Background music that fits the brand lifted sales 9.1% across 1.8 million restaurant transactions, while random popular hits cut sales 4.3% compared with playing nothing at all (HUI Research/Soundtrack Your Brand, 2017). The effect is not new: slow-tempo supermarket music produced 38.2% higher daily gross sales than fast-tempo music in the field experiment that founded the discipline (Milliman, Journal of Marketing, 1982). Shoppers notice the soundtrack too, with 85% reporting that in-store music has a positive impact on them (Mood Media, 2019). And the money behind the speakers is substantial: businesses playing music through personal streaming accounts instead of commercial licences cost rightsholders an estimated 2.65 billion dollars a year (Nielsen/Soundtrack Your Brand, 2018). This analysis consolidates data from HUI Research, Mood Media, PPL and PRS for Music, and 17 other primary sources to map what in-store and background music does to sales, behavior, and revenue in 2026.
TL;DR
- Brand-fit music lifted sales 9.1% versus random popular music across 1.8 million transactions (HUI Research/Soundtrack Your Brand, 2017).
- Random popular hits performed worse than silence, cutting sales 4.3% versus no music (HUI Research/Soundtrack Your Brand, 2017).
- Slow-tempo music drove 38.2% higher daily supermarket sales than fast tempo (Milliman, Journal of Marketing, 1982).
- Classical music pushed restaurant spend above 24 pounds a head, the highest of three test conditions (North et al., Environment and Behavior, 2003).
- 85% of shoppers say in-store music affects them positively, and music ranks as the number one in-store mood factor (Mood Media, 2019).
- 57% of shoppers will disengage from a brand over poor music choices (Mood Media, 2019).
- Louder bar music made 40 observed patrons drink more, faster (Gueguen et al., Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 2008).
- 91% of surveyed diners would not return to a venue where the noise was too loud (Action on Hearing Loss).
- 88% of participants did their most accurate work while listening to music (Mindlab International for MusicWorks).
- 21.3 million businesses worldwide play music through personal streaming accounts, an estimated 2.65 billion dollars in lost royalties yearly (Nielsen/Soundtrack Your Brand, 2018).
- Global performance rights revenue for recorded music reached 2.9 billion dollars in 2025 (IFPI Global Music Report 2026).
- PPL collected a record 301.0 million pounds in 2024, the highest in its 90-year history (PPL).
1. The Classic Experiments: Tempo, Genre, and Fit
Retail sound research has an unusually clean origin story. Philip Kotler coined the term “atmospherics” in 1973, and within a decade Ronald Milliman had run the field experiment every practitioner still quotes. Alternating slow-tempo and fast-tempo instrumental music in a supermarket, Milliman recorded 38.2% higher daily gross sales on slow-tempo days, with shoppers taking 127.53 seconds versus 108.93 seconds to cover the same stretch of floor (Journal of Marketing, 1982). Slower feet, fuller carts.
The follow-ups extended the pattern to what people buy, not just how much. French versus German music flipped wine purchases toward the matching country in a two-week supermarket test, an effect the authors called “a profound influence on product choice” (North, Hargreaves and McKendrick, Nature, 1997). These studies are 20 to 40 years old and mostly single-venue, so treat them as foundations rather than current benchmarks; the direction of their findings has held up in later replications.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Daily gross sales, slow vs fast tempo music | +38.2% with slow tempo | Milliman, Journal of Marketing, 1982 |
| In-store traffic pace, slow vs fast tempo | 127.53 vs 108.93 seconds | Milliman, Journal of Marketing, 1982 |
| Restaurant diners under slow-tempo music | Stayed longer, spent more at the bar; food orders flat | Milliman, Journal of Consumer Research, 1986 |
| Wine choices under French vs German music | Matching country’s wine dominated sales | North et al., Nature, 1997 |
| Length of the wine experiment | 2 weeks in a UK supermarket | North et al., Nature, 1997 |
| Wine purchases under classical vs Top-40 music | Pricier bottles chosen, not more bottles | Areni and Kim, Advances in Consumer Research, 1993 |
| Restaurant spend per head with classical music | Over 24 pounds (about 40 dollars), highest of 3 conditions | North et al., Environment and Behavior, 2003 |
| Perceived vs actual shopping time (71 shoppers) | Familiar music felt longer; unfamiliar music ran longer | Yalch and Spangenberg, Journal of Business Research, 2000 |
Note: the North et al. restaurant test ran over 18 evenings in a British restaurant, rotating classical music, pop, and silence.
