the intensity, the volume of the music to the script of the workout, and, you know, do that at scale for millions of people every day. And so that's. That's been a really fun, fascinating journey for us, working with some really big names in fitness like Hydro and Tonal and Beachbody and Alamoves and, you know, a huge range of customers there in different modalities. And our curators, because we have a team of musicologists who, yes, we use lots of algorithms to do programming, but that human layer on top is really important for us as well. So our curators are probably the smartest people in the industry about how to program a particular kind of music for a particular person and a particular modality in fitness. And it's really been fascinating to sort of Work through this with the industry along the way.

[Lacey Peace]

What are some of the challenges you guys faced early on when you were doing this?

[Lauren Puffpath]

So one thing that many people are not aware of is that licensing music for, let's say a physical studio is. Those licenses are completely different if you're streaming it through a phone or an app, completely different. So there were, there was an expectation for instructors that just like in their boutique studio, they go pull up a Spotify playlist and hit play. They can do the same thing through an app. And it just like the commercial components of that are 100% not true. So there was, for us, a lot of education and a lot of training around. No, this is actually how you need to license and program music in a digital environment. It is still. It's kind of an ongoing challenge and something, you know, Spotify's API is not available for commercial use, but people use it commercially all the time. And so it's just. Copyright law is tough to. It's really just tough to enforce in a lot of ways. So that was, I would say that was kind of the initial early challenge of, okay, this is a different use case and a different environment. How do we program and license specifically.

[Lacey Peace]

For that and teach the instructors, hey, why this is important to do it this way. You can't just copy paste what you've been playing in class here.

[Lauren Puffpath]

Yes. And now the instructor's having more of the brand overlay too. So they may not care about explicitness in their classes, but the brand may. And so being sort of that arbiter between the two of them. So our curators, again, they're up in the production studios, they're understanding the talent, they're getting to know the brand and really helping shape the strategy overall.

[Lacey Peace]

So now, you know, that's kind of early on when you guys first started, and I'm sure it's still a challenge as you're going. But now that you guys have kind of rolled this out, you've working with several different types of studios, fitness instructors, specifically. What are you seeing as, like, the challenges you guys grow and scale? Because again, I'm thinking, like, how is it possible for even a musicologist who's awesome to sit down and like, watch all these gym videos and decide which music needs to go with it? Like, is it that hands on? Or like, how are we augmenting this human selection with the algorithms that you guys have?

[Lauren Puffpath]

Our curators aren't programming for every workout. They're kind of working in conjunction with the instructors who lay out the script and this is what they have in mind. And then we make sure that the licensing supports what they're doing and then we stream it all. So it is absolutely tricky. I'd say one of the bigger opportunities and challenges in moving forward is really trying to figure out how to create a great global experience. Because global expansion is on many companies minds right now and there is no global copyright law. So music is licensed country by country, use case by use case. And so really getting a program that supports our customers growth goals at scale across the globe is one of the big opportunities.

[Lacey Peace]

That's fascinating. I would have not have thought about that. I mean I get the. From classroom to digital, there's a barrier that needs to be bridged. But I would have totally not thought, oh, if I'm in some other country wanting to watch this video, suddenly now.

[Lauren Puffpath]

There'S different laws and rules and the organizations who are issuing the licenses are completely different in every country. And you may have in Europe for example, seven or eight different places you need to go to license music. And so yeah, the matrix gets a little complicated.

[Lacey Peace]

Oh, wow. Wow. Okay, that makes sense. Well, so we talked about fitness. I would like to switch gears a little bit to some of the other types of examples. You guys have done this for like other types of businesses that you've done this for. And first I want to start with, I think what most CX leaders that are listening would maybe have familiar experience with outside of his fitness videos is like when I go into a store, I hear music playing. Right. So that's like our standard experience of music as tied to retail. But you guys are thinking about it a little bit differently. You guys are doing something a little bit different with how you can actually tie music into like digital experiences. Could you share what you're doing there?

