What Music is Best For Laundromats
There are currently 35 thousand laundromats operating in the United States. Laundry is a time-consuming task and has become a burden for people, especially the working-class population.
Time constraints due to increasing work pressure and hours restrict people from doing their laundry. The working-class population has significantly increased over the past few years, thereby contributing to the rising demand for coin-operated laundries due to their convenience.
Despite the increased demand for laundromats, revenue for the Laundromats industry is forecast to continue declining over the five years. For this reason, it is more important than ever that laundromats make doing laundry at their establishment feel less like an unpleasant chore.
While this might not be totally possible, laundromats can still make sure that the customer experience is continually improving, and one of the best ways to do this is to play the right music for customers to listen to while doing laundry.
When considering what is the best music to play in laundromats, there are a number of factors that need consideration: the time of day, the number of people in the laundromat, and the general atmosphere you are trying to create in the laundromat, just to name a few.
In this article, we will cover some of the primary considerations to take into account when choosing the best music to play in your laundromat throughout this article.
Moreover, we will discuss the science behind how certain types of music affect the mood of human beings, as well as some of the legal considerations that must be taken into account when playing music in any commercial establishment.
After reading this article, you should be well-equipped to choose the best music to play in your laundromat, ultimately improving the customer experience, fostering customer loyalty, and increasing business revenue.
Why Play Music in a Laundromat?
Doing laundry can be an extremely arduous task, especially if the person doing the laundry has already spent the whole day at work or if they have woken up early to do the laundry before work.
Ultimately, it can be an unpleasant experience, a chore that people do not look forward to but know that they must do. One of the chief jobs of a laundromat owner is to make the customer experience at their laundromat as pleasant as possible so that customers continue to go to their business to do their laundry rather than going to a shop that is part of the competition.
One of the ways that laundromats can improve the customer experience is to play music, creating an atmosphere that feels less oppressive. Science shows that music has a number of positive psychological and physiological effects on humans. We list some of the main effects below:
1. It elevates people’s mood
Music can boost the brain’s production of the hormone dopamine. This increased dopamine production helps relieve feelings of anxiety and depression. Music is processed directly by the amygdala, which is the part of the brain involved in mood and emotions.
2. It reduces stress
Research has found that listening to music can relieve stress by triggering biochemical stress reducers.
3. It can help relieve symptoms of depression
Research shows a clear link between health and music: music can be used to help combat depression and heal trauma, and listening to music has been shown to reduce heart rate, lower blood pressure and decrease stress levels.
It also triggers many of the same hormones that are produced when working out, ultimately combating symptoms of depression and conditions that may not be severe enough to be considered depression but still negatively affect people’s moods.
4. Music reduces fatigue
Stress and fatigue are the first killers of motivation. Far too often we feel too tired but need to continue working. While having a rest and sleeping is the best option, it’s often impossible due to certain circumstances.
Research has shown that music has positive effects on mental fatigue caused by routine tasks, which is exactly what we suffer from at work. While routine is sometimes considered good for productivity, falling into it is a trap. By performing similar tasks every day we settle into a groove, and soon our brain gets tired of the routine.
How can music help battle fatigue and increase motivation? By listening to music you bring something new and fresh, which helps your brain escape the routine and get a little bit distracted. In this case, distraction is good: it fuels your brain to continue working and improves your physical endurance.
5. Music increases motor coordination and self-confidence
There’s a direct connection between these two notions. As you move to the rhythm of the music, it not only helps your motor coordination but also boosts your self-confidence. Thus, listening to music, either during an exercise or while doing a task at work, can boost your self-confidence.
Improved self-confidence is also directly related to self-esteem. Therefore, music has an effect on the way we perceive ourselves. Huffington Post also did an article on how music can improve a teen’s self-esteem, which is a burning topic nowadays.
Apparently, music helps teens determine their values, which establishes the feeling of self-respect. It also impacts the ability to take responsibility and motivates teens to take on complicated challenges to boost their skills.
It’s safe to say that music does a character-building job, helping us become more determined and motivated. It’s also necessary to mention that music boosts our ability to focus, being a healthy distraction from all other irritants that make us procrastinate.
6. Music helps to increase motivation
Everyone knows about the ability of music to help people relax. But how is that related to motivation? Stress relief and body and mind relaxation are the natural remedies for our exhausted brains.
Music acts like a natural distraction from all issues that bother our minds, thus greatly contributing to the quality of our relaxation. Music is able to bring our minds to peace, which will later help our ability to concentrate. Thus, music, relaxation, and motivation are closely connected, as music helps us recharge and fuel our bodies and minds.