2. Brand Fit: The 1.8 Million Transaction Test
The modern anchor study traded lab conditions for scale. HUI Research, a Swedish retail research institute, worked with Soundtrack Your Brand to analyze 1.8 million transactions across 16 quick-service restaurants in Sweden over five months, the largest field test of background music yet published (Soundtrack Your Brand research). Music that fit the brand lifted sales 9.1% versus random popular hits, while the random hits themselves dragged sales 4.3% below playing no music at all. Popularity is not the variable; congruence is.
The effect concentrated in impulse categories, with dessert sales spiking 15.6% under curated, varied brand-fit playlists (QSR Magazine, 2017). Why matching sound pays, from audio logos to full in-store soundtracks, is the territory of our sonic branding statistics.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Study scale | 1.8 million transactions, 16 restaurants, 5 months | HUI Research/Soundtrack Your Brand, 2017 |
| Sales lift, brand-fit vs random popular music | +9.1% | HUI Research/Soundtrack Your Brand, 2017 |
| Random popular hits vs no music at all | -4.3% sales | HUI Research/Soundtrack Your Brand, 2017 |
| Dessert sales under varied brand-fit playlists | +15.6% | QSR Magazine, 2017 |
Context: the test venues were McDonald’s restaurants in Sweden, making this one of the few atmospherics studies run on live point-of-sale data rather than observation samples.
3. What Shoppers Say About In-Store Music
Survey data puts the customer’s own account behind the transaction logs. Mood Media’s global study of more than 10,000 consumers, fielded with research agency Walnut Unlimited, found music has a positive impact on 85% of shoppers and ranks as the single biggest factor for improving mood in-store (Mood Media, 2019). Nearly half of shoppers say they have stayed in a store longer because they enjoyed what was playing.
The downside risk is just as measurable: 57% of shoppers say they will disengage when the music is a poor fit (Mood Media, 2019). An earlier Mood Media survey of 11,255 consumers in nine countries found 84% of US shoppers saying music makes shopping more enjoyable (via Retail Dive, 2017). How retailers automate these atmospheric decisions increasingly overlaps with store technology, covered in our AI in retail statistics.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Shoppers reporting a positive impact from in-store music | 85% | Mood Media, 2019 |
| Top-ranked factor for improving shopper mood in-store | Music | Mood Media, 2019 |
| Stayed longer because they enjoyed the music | 46% global, 45% U.S. | Mood Media, 2019 |
| Will disengage over poor music choices | 57% | Mood Media, 2019 |
| Likely to revisit a store combining music, visuals, and scent | 90% | Mood Media, 2019 |
| Stayed longer when music, visuals, and scent all aligned | 75% | Mood Media, 2019 |
| U.S. shoppers saying music makes shopping more enjoyable | 84% | Mood Media, 2017, via Retail Dive |
| U.S. shoppers reporting mood lift / stronger brand connection | 81% / 70% | Mood Media, 2017 |
Note: Mood Media operates in-store media for retail clients, so its surveys are vendor-commissioned; sample sizes and fieldwork partners are disclosed, and the direction matches the independent transaction studies above.
4. Volume: The Variable That Cuts Both Ways
Loudness changes behavior even when the playlist stays the same. A field experiment observing 40 male beer drinkers found that turning the music up increased alcohol consumption and cut the average time patrons spent on each glass (Gueguen et al., Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 2008). Across a pilot, two field experiments, and five lab studies, low-volume ambience increased healthy food sales through relaxation, while high volume raised excitement and steered orders toward unhealthy items (Biswas, Lund and Szocs, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 2019).
Push volume too far and customers simply leave. In a UK survey by hearing charity Action on Hearing Loss, 79% of respondents had left a venue early because of noise and 91% said they would not return to one that was too loud (via i News). What chronic loud environments do to hearing and health sits in our noise pollution statistics.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Bar patrons under louder music (40 observed) | More drinks, less time per glass | Gueguen et al., 2008 |
| Low-volume ambience and food choices | Healthy food sales rose via relaxation | Biswas, Lund and Szocs, 2019 |
| High-volume ambience and food choices | Excitement rose, unhealthy orders climbed | Biswas, Lund and Szocs, 2019 |
| Evidence base behind the volume-diet effect | Pilot, 2 field experiments, 5 lab studies | Biswas, Lund and Szocs, 2019 |
| Diners who left a venue early because of noise | 79% | Action on Hearing Loss, via i News |
| Diners struggling to hold a conversation over noise | 81% | Action on Hearing Loss |
| Diners who would not return to a too-loud venue | 91% | Action on Hearing Loss |
| Top complaint among ~13,000 surveyed U.S. diners | Noise | Zagat dining survey |
Note: the Action on Hearing Loss figures predate the pandemic and cover UK hospitality venues; the charity now operates as RNID.