[Lauren Puffpath]

Yeah, I mean music in retail has a long history of being understood to be important in the physical location. And, and there are, there's some really interesting studies from the 80s and 90s around how tempo impacts the shopping experience. So famous study from the 80s in grocery stores, if you play slower music that actually increases grocery bills because people are walking more slowly and they're browsing. On the flip side, in retail like fashion environment, if you play up tempo music, people tend to stay longer and purchase more. And so it's very context dependent but definitely an understanding that mood impacts emotions which can impact decisions, or music impacts emotions which can impact decisions. Now, you know, starting around eight to 10 years ago, we started having conversations with retailers talking about omnichannel strategy and how they can bring their brand to life. Like what, what can we do to bridge these experiences a little more? And that's where music has come into the picture. So working with ton of different retailers, but really did some fun, interesting deeper data work with American Eagle outfitters who were at the time, it felt a little rogue to them internally. Like, let's get creative, let's bring some music into the app. How can we between the two brands, AEO and Aerie, how do we represent those to bring the more life. It's more bring more life into the e commerce experience essentially. And so we worked with their team doing in store music programming to bring essentially AEO Radio into the app. And what we found is that users listening to music not only were spending more time in the app, they also were more likely to purchase and more likely to return. So there's just again that emotional stickiness to the experience that made a real difference and was sort of a delight moment for the customers as well.

[Lacey Peace]

And was this something that they were kind of like surprised by? They go on the app and oh my gosh, there's music here. Or did you know, American Eagle kind of roll this out and be like, hey, we're going to start doing this. I'm just curious like how that worked.

[Lauren Puffpath]

Yeah, we worked with their marketing team quite a bit and this is actually something that we find in every vertical we work with. We're not just working with product to figure out the music engagement in the app, but it's also how do we work with your marketing team to give you some really great assets to use, like, hey, just rolled out a new playlist, Come listen to the new brat station, whatever the case may be. And by and large we find that the marketing teams are really happy to have something other than promos to talk about.

[Lacey Peace]

Sometimes scaling means giving your people the backup they need to crush the big stuff. That's where AgentForce comes in. AgentForce gives your team a smart digital workforce that actually gets work done. These AI agents answer customers, route requests and hand off complex issues to humans seamlessly, all with the full context of your Salesforce CRM. They're not guessing, they're not hallucinating. They're acting on your data and the rules that you set. The result? Faster service, less chaos, and your team gets to focus on work that truly moves the needle. All momentum, no burnout. Visit salesforce.com agentforce Sometimes scaling means giving your people the backup they need to crush the big stuff. That's where AgentForce comes in. AgentForce gives your team a smart digital workforce that actually gets work done. These AI agents answer customers, route requests and hand off complex issues to humans seamlessly, all with the full context of your Salesforce CRM. They're not guessing, they're not hallucinating. They're acting on your data and the rules that you set. The result, faster service, less chaos. And your team gets to focus on work that truly moves the needle. All momentum, no burnout. Visit salesforce.com agentforce oh, that is so fun. That's so interesting. I mean, you guys get to plug in now these companies not just from a like a music standpoint, but also, oh, how do we actually functionally get this into the app? How do we make sure that it works properly? At what point are they listening to it? How can they opt in, opt out of that? So this is really cool. You guys get to play a role in that entire experience for the customer.

[Lauren Puffpath]

Generally, I would say the engagement is led by product because it is a technical integration to get there, but then obviously deeply integrated with their engineering and development teams and working with them on the UX and what that experience looks like. And then marketing to give them all the assets they need. And then their finance teams like us too because we take off all of the reporting, all the finance aspect of music out of it. So yeah, we do touch the whole organization.

[Lacey Peace]

Yeah, that's so cool. And so you mentioned a few results that you guys have seen. Were there any other results or any other companies that maybe you can't name, but any other, you know, like success stories you guys have seen with this in app music experience?