How Do the Effects of Music Relate to the Laundromat Environment?
So, as we have talked about above, music has the ability to elevate people’s moods, reduce stress, combat depressive symptoms, increase motor coordination, and maximize motivation, but how do these qualities of music relate to the laundromat environment?
Well, when people go to the laundromat, they are often going to engage in an activity that they consider to be a chore. They may have just gotten off a day of work or woken up early to get the laundry done before they have to get all the activities of their day started.
Thus, when people go to the laundromat, they are often not in a good mood. The mood-elevating qualities of music, then, can significantly improve the customer experience, as people will feel happier, even as they are engaging in a chore. That music also reduces stress and can combat depressive symptoms has a similar effect on the overall experience at the laundromat.
Next, when considering that doing laundry can be a tiring chore, the fact that music can help reduce fatigue, improve motor skills, and increase motivation all point to the fact that music can greatly improve the actual experience of doing laundry.
People may need the motivation to do that last load of laundry, or they may already be tired out from their day and the extra boost from music may be able to push them through to completion.
As we can see, there are a lot of reasons why it can be beneficial to play music in a laundromat. But there are many different types of music, so what type of music is actually best for laundromats? That's what we will cover in the next section of the article.
What is the Best Kind of Music For Laundromats?
When it comes to the best kind of music to play in laundromats, there is not a single answer, since there are a few types of music that will achieve the desired effects of relaxation, motivation, and productivity.
What kind of music that gets played in the laundromat will be up to the owner, and it would be a great idea to take a poll for your customers to express what kind of music they would prefer to hear during the time spent at your establishment. That being said, we will give a few examples of the best kind of music to play in laundromats.
1. Classical Music
When we think of classical music, composers such as Bach, Vivaldi, and Handel come up in our thoughts. In a study, seven out of eight radiologists found that baroque music increased mood and concentration on their work. If you're looking for where to begin, try Vivaldi's quick-tempo Four Seasons or Bach's Brandenburg Concertos.
2. Nature Music
Listening to the sounds of nature can enhance cognitive function and concentration. Soothing sounds, such as flowing water, rainfall, and rustling leaves, work well, while jarring noises such as bird calls and animal noises can be distracting. Some forms of nature music include instruments, such as piano or flute, which aid in creating a suitable atmosphere for work.
For a laundromat, it is best that you opt for the type of music that contains actual instruments because the goal is not to put people to sleep but to help them relax. Nature sounds by themselves will not be very entertaining and will ultimately clash with the atmosphere of the laundromat.
3. Epic Music
Epic music can make customers feel like they are doing something important. Think trailer music for adventure and action movies. Epic music empowers and lifts people up, making any task that people are engaged in feel more significant.
So, if your customers tend to be feeling tired and uninspired during their time at your laundromat, try putting on some epic music to give them that extra boost of motivation.
4. Ambient Music
Ambient music can be a great way to reduce the stress of your customers. As Brian Eno, creator of Music for Airports says, "Ambient music must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting." Ambient music is effective for those difficult work moments, so that you can push through your chores and stay relaxed in the process.
5. Pop Music
Pop music is generally uptempo and pleasing to the ear. In general, pop music, whether it is from contemporary artists or artists from the past, lifts people’s moods and helps them get in a rhythm when it comes to the chores they are doing. For laundromat’s it can be a great idea to play pop hits from the 80s and 90s, songs that people know the lyrics to, so that customers can sing along in their heads to music that they have enjoyed for years.
Legal Considerations
Unfortunately, you cannot just play any music you feel like playing in commercial establishments like laundromats. Organizations like ASCAP ensure that music made by member artists does not get played in commercial settings without due compensation for the organization and the artists.
Thus, if you pay for copyrighted music in your commercial setting, you risk facing legal ramifications. Luckily, there are many playlists out there that are specifically curated with music that is perfectly fine to play in commercial settings. One of the best options is the streaming service offered by Loop TV, which has tons of pre-made playlists perfect for any environment.
Keeping Your Customers Happy with the Right Kind of Music
Laundry is a chore, but the experience of doing laundry at your laundromat need not be an unpleasant experience. One of the best ways to improve the customer experience is by playing music that relieves stress, relaxes, and motivates.
As long as you choose streaming platforms like Loop TV to ensure that you are not crossing any legal boundaries, you can choose the perfect playlist that your customers will love.