5. Music at Work: The Employee Side
Staff hear the in-store playlist for entire shifts, and the workplace evidence mostly favors keeping it on. In a Mindlab International study for the MusicWorks campaign run by UK licensing bodies PPL and PRS for Music, 88% of participants produced their most accurate work while music played, and 92% passed data-entry tests with ambient music in the background. The sample was small, 26 participants tested over five consecutive days, so read it as directional rather than definitive.
Larger workplace surveys point the same way. Robert Half found 85% of professionals who are able to listen to music at work enjoy doing so, and about seven in ten say they are at least somewhat more productive with it on (Robert Half, 2018). On the employer side, 77% of UK businesses told MusicWorks surveys that music improves staff morale and atmosphere.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Participants producing their most accurate work with music | 88% | Mindlab International for MusicWorks (PPL/PRS) |
| Data-entry pass rate with ambient music playing | 92% | Mindlab International for MusicWorks |
| Professionals who enjoy listening to music at work | 85% | Robert Half, 2018 |
| At least somewhat more productive with music on | ~7 in 10 | Robert Half/Accountemps, 2018 |
| Canadian workers who like music at work | 77% | Robert Half Canada, 2018 |
| U.K. businesses saying music lifts staff morale and atmosphere | 77% | MusicWorks (PPL/PRS for Music) business survey |
| U.K. retail businesses reporting higher staff morale with music | 81% | MusicWorks, via Talking Retail |
Note: the Mindlab and MusicWorks studies date from the mid-2010s campaign period and were commissioned by licensing bodies with a commercial interest in music adoption; the Robert Half data is an independent staffing-firm survey.
6. The Licensing Economy Behind Background Music
Every legally soundtracked store feeds a licensing chain that has become one of the music industry’s steadiest revenue lines. Performance rights for recorded music earned 2.9 billion dollars globally in 2025, within a total recorded music market of 31.7 billion dollars (IFPI Global Music Report 2026). The compliance gap is enormous: a Nielsen study for Soundtrack Your Brand estimated 21.3 million businesses worldwide play music through personal streaming accounts, and roughly 83% of 5,000 surveyed small businesses lacked a proper licence, costing rightsholders about 2.65 billion dollars a year (2018).
Where licensing works, the numbers keep setting records. PPL collected 301.0 million pounds in 2024, its highest total in 90 years, with international collections of 81 million pounds flowing through 113 agreements in 52 countries (PPL Annual Review 2024). PRS for Music revenue reached 1.15 billion pounds and its payouts hit 1.02 billion pounds, up 8.1% (Music Business Worldwide, 2025). Their joint venture behind TheMusicLicence has paid rightsholders more than 1.2 billion dollars since launching in 2018. How these streams fit into the wider business of recorded music is mapped in our music industry statistics.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Businesses playing music via personal streaming accounts | 21.3 million worldwide | Nielsen Music study for Soundtrack Your Brand, 2018 |
| Royalties lost yearly to unlicensed business streaming | 2.65 billion dollars | Nielsen/Soundtrack Your Brand, 2018 |
| Small businesses without a proper music licence (5,000 surveyed) | ~83% | Nielsen/Soundtrack Your Brand, 2018 |
| Global performance rights revenue, recorded music (2025) | 2.9 billion dollars (+0.3%) | IFPI Global Music Report 2026 |
| Global recorded music revenue (2025) | 31.7 billion dollars (+6.4%) | IFPI Global Music Report 2026 |
| PRS for Music revenue / payouts (2024) | 1.15 billion / 1.02 billion pounds | PRS for Music, 2024 financial results |
| PPL collections (2024), a 90-year record | 301.0 million pounds (+6%) | PPL Annual Review 2024 |
| Global collections for creators, all repertoires (2024) | 13.97 billion euros (+6.6%) | CISAC Global Collections Report 2025 |
Context: CISAC’s 2025 report, compiled from 228 societies in 111 countries, put music-specific collections at 12.59 billion euros, up 7.2%, with digital income growing 10.8%; 2024 marked the ninth consecutive year of growth.