[Lauren Puffpath]

Yeah, I mean we also work with a lot of kind of corollary to fitness. We work with a lot of health and wellness companies and oftentimes that experiences more about stress relief and finding ways to give people tools to use throughout their day on a daily basis. And so we've seen some really great engagement results with music in health and wellness apps. We work with a lot of, it's sort of a broad category but smart devices. So if you think of for example, new company we're working with that does entertainment system for rideshare and finding ways other than like annoying quiz games to give you some music in the car and what does that experience look like and how does that impact your CSAT or your score for that particular ride or that particular ride sharing company. So that's been a lot of fun. One that we're very excited about that is actually growing pretty quickly is a company called Escape, which is a robot massage and it sounds, it sounds and looks a little different. Yeah. But the experience itself is really great. And the, you know, as. So there's a table, there's the arms, the massaging arms, and there's a tablet that has a variety of music to kind of keep you focused and engaged and sort of forget like that's actually touching you, but. But that's a lot of fun. We have had a really great long term relationship with the Golden State warriors and helping them find ways to bring game day energy into the app throughout the season because, you know, it's an event like the game is actually an event. So how do you keep people engaged and buying merch and coming back and reading stories about the players all throughout the year and music's been a piece.

[Lacey Peace]

Of that for the health and wellness space. How are you guys actually integrating music into those apps? So is it like while they're shopping for supplements or something? Or is this a radio of sleep music that I could listen to?

[Lauren Puffpath]

It's more the latter. So we have also started our own label called Feed Originals and it's science. Back to music. And what does that mean? Science backed means it's music that's been developed and composed for a very specific purpose other than just joy and entertainment. So our team has been working to figure out how do you translate the specifics of getting a person from to like a from to state in your brain into instructions to give to a composer to say, I want, I want a song that's really great for sleep. I need a song that's really great for focus. And we're figuring it out together and have created a collection of music with those specific parameters, mainly for sleep, meditation, focus and relaxation. And are now working with the health and wellness companies to make it really easy for them to suggest a particular song for their end user. I'm actually really excited. Future state about us getting a lot more feedback from the user to help curate. So many of us are wearing wearables, tracking everything from heart rate to blood oxygen levels to you name it. And I can definitely see a point in the not too distant future where my watch will say, hey Lauren, your cortisol just spiked. Go for a walk and listen to this playlist and I'll check back with you in 10 minutes.

[Lacey Peace]

Yep.

[Lauren Puffpath]

So I think that like the biometric feedback that we're starting to think about integrating into the music curation is exciting from the wellness standpoint.

[Lacey Peace]

Sign me up for that. That is so fascinating. Wow. I know. My one friend has the. Is it Oura Ring, I think it's called.

[Lauren Puffpath]

Yes.

[Lacey Peace]

And so it recommends like, hey, after this time, don't have caffeine. And I have a Garmin watch, which I love Garmin, you know, shout out to Garmin, but it doesn't do those kinds of recommendations. And I'm like, oh man, how practical is the advice it gives? Like, oh, stop, stop drinking caffeine after this. Or, you know, because you worked out too hard, you need to have a rest period for the next couple hours. And I love it because it's so actionable. It's not just data that you're like, what do I do with this? My sleep score Was that. What does that mean? And I think it's so cool if you could tie that to other actions outside of, you know, rest or don't drink caffeine. But oh, hey, go listen to this playlist. Or here's this type of music that would really help if you're, you know, doing. I noticed, Lacy, that you run every morning. Here's playlist for running or, or hey, you're trying to meet this certain pace goal for your run. And this playlist will help you keep, you know, on beat enough that you're going faster than if you were listening to this playlist, which, which would be slower. Um, so there's a lot of cool different ways that you could totally integrate that into wearables.

[Lauren Puffpath]

That's where we're headed. That's where we're headed. And that's where I'll pause to insert AI to the conversation. But that's where you, that's where AI is just going to be really crucial in getting it. There are so many variables from, you know, like again, like heart rate, knowing your schedule, what, what's your personal preference for music? Like there's so many variables, but to be able to then map that to your daily journey and suggest music and other, you know, non addictive side effect free ways to regulate your day, I think that's, it's really exciting and people are really receptive to it because self optimization is just so popular right now.

[Lacey Peace]

Yeah, well, and I think we are so overwhelmed by so many other inputs that having something that is the opposite of that, that relaxes us, that creates space in our day is so necessary.

[Lauren Puffpath]

Yes. I am excited for that side of the future and the evolution of biometrics.

[Lacey Peace]

Yeah. And so with AI, since AI has entered the chat. Thank you for bringing that in. How is that affecting maybe like not just music curation but music creation? Are you guys using that at all for Actually creating music.