Summary: In-Store Music by the Numbers
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Sales lift from brand-fit music | +9.1% | HUI Research/Soundtrack Your Brand, 2017 |
| Random popular hits vs no music | -4.3% | HUI Research/Soundtrack Your Brand, 2017 |
| Dessert sales under varied brand-fit playlists | +15.6% | HUI Research/Soundtrack Your Brand, 2017 |
| Transactions analyzed in the brand-fit study | 1.8 million | HUI Research/Soundtrack Your Brand, 2017 |
| Supermarket daily sales, slow vs fast tempo | +38.2% | Milliman, Journal of Marketing, 1982 |
| Shopper pace, slow vs fast tempo | 127.53 vs 108.93 seconds | Milliman, Journal of Marketing, 1982 |
| Restaurant spend per head with classical music | Over 24 pounds | North et al., Environment and Behavior, 2003 |
| Shoppers positively affected by in-store music | 85% | Mood Media, 2019 |
| Stayed longer because of the music | 46% | Mood Media, 2019 |
| Will disengage over poor music choices | 57% | Mood Media, 2019 |
| Likely to revisit stores with music, visuals, and scent | 90% | Mood Media, 2019 |
| Diners who would not return to a too-loud venue | 91% | Action on Hearing Loss |
| Louder bar music (40 patrons observed) | More drinks, faster | Gueguen et al., 2008 |
| Most accurate work done while music played | 88% | Mindlab International for MusicWorks |
| Workers at least somewhat more productive with music | ~7 in 10 | Robert Half, 2018 |
| Businesses on personal streaming accounts | 21.3 million | Nielsen/Soundtrack Your Brand, 2018 |
| Estimated royalties lost to unlicensed streaming | 2.65 billion dollars/year | Nielsen/Soundtrack Your Brand, 2018 |
| Global performance rights revenue (2025) | 2.9 billion dollars | IFPI Global Music Report 2026 |
| PPL collections (2024) | 301.0 million pounds | PPL Annual Review 2024 |
| Global creator collections, all repertoires (2024) | 13.97 billion euros | CISAC Global Collections Report 2025 |
Methodology and Sources
Figures were aggregated directly from peer-reviewed journals, collecting-society financial reports, and named commissioned studies, with each statistic traced to its original publisher; vendor-commissioned surveys are labeled as such, and experiments older than 2010 are flagged as classic studies rather than current benchmarks.
- Milliman, “Using Background Music to Affect the Behavior of Supermarket Shoppers,” Journal of Marketing (1982)
- Milliman, “The Influence of Background Music on the Behavior of Restaurant Patrons,” Journal of Consumer Research (1986)
- North, Hargreaves and McKendrick, “In-store music affects product choice,” Nature (1997)
- North, Shilcock and Hargreaves, “The Effect of Musical Style on Restaurant Customers’ Spending,” Environment and Behavior (2003)
- Yalch and Spangenberg, “The Effects of Music in a Retail Setting on Real and Perceived Shopping Times,” Journal of Business Research (2000)
- Areni and Kim, “The Influence of Background Music on Shopping Behavior,” Advances in Consumer Research (1993)
- Gueguen et al., “Sound Level of Environmental Music and Drinking Behavior,” Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research (2008)
- Biswas, Lund and Szocs, “Sounds like a healthy retail atmospheric strategy,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (2019)
- Soundtrack Your Brand, research hub for the HUI Research transaction study (2017)
- QSR Magazine, “Study Shows ‘Brand Fit Music’ Lifts Sales by 9 Percent” (2017)
- Mood Media, global sensory-marketing consumer study with Walnut Unlimited (2019)
- Mood Media 2017 consumer survey, via Retail Dive (2017)
- Robert Half, “Most Professionals Like Listening to Music at Work” (2018)
- IFPI, Global Music Report 2026 (Mar 2026)
- PRS for Music, 2024 financial results (2025)
- Music Business Worldwide, PRS for Music 2024 payouts (Jun 2025)
- PPL, Annual Review 2024 (2025)
- CISAC, Global Collections Report 2025 (Nov 2025)
- Action on Hearing Loss venue-noise survey, via i News
- Additional figures: Nielsen Music study commissioned by Soundtrack Your Brand (2018); Mindlab International study for MusicWorks and MusicWorks business surveys (PPL/PRS for Music campaign, mid-2010s), as reported by trade press; Zagat national dining survey of ~13,000 U.S. diners; PPL PRS Ltd cumulative payouts via Music Business Worldwide.
Data watch: IFPI publishes its Global Music Report each March, CISAC its Global Collections Report each autumn, and PPL and PRS for Music their annual results each spring; Mood Media and Soundtrack refresh their commissioned consumer research on irregular cycles, so the survey figures here are the latest published editions; the classic experiments will not change, but the replication literature around them keeps growing.
Last updated: July 19, 2026. We update this page quarterly as new data is published.