[Lauren Puffpath]

We're not currently working with any generative AI companies. There are loads of them. There's some big settlements happening right now. You may have seen in the news, there are a couple companies who were trading their models on major label content.

[Lacey Peace]

Which is a no.

[Lauren Puffpath]

And so there's some recalibrating, I guess, happening on that side. We actually don't work with any generative AI. I think our generative music companies, there is a place for it for sure. I think there's a whole segment of music called production or stock music, which is more anonymous. It's not artist driven. It's typically used in commercials or videos or on YouTube. That segment is very concerned about generative AI because if it is not human driven, it's actually getting pretty good where you can't necessarily tell anymore. Yeah, I would say the music that we are truly drawn to and resonate with emotionally is artist driven. And so it's more important than ever for artists to really focus on their personal brand. And there's a lot of conversation around how to make sure that you're not AI replaceable. I guess from a music standpoint that we actually don't really play in that space at all. We're leveraging AI for a lot of backend work, back office work, if you will. So every song has a collection of data around it, the metadata, and it is notoriously not great, often inaccurate. There's many sources of truth for a particular song, things as basic as is it explicit or not that may be incorrect. And that's an important one. So we use AI for metadata cleanup for one to make sure that our data hygiene is good. And then what we're building now are, well, testing now are a bunch of different models to figure out how to leverage that clean data for better recommendations and better personalization.

[Lacey Peace]

Yep, now that makes total sense when I think about that. I think about my own Spotify use and how like years ago, how the recommendations would just not. Not align at all. But I'm sure now they're doing similar metadata cleanup and their recommendations now are a lot closer. And I've also noticed that when you skip things, it seems to know, oh, you're not into that right now, so we're going to do something else. There's like a lot of different. Yeah, there's a lot of different ways that I've seen these, you know, whether it's Spotify or Apple music, using AI to help really curate something that's custom for you. And I truly feel like the playlists that I have are like those are mine. No one else can have the exact same copy because like it's so curated based off my weird listening habits.

[Lauren Puffpath]

Yeah, yeah. I mean I still don't have haven't done the work to separate out my kids listening from my Spotify. That's important because those recommendations really throw rich in things. But ye, their algorithms have gotten so much better.

[Lacey Peace]

Yeah, yeah.

[Lauren Puffpath]

We're also, you know, thinking about AI powered insights. We have a lot of data, we collect a ton of data on behalf of our customers and figuring out how to really turn that around to help tell the ROI story to serve better music, to understand how we can super serve their customers. That's a big focus for us right now too.

[Lacey Peace]

Yeah, yeah. And I think you could do it in two ways too, right? Like you can have it for your customers, of course, but even the listener might be interested in knowing, hey, last week you listen to this much means just like the Spotify, you know, end of year recap how they do that. I would love it on a weekly basis like hey, this week you listen to this much stuff or hey, you tend to listen to things that are a little bit more higher stress. Maybe next week. Here's a recommendation of what you could, you know, listen to instead. So I, yeah, I think there's a lot of really cool ways that you guys could be doing that and thinking.

[Lauren Puffpath]

About how we can get cross platform listening data back to the end user. So you loved this playlist by this instructor on this fitness app here. We'll go ahead and just. Here's a Spotify link. Just you can, you know, have that available to you. So trying to find some more. It's such. They've traditionally DSPs have been such walled gardens. So trying to find some ways that we can help kind of create more of a seamless experience from the user perspective.

[Lacey Peace]

That makes sense. That makes sense. So I want to dive in a little bit more to how this can actually, like brands could think about pulling this in. But before I do, Rose, I want to open the mic to you. Is there anything around sort of the science of music or personalization in AI that we haven't yet covered that you wanted to ask Lauren.

[Rose]

The only thing that I wanted to ask about was the frequencies I feel like are super popular right now and I don't know much about. They just sound so basic and like distilled. What is the, is it any different like the licensing process around frequencies or are those a little bit easier to play with?

[Lauren Puffpath]

You can't copyright a Frequency, actually. So it's not. It is. It is available to anybody to create that frequency if you have the equipment to do so. So I think the licensing is not the challenge there. It's more the creation and curation. So what frequency are you using for what? End states or end game? So some are better for focus, some are for cognitive processing, others are for really getting into the low theta frequencies to help you relax. So super interesting, very popular. We're seeing them everywhere as well and starting to help our customers provide those to their customers with the information around it. Because it is, I think for most folks, a relatively new concept.

[Rose]

Right, that makes sense. And do you guys work with any B2B companies or ad agencies that are putting together campaigns and they want you guys to consult kind of, you know, how do we convey this emotion during this ad to this audience?

[Lauren Puffpath]

We do. Yeah, we do. We've been generally more focused on long term customer engagement versus short form commercials. But that being said, especially with our label that we created, Feed Originals that is so specific to particular use cases, that actually has gotten a really great reception from producers on the agency side because it's one of the challenges they have when they go to these big production libraries are, yes, there are 50,000 tracks, but how do I find the good stuff? Right? Yeah, yeah. What's the good one? And so that's the curation aspect of what we do up front. This is purpose driven, you know, working with a human that can help you find exactly what you need. That's actually been. It was sort of a surprise for us. It was never an audience that we focused on, but we've had a lot of receptivity there.

[Rose]

Very cool. Okay, that's all for me. Back to you, Lacy.

[Lacey Peace]

Thanks, Rose. Well, so getting into how brands can think about actually using this. Is there, are there industries you think this would be best for and then industries you think this maybe is not something that you need to consider doing a music strategy, I'd say it's less.

[Lauren Puffpath]

Vertical specific and more about what you're trying to create, what experience you're trying to create for the customer. So if long term engagement and retention and sticky digital experiences make sense, then probably it makes sense to consider it. We actually are launching a new product in August specifically for social media and UGC. Everyone, I think, is TikTok and Instagram have set an expectation about what should be available to a customer. However, they spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year licensing music and have whole music teams working directly with the industry which most companies can't do. And so we're sort of answering that call. We do a lot of primary consumer research and the impact of music in a social experience is something we shouldn't take for granted. 77% of people say music impacts the enjoyment when they're viewing other people's content. Like it's just, it's so baked into social sharing right now that I think anything social in UGC is sort of a no brainer there. We work with a lot of connected devices that are trying to take whatever it is, maybe it's a speak smart speaker and take it, move it from a utility to an experience that's, that's the opportunity with music is how do I actually turn this into something more emotionally resonant?

[Lacey Peace]

Well, and how that affects my emotional attachment to that brand now. Right. Because if I have this emotional experience over and over and over again now, suddenly I'm really tied to this brand and I don't want to change from them to someone else. Right. So it's kind of like how do you continue to differentiate yourself in this market that is continuing to get more cluttered with other companies that might be doing something similar product wise, but can't connect with the consumer in this emotional way that you're able to do?

[Lauren Puffpath]

And there's research around that too showing that brand recall and emotional association go way up when there is a, there is a caveat here when the music is congruent with your brand. So making sure that it actually makes sense relative to every other touch point and everything that's out there. So that's where a music strategy becomes really important.

[Lacey Peace]

Can you tell me a little bit more about the business metrics that are actually impacted directly by music that you've seen?

[Lauren Puffpath]

Absolutely, yeah. We work with a lot of subscription based companies and for them, bottom line is really driven by retention and engagement. Churn is such a big challenge in the industry and we find that music, when it's integrated properly, typically increases session time. So they're spending longer in the app, but most importantly increases frequency and ltv. So coming back more often and reduces churn. Another really big value is leveraging music as part of premium upgrade. So if you have a freemium model and you know, in addition to maybe just not getting ads, you can also get premium music or you know, and you know, using that as an additional carrot, we've seen that really huge impact on conversion. So there's, I think mostly it's, it's about retention, engagement and conversion is where we see the value.

[Lacey Peace]

Sometimes scaling means Giving your people the backup they need to crush the big stuff. That's where AgentForce comes in. AgentForce gives your team a smart digital workforce that actually gets work done. These AI agents answer customers, route requests, and hand off complex issues to humans seamlessly, all with the full context of your Salesforce CRM. They're not guessing, they're not hallucinating. They're acting on your data and the rules that you set. The result? Faster service, less chaos. And your team gets to focus on work that truly moves the needle. All momentum, no burnout. Visit salesforce.com agentforce we all expect fast service now, but inside most companies, speed is still a struggle. It's the approval chains, the handoffs, the who owns what debate. AgentForce cuts through the mess and actually takes action. It talks to your customers, crushes tasks, and keeps things flowing, all based on prompts and rules that you set so your customers aren't waiting and your team isn't stuck in the weeds. Speed isn't just a nice to have. It's a competitive edge. And AgentForce helps you deliver it 24. 7. Learn [e-mail] AgentForce what's the first step that someone should be taking? So if I'm like a product or content leader or marketing leader that I'm like, oh, I really kind of want to start to integrate music into my strategy, maybe I'm not fully committed yet to say, hey, feed, come do this for me, but I'm like toying with the idea. Where do I start?

[Lauren Puffpath]

Well, there's two steps before you get to us. So the first one is the who. So really understanding who your listener is, how much demographic and psychographic data do you have around this person? Because music is so intensely personal that it can be a disservice to your experience if. If it's the wrong music, right? So starting with who is listening? The second piece is what are they trying to achieve? Does this make sense for your experience? Or is your user, is it utilitarian? They just need to buy a break and get out? Or is this. Is this escapism? Is it relaxation? Is it fitness? Is it connection? Is it social? Conn? So the what piece is really important to figure out if music makes sense. Like, is there. Can it help achieve this state that they're trying to get to? And then if you determine yes, you know your user and you think music could help them with their job and your product, then the how comes into it. And that's where we come in. How you license, how you stream the infrastructure to Actually do it. It's sort of like building a little mini Spotify within your app. So most companies, which is wild. Not interested.

[Lacey Peace]

Yeah, that's too much. Yeah, not interested.

[Lauren Puffpath]

So that's where we sort of integrate our PI to stream everything. So, you know, it takes that developmental burden, I guess, off of the, off of the customer. But I think, you know, as you think about the experience, it's also very, very functional. Like what does music serve a clear purpose tied to your product experience? Does it re reinforce the behavioral outcomes that you're trying to drive?

[Lacey Peace]

For sure. And I think about this too with like hotels. Like if I'm. If I run a luxury hotel and I have this luxury experience I'm trying to create, it might make total sense for me to have this. Like, this is our music feed. This is how we, this is what we play in every hotel in the lobby. Our hold music matches this. Like, this is the entire experience that if you interact with our brand, this is the type of music that you're going to hear. So I definitely think there's like certain brands that it makes total sense for in that way where it's like a whole through line. You're trying to create this really immersive experience, whether it's hotels, travel, exercise, spas, all those kinds of brands. Makes total sense. Yeah. Retail 100%.

[Lauren Puffpath]

Yeah. And oftentimes those brands really invest a lot into their content strategy. Aspirational content, you know, trying to really engage on a different level. If it's Holiday Inn, then it's transactional and it needs to be the quickest point from a to cart checkout.

[Lacey Peace]

That's.

[Lauren Puffpath]

Yeah, it's a little different.

[Lacey Peace]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, and I think too for like even fast food restaurants, I'm thinking about some chain restaurants that I feel like the experience would be a little bit more elevated. You know, sure, it's fast food, I'm trying to get in and out, but it still would feel a little more elevated if there was a more cohesive experience with what music is being played. Because I've gone into restaurants before that I'm like, this is a totally different vibe because of the music than this other restaurant. And it's the same exact name brand restaurant. So it's interesting to me that it would be not that cohesive.

[Lauren Puffpath]

I also have a pet peeve around bad day partying. So if you think of it day parts, you go into a restaurant or grab, you know, a bagel at 10am and it's techno.

[Lacey Peace]

No kidding. Yeah, it's that he's like, come on.

[Lauren Puffpath]

Guys, think about your audience and where, what mindset people are in. So yeah, there's that piece of it too.

[Lacey Peace]

Do you guys do anything by geography? So like changing it up? Oh, we know in the south they prefer this kind of interaction in music. And in, you know, the Northeast, it's this like, do you guys segment by geography.

[Lauren Puffpath]

We can, we often find. Try to get more granular than that. Just because there are people. It's. There's no homogeneous region. Right. So we're really trying to get down to the user level. There are certain acts that are more popular in certain regions and so, yeah, we definitely can. And certainly for countries outside of the U.S. localize and play local music as well.

[Lacey Peace]

Yeah, yeah. Do you have any stories of negative music experiences that you've seen? Maybe not with companies or brands that you work with. Of course. But anything they've been like, oh my gosh, they use this type of music and it was total mess up. Like their whole campaign just failed because of the music choice.

[Lauren Puffpath]

Yeah. You know, from one side of things, using music incorrectly and getting sued. So that's that Crumbl Cookies is actually right now by Warner Music. So that's the infringement side is there's loads of examples of those on the specific campaign side to think about that. You know, we've worked with a company over the years that does a lot of music testing with the ad agencies and to actually try to avoid that. So all the, all the upfront user testing to not just gauge, do you like this? How does it sound? But getting a lot more quantitative around is this getting the brand impact across. So I can't think of anything recent because I feel like folks are getting a lot smarter.

[Lacey Peace]

Yeah.

[Lauren Puffpath]

About what they put out there.

[Lacey Peace]

I have to do some research. I think it'd be kind of fun to find a story that's like I played this music and it was totally. Yeah. Totally did not match the vibe.

[Lauren Puffpath]

Yeah. Yes, I'm sure there are.

[Rose]

I did have another question and then we can jump into the lightning round if that's okay. I was thinking about my family owns a used car dealership and I was thinking about when you're making bigger, maybe at times more stressful or more luxurious investments. If there's any trend you've seen around that regarding tone or tempo.

[Lauren Puffpath]

Classical.

[Rose]

Classical.

[Lauren Puffpath]

Okay. It still conveys sophistication for a lot of folks. And what I've seen or heard more recently is there are sort of modern classical quartets and trios who are recording pop music but on stringed instruments.

[Rose]

Oh, did you watch Bridgerton?

[Lauren Puffpath]

I did not know Bridgerton does that.

[Rose]

Throughout all of their seasons they play classical versions of modern pop songs.

[Lauren Puffpath]

So I just bought a car recently, an Audi, and I noticed in the dealership that's what they were. That was pretty consistently what they were playing in it. I thought it was so smart.

[Rose]

Yeah, that is so cool. Okay, that's some scrappy practical advice for me. Thank you.

[Lauren Puffpath]

You bet, Lauren.

[Lacey Peace]

I mean, that actually jumps up. Another thought in my head is, is there maybe some quick tips we could give to listeners of like, if you're selling this, then this. If selling this, then this, like just rough, loose guidelines of like high luxury item classical music, you know, a little bit lower, cheaper end or whatever. This is what we would recommend.

[Lauren Puffpath]

I think it just depends on who comes back to the audience again. So what's. What a, what age are you selling to? That generational divide when it comes to music is real, it is legit. And so, you know, if you can't do like individual personalization, just understanding the majority of your users and where they sit in that, it makes a big difference. Boomers don't like techno. Sorry. Over generalize, but it's true.

[Lacey Peace]

Quote of the podcast.

[Lauren Puffpath]

Yes.

[Lacey Peace]

Love that. All right, Rose, back to you for the lightning round.

[Rose]

Okay, I only actually have a couple lightning round questions for you, but one of them I, I think you kind of already answered. This actually was your, your biggest pet peeve when it comes to the way brands are using music. And is it that experience of walking into a coffee shop at like 9 in the morning and you're hearing this, you know, rave happen around you?

[Lauren Puffpath]

I think it's the, it's anytime there's that dissonance, like this is the wrong time of day for this or why am I in this high end boutique hearing, you know, bad 90s pop music? What is that? Yeah, anytime that, anytime there's dissonance, it really obviously I'm very attuned to. To it and always looking for it, but that's kind of the. It always throws me off.

[Lacey Peace]

It, it throws me off too. Whenever I can tell. It's like this is the playlist of the person currently working here right now. Like it clearly this is the playlist of the barista at the coffee shop. This is not the brand's playlist by any means.

[Lauren Puffpath]

And that's something that we work with the brands with a lot is whether it's fitness instructors or, you know, individual like franchise owners or how do you bring a Little bit more. A lot of brands are starting to think of it like freedom within a box. You can choose your playlist, but it's from this list essentially that makes sense.

[Rose]

Is there a particular industry that you've noticed a trend in that has not prioritized this kind of musical strategy that should be one of the first to jump at it?

[Lauren Puffpath]

Well, I mentioned health and wellness and that's something that we are getting a lot of traction in, I would say, really just this year. And so it's taken a few years for. Well, part of it, to be honest, is monetization strategy. So there are tons of health and wellness apps that launched and just didn't know how to make any money. And so that's sort of getting more refined and we're also seeing more acceptance and more comfort from both the medical and the insurance fields around the opportunity for music to actually have a positive impact. So I think the economics in that industry sort of kind of shaking out a little bit better and then more understanding from the medical side have led to, yeah, we were ready to support it two years ago, but I think it's just, it's feeling like things are coalescing there.

[Lacey Peace]

I feel like this is drying up. Another thought in my head too, around how, like, healthcare could benefit so much from this. Like, if I went into a hospital and they actually had like soothing music playing versus it just be silent and like pristine, I. I would feel a lot more at ease going to visit, you know, maybe the dentist. In fact, actually I had this experience. I got a tooth out recently, Lauren, and I had this experience where I was like under happy gas and the doctor comes in or the nurse comes in and is like, hey, do you want me to play some music to relax you while we're doing this? And I was like, what a nice offer. And so she, like used her phone, I told her what I wanted to listen to and she played it for me while they were pulling out my twos, which is like a terrifying experience.

[Rose]

So.

[Lacey Peace]

But I'm just wondering if, like, at a larger scale, maybe dentist offices, healthcare.

[Lauren Puffpath]

Providers could benefit from that kind of thing 1000%. So there's so much research around how music can impact stress levels prior to surgery. Better than Valium, by the way. The right music is better. Wow. Than Valium for stress levels prior surgery and then also post op. So there's this really great study out of the UK at a children's hospital and the value of music in their recovery time. So, yes, yes and yes, we have worked with the Mayo Clinic in the past several years around providing better options for patients in room as well. So maybe there's cable. It's a crappy tv, you don't want to watch tv. How about a tablet with a bunch of music on it? You don't need WI fi, it's just built into the room. So trying to find ways to pull it in more but there's a lot of data that supports it.

[Rose]

All right, my last question for you Lauren is is there an experience you've had recently as a customer that has really left you impressed?

[Lauren Puffpath]

The Audi experience I have to say was pretty solid. Nobody likes to buy a car. I was sort of doing it on my own like early morning Saturday while my husband had the kid and you know, just rushing around trying to figure this out and part of it was the salesperson, like he was actually really great. But the overall experience, the seamlessness, the follow up post sale is really good, you know, for a big purchase like that. Helping me figure out this some other quirky UX in the audio or the, the in car system. So yeah, you know I would say overall like the level, the right level of high touch but not annoying left to that's not very positive but like the right level of touch I guess is the way to say it.

[Lacey Peace]

That's just such a, interesting recommendation or like a story because I feel like every time I bought a car it's been not fun same. No, I know that that's, that's, that's top of mind for you.

[Lauren Puffpath]

Yeah, it was just, it was recently too but it was the least the most positive experience I've had.

[Lacey Peace]

Yeah.

[Lauren Puffpath]

Yeah, sorry. Yeah.

[Rose]

Are you comfortable shouting out like the Audi dealership in Blanktown?

[Lauren Puffpath]

Yes. Shout out to Audi Concord, California for a really great customer experience.

[Rose]

I'm sure they'll appreciate that. Awesome. Okay, that concludes the lightning round.

[Lacey Peace]

Thank you Rose. Lauren, this has been so amazing. If listeners are interested in learning more about Feed Media, where can they go to find out and maybe even connect with you?

[Lauren Puffpath]

Feed FM and come find me on LinkedIn. Lauren Puffpalf there's no other Lauren Puffpuffs on LinkedIn.

[Lacey Peace]

I love that. Awesome. Thank you Lauren. This has been amazing.

[Lauren Puffpath]

Thank you.